Hello, I am against the…

Hello,
I am against the proposal of Bill 212 for the following reasons.

- The EBR establishes the right to a healthful environment which must include the urban environment we live in daily. Urban environmental health impacts human wellbeing through air quality, noise levels, safe spaces for active transportation and community interaction, etc.
- Bike lanes contribute to a healthy urban environment by creating safer streets for cyclists, reducing local air and noise pollution, and building livable human-scaled urban environments.

The proposed framework

- contradicts multi-modal transportation goals laid out in the SEV
- contradicts the policy position that active transportation reduces traffic congestion
- gets in the way of municipalities trying to develop integrated transportation networks that could reduce gridlock

The Environmental concerns included:

- air quality reduction
- noise pollution
- stormwater runoff due to leaks, tire particles and microplastics, brake dust, road salt, other sediment and debris
- increase of gas emissions, pollution, etc.

The SEV creates an asymmetric burden of proof that applies only to sustainable transportation infrastructure. Imagine if the roles were reversed, and municipalities were required to justify every car lane with data showing it reduces congestion, or if they had to prove that maintaining car lanes was better than converting them to bike lanes? It may "seem obvious" that adding car lanes reduces congestion, at least temporarily, but there are many studies showing that more car lanes increase traffic in the long run, and make the streets (now "stroads") more dangerous to anyone not in a car.

Thank you for not proceeding with the proposal of bill 212. Keep the bike lanes, actually increase the number of bike lanes and keep the people safe!