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| April
25, 2003; Volume IX, Issue 8 |
| Report
Details Link Between Transportation Choices and
Biodiversity
 In
Second Nature: Improving Transportation
Without Putting Nature Second, STPP and
Defenders of Wildlife examine the connection
between transportation planning and biological
diversity. Road and highway development is one
of the chief culprits responsible for the loss
of biodiversity, through roadkill, pollution,
habitat degradation and fragmentation, and the
encouragement of invasive species.
However, the report argues, mobility does
not have to come at the expense of biodiversity.
Second Nature profiles innovative
programs that seek to improve transportation
infrastructure while protecting the rich variety
of natural species that forms our natural life
support system.
"We
can have a world class transportation system and
protect our biological diversity at the same
time," said Anne Canby, President of STPP.
"Some have suggested weakening our
environmental laws to advance transportation
projects. The examples in this report prove
that’s not necessary.”
Click
here for more information or to view the
report.
|
America
Starts Thinking More Seriously About Walking to
Health
 The
connection between urban form, walking, and
public health has gained the attention of the
popular media, winning a front page,
above-the-fold article in USA Today on April 23rd.
The cover story, “Walk, Can’t Walk”
by Martha T. Moore is based on recent research
from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation, and also includes statistics from
STPP’s Mean Streets 2002. The article endorses the argument (long made by STPP and its
coalition partners), that sprawling newer
developments which often lack basic pedestrian
amenities such as sidewalks and crosswalks make
it difficult for residents to walk.
This loss of “incidental exercise”
has contributed to the obesity epidemic - in
2001 over 20 percent of adults were obese - and
other diseases related to physical inactivity.
Click
here to read the USA Today article.
|
NM Legislature and New Governor Move on Balanced
Transportation Agenda
 Buoyed
by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson’s
commitment to support a balanced transportation
agenda, the New Mexico STPP office with STPP
Board members Hank Dittmar and Judith Espinosa
and staffed by DeAnza Valencia, along with an
active statewide transportation reform coalition,
helped to make 2003 a landmark year for
transportation reform.
The statewide coalition, which has been
growing since STPP’s office opened in 2001,
created a platform with strong bipartisan
support. Along
with an official name change of the New Mexico
Highway and Transportation Department to the New
Mexico Department of Transportation, there were
a number of key transportation bills and
memorials signed into law.
Key
legislation included a “Transit Cap Removal
Act”, under which New Mexico can now spend
state funds for mass transit, a Safe Routes to
School bill that helps state counties and
municipalities identify school route hazards and
implement engineering
improving improvements, and the creation of
Regional Transit Districts, which provide a
framework for local governments to cooperate on
regional transit projects.
Click
here
for
more information on the recent New Mexico
legislative session.
|
| Idaho receives $2.5 Million for Transit
Improvements
 In
a ceremony in downtown Boise on April 22, US
Senator Mike Crapo presented members of the
Community Transportation Association of Idaho (CTAI)
with a check for $2.459 million, representing
the 2003 transit grant funds set aside by
Congress for improved transit in Idaho
communities. At a time of transit funding
cutbacks across the country, this increased
investment is a result of a regional commitment
to improving transit systems, as well as the
efforts of a strong coalition of diverse
transportation, community, non-profit, and
private sector interests.
Nine
transit agencies throughout the state requested
consideration of a discretionary statewide grant
for transit projects.
In the Treasure Valley, the funds will be
used to purchase new buses, to cover capital
maintenance costs for existing fleets, and on
engineering costs for a multi-modal center at
Boise State University. This year, transit
projects in the Treasure Valley were awarded
$1,394,043 in federal funds. Local transit
agencies will provide an additional $348,512 in
matching funds.
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