Seeking Funding For ALL Transportation Modes
City, local officials call for $50 million to fund local active transportation infrastructure
Fort Wayne one of 42 communities taking part in Rails to Trails Conservancy advocacy program
Link (City)
“Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry called on federal leaders today to appropriate $50 million for Fort Wayne-area trails and other infrastructure projects that will make the area more friendly for pedestrians and bicyclists alike, while improving access to mass transit.
The City of Fort Wayne in cooperation with Allen County, the City of New Haven and Citilink are part of the Rails to Trails Conservancy’s 2010 Campaign for Active Transportation. It asks Congress to expand a pilot federal program, which funded multimodal infrastructure improvements in four communities, as part of the 2010 federal transportation funding bill.”
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“To put $50 million in perspective, that’s the cost of a single mile of a four-lane urban highway. That same amount could fund hundreds of miles of a multimodal transportation network for Fort Wayne, Allen County and New Haven.
Fort Wayne, Allen County and New Haven are one of 42 communities participating in the campaign. The other Indiana location is Indianapolis. The plan calls for a $5 million, 10 percent, local match.”
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“Local residents have expressed a desire for more bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure while Citilink bus ridership increased this summer. In the 25 public workshops for the Plan-It Allen comprehensive land use plan, more trails and sidewalks was one of the top three requests.”
That is really exciting. I receive my Bachelor’s in 2010 and am very excited to return to my hometown that has begun to recognize the importance of creating transportation networks that allow alternate forms of transportation.
$50 million in trails -100% with tax dollars – plus an unnecessary new ball diamond-
Do you young people need any more playthings? Keep pushing, you will break us eventually!
And then you will HAVE to ride your bikes! Good luck, but just when are you going to start paying for these “wants”? We have plenty of “needs” that are not being taken care of at present – do I need to list them? Probably not – just a waste of time!
We need “hundreds of miles of bike trails” like we needed a new baseball stadium and an unneeded extension of Maplecrest Road.
Mr. Mayor – get off your bottom, work out and send a realistic budget for 2009 to our common council instead of dreaming. You can probably be one of the first to do that by sitting on one of the $6,864 worth of styrofoam chairs that were purchased with some of our tax money – that NOBODY ever sits on!
Do you have more of these dumb ideas – oh yea- the one about a casino is another.
Yes, it is exciting. Indianapolis/Indy Greenways got with the program in trail construction several years ago and shows no signs of slowing down; in fact, if anything, they’re picking up the pace.
Someday I’d like to see a trail using the old interurban right of way south from Fort Wayne through Ossian and Bluffton and all the way to Muncie to link up with the Cardinal Trail. AEP/I&M still holds an easement over the interurban ROW for their power lines, and there’s precedent for trails on power line easements in the Calumet Trail in the Indiana Dunes area, built on the NIPSCO alignment.
Bicycles are not “playthings,” but a mode of transportation.
Bicycles deserve to be on roads just as much as cars.
What percentage of roads are “100% with tax dollars?” 100% of them.
Building millions of dollars of roadways are justified for cars and not bicycles?
John –
Just because you favor the automobile as a mode of transportation, doesn’t mean other viable means of transportation should not be taken into consideration.
I just returned from a trip to Madison, Wisconsin, where bike lines and trails represent a vital and crucial part of the network of the city. Everywhere I went in the city, I observed people young and old, on bicycles and other modes of transportation commuting from place to place. It was definitely something to see. Even though we are currently well into the fall season, people were still out on their bikes going to and from home, work, and school .
Providing safe, adequate access for bicycles is not a new concept. A good number of metro communities in the US are already allocating more and more transportation dollars to trails and bike lanes. With the increasing price of fuel, people are exploring alternative ways of getting from point A to point B. Also, in case you haven’t noticed the average weight of an American has gone up considerably over the last few decades. We are becoming a sedentary, obese nation. With this comes an increase in health problems from diabetes to congestive heart failure. Riding a bike is good – it gets you to where you need to go, doesn’t emit harmful pollution to our environment, uses less wear and tear on our roads, and gives the rider a cardio vascular workout in the process !
John – what’s it going to take to get you on a bike and see its benefits ? Why don’t you come out for the next Critical Mass ride and partake in the movement ?
I like the plan. We have enough roads around here…it is time for a more serious effort on rail and bike trails. I dream of the day when Ft. Wayne can be totally connected by bike trails…you could go anywhere you needed by riding a bike (including to the other side of town, and nearby small towns). And we could be connected with nearby large cities like Indy, Toledo, Chicago, Detroit, Cincy by high speed rail. Less talking, more DOING!
John we need efforts like this to reduce our oil dependence. It sure sounds like you are content being a puppet of OPEC, and don’t mind paying 4 or 5 dollars a gallon for gas in the future when we have another price spike. So pick your poison I guess, either pony up some tax dollars for things like this, or spend $50+ on a tank of gas for the rest of your life. Maybe being a retiree you have enough money for the ladder. I sure don’t.
Andy and Joe: Just how do you propose use of these “trails” to get to work or school or to the grocery store in the wintertime on your bikes? You will not!
So these bike trails are for exercise for those that will hire someone to mow their grass, plow their snow, do their home maintenance! And in winter, they go to their spa.
Talk about inefficiency – pay someone else to do the things that would provide exercise – and then expect others (taxpayers) to provide them with a paved “trail” upon which they can ride their bicycle to “get exercise”! That’s the modern way, I guess.
And, by the way, I do own a bike which I ride for pleasure – not for “show”. So I will not be joining you on your Critical Mass show-offs.
That is great that you are able to state with 100% accuracy that everyone that rides a bike hires people for yard maintenance and go to spas during the winter. Simply amazing John. How do you even come to these absurd assumptions?
Does that group include you, or since you ride for pleasure, instead of exercise, does that exclude you?
I forgot that Europe has a tropic climate, enabling them to use their bikes as a source of transportation.
I am going to suggest that Critical Mass goes and ’shows off’ around Wildwood Park for a while.
John, I think if you did a little more research you would be very surprised by the huge amount of benefits that increasing bike and public transit ridership would impart to us as a society. Monetary, physical, environmental, practical benefits. But it looks like you are more content to rant and rave on a subject that you seem to know very little about. You are using blanket generalizations and unsupported “facts” as the basis for your argument, and I really doubt there is anything that we could say or do to at least get you to research the subject, let alone change your opinion.
Well said CLEVER_NAME.
How did my Mama find out about this website?
John, maybe for a 3-4 month period during the winter there won’t be so much biking on the trails. The benefits still outweigh the costs in my mind. John do you happen to be married to the Bobby Boucher’s mama in the movie “The Waterboy”. Baseball Stadiums are the Devil! Bike trails are the Devil! Road projects are the Devil! Anything and everything that might involve use of taxpayer money is the Devil!