Get the Facts CR

Diverting Street Funds for Trails & Bike Lanes?

Information from a April 22, 2012 Gazette article: 


“Cedar Rapids officials push more funding for trails, bike lanes - 
Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization commits to spending 80 percent of funding pot on such projects,”

Mayor Corbett and Mayor Pro Tem Monica Vernon led the charge to convince the Corridor Metroploitan Planning Organization to divert 80% of the funds from streets to trails and bike lanes?

 All of the funds for the Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization “now go to street projects in the metro area. The planning group board’s vote was 15-4, with the mayors of Fairfax and Robins and representatives from Marion and Hiawatha voting no.” 

 The article goes on to say that for FY 2016, “some $4 million plus an additional $3 million in unspent funds are apt to be available for the increased spending on trails and bike lanes.” 

 Mayor Pro Tem Monica Vernon, chair of the Planning Organizations said, “the metro area is lacking in trails and bike trails … can’t wait 30 years to get what it needs in place.”


Those who voted against diverting funds from streets to trails and bike lanes were:

Tim Mooney, Marion representative, said “Some street projects won’t get built with the shift of money to trails.”

 Mark Powers, Hiawatha’s community development director stated “now wasn’t the time to shift most of the organization’s money to trails from streets when federal support for street projects is growing smaller and smaller.”

He said that "more people use streets than bikes" and that “we need to maximize what we can for streets.”

 Robins Mayor Ian Cullis, who also voted against shifting the money from streets to trails, said “such a change didn’t make sense,” and he recommended that trail advocates should raise private donations to help pay for the trails.


. See complete article here:
Source:  http://thegazette.com/2012/04/22/cedar-rapids-officials-push-more-funding-for-trails-bike-lanes/