Take Action to Support SRTS & Active Transportation Funding in the Bay Area

Photo Credit: HEAC on flickr

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s (MTC) One Bay Area Grant proposal will provide $250 million to cities and counties for transportation projects. We need to take action to ensure these projects support active transportation. Thanks to everyone’s advocacy, we were recently able to save Regional Bay Area Safe Routes to School funding from elimination, but full funding has not been restored, and there is insufficient criteria to ensure funding won’t be used primarily for road rehabilitation projects at the expense of bike and pedestrian projects.

We joined with the Bay Area Bicycle Coalition to provide comments (view our letter by clicking here) recently, and now MTC needs to hear from you!

Reach out to MTC Commissioners. We need to urge the commissioners to contact MTC staff to express our concerns. The main points to address are the following:

• We oppose the proposed reduction in MTC Regional Safe Routes to School funding from $17 million to $10 million. Funding should be fully restored to $17 million.
• Don’t open the door to funding road rehabilitation projects that “provide proximate access” to Priority Development Areas (PDAs). We want MTC to develop criteria for what development in “proximate access” to a PDA would mean to ensure that this “flexible” policy enables MTC to meet climate goals.
• Strong complete streets policies need to be in place by cities and counties to receive One Bay Area Grant funds.

Find a sample letter here. Please download and send the letter to the Commissioners.

Mark your calendars: The next big meeting of the MTC is on the morning of May 11th—this will be the meeting when the MTC Planning Committee will vote to approve the $250 million One Bay Area Grant.