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From The League of American Bicyclists - 2/23/2012
The draft of the Senate's transportation authorization bill, S. 1813 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, includes language that would introduce a mandatory sidepath law on roads in our National Parks and other Federal lands. It requires cyclists on Federal lands to use a path or trail, instead of roads, if the speed limit is over 30 MPH and a trail exists within 100 yards, regardless of its condition or utility of the path. The provision sets a terrible precedent. Passing it would send the wrong message to transportation agencies that these policies are acceptable. Laws like this have been taken off the books in states over the past 30 years.
The draft of the Senate's transportation authorization bill, S. 1813 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, includes language that would introduce a mandatory sidepath law on roads in our National Parks and other Federal lands. It requires cyclists on Federal lands to use a path or trail, instead of roads, if the speed limit is over 30 MPH and a trail exists within 100 yards, regardless of its condition or utility of the path. The provision sets a terrible precedent. Passing it would send the wrong message to transportation agencies that these policies are acceptable. Laws like this have been taken off the books in states over the past 30 years.
In November, we asked you to sign our Right to the Road petition against the “mandatory sidepath” provision in the Senate transportation bill. The restrictive clause would limit cyclists from riding on roads on federal lands under certain conditions. Read more here and here. Now, we are asking you to contact your Senator directly.
We have carried over 14,000 signatures to Capitol Hill, but it’s not enough.
We are happy to report that Senators Jeffrey Merkley of Oregon and Al Franken of Minnesota are leading an effort to have this provision removed. However, some other Senate offices still aren’t convinced that their constituents care about the issue.
We now need to ask you to contact your Senator directly on the matter. You can use our action center to send an email to your Senators, or call the Senate switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to speak to your Senate office.
If you call, simply tell the staffer you speak with that you’re opposed to restricting bicycle use on federal lands – the law unfairly and unreasonably restricts cycling at a time when we should be encouraging bicycling for transportation, health, recreation, air quality and a host of other reasons.