From Napa Bike: Please Write Congress – Public Support For Bike Trails Is Making Impacts

UPDATE:  The House just announced that their bill will be broken into smaller pieces… an implicit acknowledgement that support for the bill is faltering after a groundswell of opposition!

Your help is needed for the second time in less than a week because both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate will be moving quickly on their respective drafts of our nation’s next multi-year transportation bill. Unfortunately, both the House and the Senate bills take drastic steps to eliminate dedicated funding for trails, walking and bicycling.

But thankfully, there is a solution! U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) have introduced an amendment (Amdt. #1549) to the Senate bill that would ensure communities a fair shot at dedicating funding for trails, walking and bicycling. Further, Senator Klobuchar (D-Minn.) will introduce an amendment that would restore the Recreational Trails Program.

Please use the automated messaging tool provided by the Rails to Trails Conservancy to ask Senators Boxer and Feinstein to support the Cardin/Cochran and Klobuchar amendments.  Our senators’ backing could help ensure that Napa County will have the opportunity to apply a tiny slice of the federal transportation funding to build trails and other facilities that make it safe to walk and bicycle.