Help Get Bike Trails in Your Community

Project nominations will be accepted now through April 28, 2006. TxDOT will hold several public workshops through December to assist in the project nomination phase. {/attractor}Do you want more bike trails in your community? This is your opportunity to speak out and encourage your community to submit bicycle projects for funding.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has announced a Program Call for specific types of projects to receive funding from the Statewide Transportation Enhancement Program, including bicycle and pedestrian facilities.

TxDOT will receive more than $87 million each year for the next five years for Transportation Enhancement funding. This record-high level of funds has been authorized through the recently enacted SAFETEA-LU federal transportation bill. In Texas, bicycle and pedestrian projects have received as much as 70 percent of these funds in the past, which could translate to about $60 million for bicycle projects in Texas per year through this program!

Texas cyclists will need to be pro-active to get the funding in their community. Please contact your city and county governments and encourage them to submit the best bicycle trail projects in your area for funding. Your local TxDOT district office has an Enhancement Coordinator that can be very helpful in advising on applications.

The average project grant is often between $1 million and $3 million. Projects that are more likely to be approved include those located near schools and/or those that attract tourists, given the recent enactment of Texas Bicycle Tourism Trails legislation.

Many of Texas’ best renowned bicycle facilities have been built with Transportation Enhancement funding. Examples include:

Pfluger Bridge over Town Lake in Austin
KATY Trail in Dallas
Trinity River Trail Extension in Fort Worth
East & West Brays Bayou Trails in Houston
Mineral Wells – Weatherford Rail to Trail conversion

TxDOT will hold several public workshops now through December to assist in the project nomination phase. A schedule of these workshops is available at ftp://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/des/step/step_workshops.pdf.

Project nominations will be accepted now through April 28, 2006. For more information about the Statewide Transportation Enhancement Program and instructions on how to nominate a project, go to www.dot.state.tx.us/te.