In an August 15th interview with Gwen Ifill on PBS's "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer", Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters hinted that too much federal money was being spent on bike trails and that was partially responsible for the bridge collapse in Minnesota. In the interview she said, "I think Americans would be shocked to learn that only about 60 percent of the gas tax money that they pay today actually goes into highway and bridge construction. Much of it goes in many, many other areas." She continued on to explain that "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." You can read the transcript of the entire interview here. You can also read a story about the interview at Salon.
I found Secretary Peters' comments particularly interesting since I just spent a week in Copenhagen, Denmark at a conference. discussing the Future of Cities. It was widely agreed that alternative forms transportation were key to the development of sustainable cities. It was also interesting to learn that in Copenhagen nearly 40% of residents ride their bikes to work. If I remember correctly the breakdown was something like 37% bike, 33% car, and 30% mass transit. Also, in about a month my office will be moving and I will start commuting to work on bike as well.
What do you think? Are bikes a viable transportation option in Tampa Bay? Should 60% of the gas tax be used on building highways? Or should a higher percentage be used for mass transit? What about congestion taxes? They seem to be working great in London and soon may come to fruition in NYC?
