The Transportation Alternatives program is designed to give states power over federal transportation funding for pedestrian and bike infrastructure projects. A loophole is defeating that purpose, however.
"Every year the federal government disperses a sliver of its transportation funds — about $800 million, or less than 2 percent of the total — to states expressly to support walking and biking," according to an article by Angie Schmitt.
How the states allocate those dollars is up to them, but some of them also choose to make use of a loophole "that allows states to divert up to half the funding from this program, known as Transportation Alternatives, to car infrastructure."
Schmitt reports that a growing number of states are diverting the Transportation Alternatives funding to road infrastructure that benefits automobile travel.
In the third quarter of 2016, ten states diverted TA funds for the first time: New York, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee. New York has transferred $37 million out of the program; Maryland, $11 million; New Jersey, $7 million.
In addition to sharing the details of each state's use of the Transportation Alternatives funding, the article includes a call to action. "Advocates in some states have successfully fought attempts to loot TA funds," explains Schmitt.
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