AAA National wants Feds to end bike/ped transport funding

The following message comes to WalkBikeJersey via the National Center for Biking and Walking's Centerlines biweekly newsletter. It is comes to us originally from the Florida Bicycle Associations blog. I must confess to publishing it here without their permission (permission was granted) but I am sure that they will agree with me that spreading the word on this issue is what is important here. I thank the FBA and the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy for bringing this issue to the national spotlight with this video.



And now for the message from the Florida Bicycle Association:

AAA wants trail and bicycle/pedestrian funding cut from transportation funding. Please sign RTC’s petition today!

Our friends at Rails-to-Trails Conservancy are fighting the good fight for trails and bicycle/pedestrian programs, and they need your help! AAA is advocating for the elimination of the Transportation Enhancements (TE) program from the transportation trust fund. Trails and bike/ped get less than 2 cents of every dollar in the fund, but AAA wants that money to go to highways and roads, turning back the clock on 20 years of progress toward a balanced transportation system.

It started with AAA Mid-Atlantic in Delaware. Since then AAA National (Heathrow, FL) has indicated they support Mid-Atlantic’s position. Incidentally, other AAA locations have trails. Take a peek at this video taken last week of AAA Mid-Atlantic headquarters that shows the trail just steps from the AAA building. Go figure! Our friends at YouTube support trails too.

RTC has launched a petition to ask AAA to reconsider their position. More than 30,000 people have signed so far, and supporters-and AAA members-are flooding their regional AAA chapters asking one simple question: Will AAA support critical, established walking and bicycling programs-and the funding source that allows them to thrive-now and into the future?

So far, AAA has yet to provide a satisfactory answer.

With AAA National headquarters right here in Florida (and with the TE-funded Seminole-Wekiva Trail in their front yard), let’s add as many Florida voices as possible to the petition. Let AAA know that we value safe, accessible places to walk and bike, and that modern transportation is about more than just highways!