I'm down in Washington DC learning about national initiatives and meeting with our members of Congress about the reauthorization of TEA-21, the federal Transportation funding bill. Back home in Vermont there are two items afoot this week that your voice is needed to assure a good outcome. Read on, below...

AND on the education front ... it's bicycle safety season, so if you are interested in taking any of our instructor trainings (to teach kids in your area about safe bicycling) please see the last item below.

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1. Hearing on Ancient Roads Bill (H.334) - send a fax if you can't attend
Tomorrow (Wed. 3/16, 9am-noon) in the VT Statehouse

Are you a mountain biker or trails advocate? This bill could eliminate public rights of ways across the state that might be used as mountain bike or walking trails (or other folks such as horses, four-wheelers, snowmobiles), but not appearing on official maps. The pending bill proposes to extinguish ancient roads, and sets a standard of maintenance of 2-wheel drive cars. Roads are for people -- not just for people in cars.

What you can do:
+ Fax your legislators --> sample fax appears on our website:
http://www.vtbikeped.org/what/advocacy.htm
+ Email or call your legislators at home tonight.
+ Attend the public hearing tomorrow (see talking points below). House Commerce Committee, Rm 35 (but be aware that the room could change). If you want to testify, contact Shirley Adams at the Legislative Council (sadams@leg.state.vt.us or 828-2231.
+ Talk to your municipal officials.

This proposal is partly driven by the real estate industry that is concerned about ancient roadways preventing clear titles/deeds. We understand that this is a concern, but Vermont's public right of ways are a valuable resource that should not be given up without careful deliberation.

The VT Trails & Greenways Council (of which VT Bike/Ped is a part) supports the VT League of Cities & Towns alternative proposal that would:
+ give towns longer to map out the ancient roads before they "disappear"
+ give municipalities some funding/support to research or map rights of way that should be preserved.

Vermont's public right of ways are a valuable resource that should not be given up without careful deliberation.

2. Open House input on the Circ Highway (and alternatives)

VT Bike/Ped Coalition has been asked by VTrans and their consultants to give our input on the Circ Highway EIS. We now want to encourage our members to attend the Circ EIS open house and give input:
+ Where would you like to be able to walk or bicycle in Williston & Essex, especially if to work or school, to visit friends, go out to lunch, or other utilitarian trips?
+ Are there routes that your kids would like to be able to walk/bike to school, stores, etc?
+ What are bicyclists' & pedestrians' transportation problems along this corridor?
+ What types of improvements would help walkers, commuter bicyclists, recreational bicyclists, joggers, inline skaters, parents with baby strollers, seniors, etc. to move along this corridor?

Open Houses: 6:30-9 pm (you can just 'drop by'; don't have to stay the whole time!)
Tues 3/15 Jericho
Wed 3/15 Williston
Thurs 3/16 Burlington
Full details of locations: http://www.circeis.org/public_involvement.html

What's the VT Bike/Ped Coalition's take?

The Coalition's basic input has been that the current travel corridor serves bicyclists & pedestrians very poorly. Whatever is built should be a "complete" street including facilities for walking & bicycling.

Years ago, Route 2A was a good bicycling road - a good way to get out of town to the north. Kids were able to ride their bikes to the Tafts Corner for an ice cream. Whatever transportation investments are made, we believe the design should make it safe, convenient, and desireable to walk or bike along this corridor, as an integral part of the project.

When bicyclists & pedestrians aren't comfortable on a roadway, we often become invisible. We just don't go there. But we would often LIKE to have that option to walk or bicycle on a given street.

Attend the open houses and tell about your hidden desires for bicycling & walking -- help make sure bicyclists & pedestrians are included in the scope of this project.

IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND, you can still easily express your views by submitting them on a simple form at the EIS web site (you can also do this in addition to attending the open house):
http://www.circeis.org/comments.asp

3. Reminder: Bike Safety Education workshops -- now recruiting instructors!

Both the BikeSmart program (teaching in the schools) and the Bicycle Safety Fair project are offering instructor trainings this spring! Are you interested in volunteering to teach bicycle safety education to kids in your area of the streets.

Sign up for our trainings & become an instructor! http://www.vtbikeped.org/what/safety.htm
BikeSmart: Mar. 26 Windsor; April 2 Manchester; April 16 Newport
Bike Safety Fairs: April 7 Northfield; April 9 (TBD: Rutland or Upper Valley)

Deadline to sign up: March 25!

I'm also super excited to announce that we have a new Education & Outreach Coordinator, Jean Coello, working part-time for the Coalition (more about Jean in the next full newsletter). Jean's new email is: education@vtbikeped.org (and thanks again to Timberline Interactive for our donated email accounts!) Welcome, Jean!

That's all for now.

Becka

    - Submitted: Tuesday, March 15th by Chris Bianchi