Bike Walk Alliance for Missoula

Posts Tagged ‘bicycle’

Late on Friday, November 4, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) published its proposal for the next federal transportation bill, called MAP-21 (Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century). The 600-page bill will be marked-up in committee on Wednesday, November 9. The proposed legislation makes significant changes to the core, dedicated funding programs for bicycling and walking activities.

• The current dedicated funding programs for bicycling and walking (Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes to School and the Recreational Trails program) are combined into one program, with significantly less funding.
• An expanded list of eligible activities are added to this smaller funding pot, including such big-ticket items as NEPA compliance and land acquisition for wetland mitigation.
• The proposed bill effectively allows states to completely opt out of the program and would allow all this money to be redirected to highway construction.

Originally, the bill also lumped highway and street construction projects, including high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, as part of the expanded eligible activities. On Tuesday, Senator Boxer received bipartisan support for an amendment that will remove all but one of the road uses (NEPA & wetlands).   While this is a positive step, there is still a lot of work to do. The America Bikes Coalition hopes to continue to make changes by working with Boxer and EPW staff to restore dedicated funding in the bill.

Please read America Bike Response to the MAP 21 bill. Click Here to Continue Reading

MISSOULA, MONTANA (October 21, 2011) — U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced this week that Mountain Line has been awarded a $133,744 livability grant that will enable the agency to purchase 3-slot bike racks for all Mountain Line buses, install bike racks at 36 bus stop locations, and construct a unique bike station at the Mountain Line Downtown Transfer Center.  The bike station will feature covered, secure parking for bicycles, day use lockers, a self-serve bike repair station, and display cases for maps featuring bike trails, bike lanes, and other helpful information.

“Through the first two months of this fiscal year we have carried 1,170 more bicycles on Mountain Line than over the same period of time the previous year,” says Mountain Line General Manager Michael Tree. “Recognizing the need for a better bicycle facility at the Downtown Transfer Center, the architectural firm of MacArthur, Means, & Wells designed at no cost to the agency a unique bike station that will be a perfect addition to the downtown area.”

Preliminary Design Bike Shelter 2011

Other recent enhancements to Mountain Line include free Wi-Fi on all buses by Community Medical Center and BusTracker technology that allows customers to interact with their bus in real time on their computers and smartphones.  Looking to the near future, the agency will be conducting a Comprehensive Operational Analysis of its services and creating a Long Range Plan, with three initial public workshops scheduled for October 26^th and October 27^th.

Mountain Line carried a record 865,601 riders last year, which represents a 9% increase, or 73,948 additional rides over the previous year.  For more information, residents are encouraged to visit the agency’s web-site at www.mountainline.com.