Report: Bigger Bike Budgets Boost the Boom - Streetsblog
The Biden administration should pour billions of dollars into a variety of bike projects because the investment will generate thousands of jobs while also obviously greening the way Americans get around, advocates said this week, citing a new report on the economic benefits of cycling investments.
For every billion dollars in federal funding, states could construct 5,000 bike share stations, build 1,500 miles of bike lanes and trails, and create 10,500 jobs, according to the new report from a coalition of bicycle advocates, transit union leaders, and e-bike companies. An average of 17 jobs are created for every $1 million the government spends to paint, pave, and stripe bike lanes, and one job is created every time 2.5 bike share stations are completed, the report found.
The paper, “Pathways to Transit: How Investments in Bicycling and Walking Infrastructure Can Support Public Transportation and Create Green Jobs” [PDF] puts a spine in Biden administration’s calls to modernize public transit and make roads and bike networks more accessible to more people.
“Pedestrians and bicycle users need convenient, well-planned access to transit stations and hubs,” said Arthur Guzzetti, the vice president of the American Public Transportation Association. “Better connections will facilitate the complete trip, strengthening our mobility networks and communities.”
The group did not specify a particular dollar amount that the Biden administration should allocate to bike and pedestrian projects, but showed the impact that a sizable investment would have on job creation — and a majority of the jobs installing bike lanes and stations and repairing and cleaning bike share systems are unionized, which has brought labor leaders on board with the lobbying efforts.
