The Ministry of Transport has ordered a review of federal financing of bicycle passages and plans to target modern projects that “improve the state of environmental justice societies or reduce greenhouse gas emissions actively.”
This step, which was defined in a GRIST memo, is part of the broad goal of the Trump administration of directing spending on federal infrastructure towards fossil fuels. Restricting federal financing comes at a time when health experts warn that the death of pedestrians has risen.
DOT officials did not respond to the suspension requests.
the Non -dated memoAccording to what was reported, March 11 was sent to DOT offices, and an immediate freezing order for all grants that were submitted after January 2021, put a series of executive orders aimed at dismantling federal diversity and climate initiatives. The agency’s employees are required to set projects that provide “financing for climate enhancement, fairness, and other priorities that contradict the executive requests of the administration.”
It is specifically Goals Any funds for projects “whose primary purpose is the bike infrastructure”, one of Many steps President Donald Trump has taken to enhance the fossil fuel industry. It also calls for a sign of projects that may give priority to the advantages of disadvantaged societies or reduce emissions. This most likely includes hundreds of grants granted through Streets and safe roads for everyoneA $ 5 billion initiative created by the Investment and Infrastructure Investment Law. John Talladj, CEO Durham, a non -profit group in Durham, North Carolina, said that the aim of these efforts is to help societies to address road safety concerns. The group supports a A series of infrastructure improvements In Durham, which was dependent on funding from the agency Grant BuildingIt is also expected to be affected.
Durham project will add the berths, corridors, and bus stations to the city’s most crowded transportation corridor, which is used by thousands of people every day. “Many sites along this corridor Infantry deathHe said Tallag.
These safety concerns have been highlighted recently a report Through the centers of disease control and prevention, which found that Americans were 50 percent more likely to die in 2022 compared to 2013. Her author, Rebecca Nauman, said that the infrastructure that gives priority to speed safety – such as the improvements that Durham hopes to build – are solutions installed on everyone.
And it indicates that such designs have helped other high -income countries, such as the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, reduce traffic in recent decades. The opposite applies to the United States, which has witnessed as of 2022 the death of more than any of the other 27 countries that Nauman has studied.
One of the managers of the Dot project, whose identity asked not to be identified, told the professional revenge, Grist that the memorandum and executive orders will make it “very difficult to use federal transport dollars where it is needed.” This is bad news For more than cyclistsSustainable transportation not only makes societies safer, but also reduces travel costs; It improves access to important services such as medical care, schools and work; It helps reduce climate change. He said: “It is frustrated to see these solutions disrupted when many societies need them urgently.” As noticed by Tallmadge, delay and reviews on federal scholarships will increase the cost of any project – the opposite of government competence.
Another funding that is likely to be arrested in these restrictions includes projects within Investment program in the infrastructure for active transportationWhich supports multimedia travel; Building programIt is designed to meet local or multi -shortcut needs; and Re -delivery of the pilot program to societiesWhich helps societies affected by previous transportation decisions. The recent grants from these initiatives range from these initiatives 22 million dollars For electric buses in Rod Island to 157 million dollars For green spaces that connect Atlanta currently divided into highways. “Restricting the financing of projects such as Atlanta Pitstein and a grant raised is an attack on disadvantaged societies,” said Nikima Williams, the American actor, democratic, who represents a wide range of Atlanta. “These projects improve shares and mobility while stimulating economic development.”
DOT Memorandum follows the recommendations shown in the governor Project 2025 The policy agenda that formed a lot of Trump administration’s work. He has extensively argued that the federal government should not finance local transport projects. Instead, user fees and enabling “private companies are proposed to impose transport fees” through projects such as roads, remove air pollution regulations, restrict infrastructure for electrical cars, get rid of federal financing of cycling, phrases, and other means of transportation.
Karen Whitaker, Deputy Executive Director of the American Bicycle Association, said that the transition to restrict programs such as Build, which depends on the inputs of society, is formed with the 2025 project focus on local decisions. For example, the ATLANTA BELTLINE project was supported by private and public entities at almost all the government levels in Georgia. “Why do we pull the grants back as local governments choose what they want to do?” He asked Whitker. “If safety is a federal issue, then local deaths are important,” she added. “If the economy is a federal issue, then local economies are important.”
The league, which is Wide trading In protest against the DOT review, it recently led meetings with Congress assistants to discuss the importance of financing active transport projects. One of the former DOT employees, who spoke to Grist, said that the size of the streets and the safe roads of all means will be there widespread effects. He said: “Safety is an issue of the two parties. You see Republican and Democratic representatives who promote advertising whenever they are granted.” “I think people only think,” Oh, this may hurt the coasts and large cities, “but there are definitely rural areas that were trying to improve safety.”
He said that it takes a lot of work for societies to obtain a federal scholarship, often besides finding matching funds. Witker agreed. “It puts local governments in a difficult situation,” she said. Because the financing of Safe Streets has been customized at the level, Clearly, including “Cycling”, it may not be the Duffy step to reduce programs “that the primary purpose is to ride a cycling”. Last week, an alliance of non -profit organizations and cities Prosecute to reverse federal freezing On grants, including March Dot. “Since the establishment of our nation, the constitution has explained,” the center of the Southern Environmental Law, which has received the issue, wrote that “Congress controls federal spending – not the president.”
These efforts may limit transportation research worldwide. Dot MARDS research points through National Cooperative Road Research ProgramOr nchrp, which is also subject to review. “If the policy note is widely applied to Nchrp, there may be a great loss in the current and future financing,” said Jennifer del, director of the Transport and Education Research Center. “Without further research on counter -measures and death solutions, it will be difficult to oppose this trend.” It is concerned that the latest Dufy procedures will limit the state’s ability to use federal funds effectively for local priorities.
At the headquarters, the morale is between many people remaining at the point at its lowest levels. Initially, the director of the DOT project that spoke to GRIT was hoping to reach ways to reformulate the grants to avoid running words such as “stocks” and “climate”. But the new restrictions have escalated to an unprecedented level of scrutiny, as political appoinals review each contract.
“It has justified the mere replacement of words for censorship,” he said. “Not only makes people fear through good work that was ongoing, but it has a chilling effect on everything we do to go forward.”
