http://www.cogcnv.org/PDF/LRTP/Appendix_B.pdf

It’s exactly the federally funded roads that are the biggest impediment to safe bicycling & walking.

And even more than that, federal transportation policy over the past 60 years that has been responsible for creating not only the whole network for major roads that are completely incompatible with bicycling & walking but also the funding & decision-making atmosphere where it becomes “easier” and “cheaper” to encourage the type of sprawled development where Johnny actually can’t (safely or, because of distance, practically) walk to school.

Keep in mind that state and federal highways are largely funded by federal funds and these roads themselves are often huge impediments to safe bicycling & walking. Think of small rural towns that have a road like U.S. 40 as their main street–likely with homes, schools, & businesses lining it all the way. In a town like that you can’t go anywhere by foot or bicycle without going on or across U.S. 40.

But, more than that, you have to remember that federal transportation funding reaches far beyond U.S. & state highways. Federal STP funds are available at an 80/20 match for projects on essentially any street that is designated arterial or collector. That means any road that is not simply a local or neighborhood street.

So in short the priorities and procedures of federal transportation funding have exactly gotten us into this mess where most all of our cities, from large to small, are very unfriendly for bicycling & walking.

So programs like SRTS are indeed a bit of a bandaid and what is really needed is reforming the system to remove the incentives for unhealthy development.

But in the meanwhile at least we have a few small bandaids here & there that are starting, in a small way, to address some of the problems created by 75 years of disfunctional federal transportation spending.

And even if the federal system is reformed right now, you’re still going to need the bandaid because there will still be that 75 years worth of bad roads and bad design to try to fix up somehow.

I agree — as long as road spending is added to the list.

Let’s get universal health care. People work and pay taxes elsewhere, then come to NYC for Medicaid-funded care when they are sick. People move. Infrastructure doesn’t. Take health care off the backs of state and local government, and we can pay for our own. That would help pay for universal health care in itself.