Bike infrastructure is…

Bike infrastructure is critical to improving the health of our communities, not only for cyclists but also for car owners. Every bike on the road is one less car stuck in traffic. Dedicated bike lanes and mixed-use paths make getting to and from everyday tasks simpler and safer. I think it's important to emphasize that building for multiple forms of transportation benefits everyone - even if you are someone who prefers to use a vehicle for very short trips. It will benefit you, too, if other people are walking or using bikes or public transit instead of being in another car causing traffic. Fewer vehicles on the road also means less noise, less money spent on road maintenance, and less air pollution. The proposed bill will put up additional barriers to improving transportation for all, and we will miss out on critical times to improve our roads for everyone. The least expensive time to add a bike lane or mixed use path or other road improvements is when road work is already being done, and if we put up hurdles to prevent these decisions from being made in the interest of the nearby communities, we will either have to spend much more money adjusting the road at a later time, or skip out on beneficial changes entirely for generations. We all lose out when we presume to know the best way of updating a given road and actively discourage certain options on principle.