Active Community Transportation Bill Introduced in Congress

On March 2, 2010, U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (Ore.) introduced H.R. 4722, the "Active Community Transportation Act of 2010" (ACT Act). If enacted, the ACT Act  would create a $2 billion program to fund dozens of communities around the country to improve their trail, walking and biking networks. The ACT Act would establish a competitive active transportation investment fund to invest in walking and bicycling improvements in targeted communities around the country. These resources would enable communities to build interconnected systems—allowing people to travel between the places they work, live, play, learn and shop without needing car. Successful proposals will be those making the best case for resources to shift large numbers of trips from driving to walking and bicycling. While not specifically focused on rail-trails, funds from this Act could support the linkage of greenways and rail-trails. For more on this Bill, please see article on the RTC site.