Make it easier to get Middletown moving with active transportation!
Support the Connecticut "Complete Streets" bill (SB 735). A public hearing is being held this Wednesday 3/11 at 10AM at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. If you can't make it to the hearing, please consider calling your legislators today and urge them to support this bill.
Also, please consider submitting written testimony (it can be very brief!) by Tuesday. To submit written testimony via email, write a short statement addressed to the Transportation Committee; send it to CJ.Strand@cga.ct.gov, and copy edwina.futtner@cga.ct.gov and Thomas.J.Kehoe@cga.ct.gov. In the subject line, write something like "Written Testimony for Transportation Committee: Please Print for 3/11 Hearing."
The legislation requires that any funds received by ConnDOT or a municipality for “the construction, resurfacing, restoration, rehabilitation or relocation of highways, roads or streets, a reasonable amount shall be expended to provide facilities for all users including, but not limited to, bikeways and sidewalks with appropriate curb cuts and ramps.” The legislation also requires that at least one percent of these funds (and 25% of certain federal
grants) be dedicated to bike, pedestrian, and transit access projects and explicitly outlines only three exemptions where complete streets do not have to be implemented, all good components of effective legislation.
The legislation stems from a movement throughout the state, highlighted most prominently by the recent passage of Complete Streets legislation in the City of New Haven. The Tri-State campaign became involved in the push to enact Complete Streets in the New Haven effort and on a statewide level at the 1000 Friends of Connecticut Smart Growth Conference last fall.
This legislation is championed by Transportation Committee Chairs Representative Tony Guerrera and State Senator Don DeFronzo, as well as other elected officials like Reps. Thomas Kehoe and David McCluskey.
3 -11 Hearing on Bike, Pedestrian, and Transit from: 1000 friends of CT blog
http://1000friends-ct.blogspot.com/2009/03/3-11-hearing-on-bike-ped-and-transit.html
Complete Streets Bill on the Right Path: from the Tri-State Transportation Campaign
http://blog.tstc.org/2009/03/06/complete-streets-bill-on-the-right-path/
CT livable streets campaign: information blog:
http://www.livablestreets.com/projects/ct-livable-streets/project-home
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For additional information on the Built Environment and Health, try these web-sites.
Active Living by Design, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
http://www.activelivingbydesign.org/about-albd
At the Intersection of Public Health and Transportation- Promoting Healthy Transportation Policy
http://www.apha.org/advocacy/reports/reports/
Built environment adding to burden of childhood obesity: Designing healthier communities for kids
http://www.apha.org/publications/tnh/archives/2006/13-06/SpecialReport/2505.htm?PF=true
3 comments:
Adding to what lady cyclist has reported, I will add that support of this legislation will benefit Connecticut in many ways.
•Safety safeguards for those who must or choose to walk, bike and use public transit.
•1 in 4 CT youth are rated obese we have an epidemic on our hands,safe places to walk will encourage more parents to consider allowing children to walk to school.
•Keep our college graduates in CT. So many in our state have been leaving when they reach their 20’s. One of the reasons is the lack of community, that active transit options bring to cities and towns. For those just getting started in the world of work, this legislation provides for more and safer cost saving options
•The state needs to promote more active transport, before doing this, it ought to have a built environment in place that provides for some measures of safety that allows for, and supports healthy habits.
•The state needs to reduce health care costs. Help the residents of the state lead healthy lives by providing the needed facilities, that can encourage and allow for healthy behaviors thus reduce health care costs.
•There are environmental justice issues at stake, support this legislation and support those ideals.
•There are environmentally related health concerns at stake; CT needs to continue to find ways to limit the continued growth of sprawl which adds to —air, noise and water pollution, global warming, increased incidence of asthma in our young and old alike. The state has said it has a commitment to the environment. Passing this bill is one way to show it.
•10 other states already have Complete Streets Legislation.
If this legislation is enacted CT can achieve better rankings in the following.
•The League of American Bicyclists has ranked CT 42 in bikability. This is dreadful! We need a more bikeable CT! For health, for recreation, and to stimulate the economy. CT is a beautiful place to ride, let’s encourage more vacation trips to CT for bike riding. Lets make CT a destination for cyclist.
•The Alliance for Biking and Walking, formerly known as The Thunderhead Alliance, in a 2007 benchmarking report shows that in CT
--11% of all traffic fatalities involve pedestrians, 30 other states have a lower percentage of these type of accidents and 4 states share the 11% mark with us.
--Has a low rank of 35 in federal funding for bicycling and walking provisions.
--1.1% of all traffic fatalities involve bicyclists,18 other states have a lower percentage of these type of accidents and one other shares the 1.1 mark with us.
this would make a great law Support it!
Thank you for posting this. I hope people will rally in support. If you couldn't make the hearing or send in a letter in advance, it's not too late to help lobby for Complete Streets.
Calls and letters to the Governor and all of your local legislators are also critical if we want to get this legislation through in a non-watered-down state.
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