NCRT Votes to Support Proposed Active Community Transportation Act (ACTA)

At their recent Annual Meeting on October 9th, NCRT's Board of Directors voted to reach out to North Carolina's representatives in Congress to sign on as co-sponsors of H.R. 4722, the Active Community Transportation Act (“ACT Act”) of 2010. This is a marker bill to be incorporated into the federal transportation reauthorization when passed by Congress and will provide communities with concentrated investments to complete walking and bicycling networks to shift short driving trips to active transportation. By providing communities with the resources needed to build safe and connected non-motorized routes between the places where people live, work, learn, play and shop, the bill will provide cost-effective transportation choices for millions of Americans. The act authorizes a competitive grant program at the U.S. DOT averaging $400 million/year for projects which would shift trips to bicycling and walking. The ACT act enjoys broad support and attracted 60 House signatures (including representatives Kissel, Price and Miller from NC) in the first four months since it's introduction in March 2010. For more on the expected impact and benefits of the ACT Act please see an informative flyer prepared by RTC. Also useful is a Fact Sheet on how the grant program would work.