bikeseattle.org

A recent airing of PBS NewsHour with Jim Leher had Transportation Secretary Mary Peters talking about the recent Minneapolis bridge collapse, and the problems with our road infrastructure.

Peters cited “bicycle paths” as a prime example of the wasteful spending of money.

GWEN IFILL: Aren’t many of those projects, even though they’re special interest projects, aren’t they roads and bridges, often?

MARY PETERS: Gwen, some of them are, but many of them are not. There are museums that are being built with that money, bike paths, trails, repairing lighthouses. Those are some of the kind of things that that money is being spent on, as opposed to our infrastructure.

The League of American Bicyclists says in an alert:

Peters, when asked about a possible gas tax increase, repeated President Bush’s response - No, there can be no tax increase because Congress is wasting the money they already get Peters cited “bicycle paths” as a prime example of the waste because bicycles are not a transportation use of the gas tax money.

It is disappointing that the administration is attacking Jim Oberstar for his efforts to get the Minneapolis bridge repaired along with raising all the funding for transportation maintenance, by using Oberstar’s support for bicycles as a weapon.

The League of American Bicyclists feels strongly that this should not go without a response and we have sent a letter to Secretary Peters voicing our view. Click here to view our response.

For those of you who feel strongly about bicycling issues, we would also urge you to contact the Secretary to share your personal viewpoints.

You can hear the program or read the show transcript for more information.

(Thanks to Rob for sending my way)