Another take on 'pedal to the mettle...'

By Advance Business Capital

Is Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood anti-trucking? Not at all, says LaHood, responding to criticisms of remarks this past summer in speeches and blog posts. “Sometimes I may get a little effusive about other modes of transportation, but trucking is a critical part of the multimodal transportation network.”

“Other modes” being rail, right? Well, yes, but in fact LaHood’s known bias for rail has had nothing to do with this latest brouhaha, which all began with a post in the secretary’s official blog, Fast Lane, when he stated unequivocally that DOT’s future funding decisions would treat “non-motorized transportation modes as equal with other modes.”

“Non-motorized transportation” sounds a little Amish to us. It sounded positively wacky to Republicans, who were quick to pounce. Representative Steven LaTourette of Ohio asked, “Is that a typo? And if it isn’t, is there still mandatory drug-testing at DOT? … Is Ray LaHood seriously proposing we carry cargo from state to state in rickshaws or backpacks?”

Sea Change

Not one to back down, LaHood was more specific at the annual National Bike Summit in Washington, where he stood atop a table (really) and wowed the crowd by giving a speech while shoving his entire foot in his mouth, followed by his leg as far as the knee (not really). “Today I want to announce a sea change.” proclaimed LaHood. “People across America who value bicycling should have a voice when it comes to transportation planning.… People want out of their cars. They want out of congestion. They want to live in livable neighborhoods and livable communities.”

“People want out of their cars?” marveled David Harsanyi, columnist for the Denver Post. “Cars—not public transit or shared bicycle programs—offer Americans an amazing freedom of movement, such as the ability to live far from those high-density, “transit-rich,” bicycle-friendly urban centers that we’re supposed to so admire.”

To be fair to LaHood, he isn’t advocating replacing rigs with rickshaws or rolling back the ‘burbs. He’s talking about more modest things like expanding city streets to include lanes for bikes (and Segways) as safe, carbon-free alternatives to cars. Good point. Anybody ever been to Hong-Kong, Buenos Aires, Rome? You see a lot of bikes. Granted, they’ll never replace cars but they could reduce traffic in our towns’ most congested areas. (And by the way, whatever happened to that onetime transportation game-changer, the Segway?)

Livability Initiative?

This is all part of one of LaHood’s major programs, his “livability Initiative” for American cities. It sounds harmless, but not all see it that way. When LaHood appeared at the National Press Club, the moderator suggested that the Livability Initiative seemed an effort to coerce people “out of their cars.” LaHood amiably admitted as much.

The moderator was unpacified. “Some conservative groups say this is an example of government intrusion in people’s lives. How do you respond?”

  “About everything we do around here is government intrusion in people's lives,” said LaHood. “So have at it.”

Mind, these are not the words of a Boston liberal, but a former 16-year moderate-middle congressman from Illinois, who still gets his hair cut in his hometown of Peoria. LaHood’s complacency drove George Will, esteemed dean of conservative columnists, up the wall. “LaHood is a Republican, for Pete’s sake, the party of ‘No, we can’t’ and ‘Actually, we shouldn’t’ and ‘Not so fast’ and ‘Let’s think this through.’ Now he’s in full ‘Yes we can!’ mode. Et tu, Ray?”

A Taxing Proposal

The role of the federal government aside, the Livability Initiative will cost money. In Washington, even small changes come to more than small change. Last year, the Obama administration doubled funding for walking and bike paths to $1.2 billion. For 2010 the hike-and-bike budget is about the same. That’s money that won’t be spent on highways, which may not sit well with anyone in trucking, from fleet owner to O-O.

It also may not sit well with people not in trucking. The money goes only to cities prepared to match federal funds, which brings us to Cleveland’s planned Inner Belt Bridge. If you think congressmen and columnists are the only people with a beef over bikes, you haven’t been reading the Letters to the Editor at the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Speak Up, America

Recently the Ohio Department of Transportation decided against adding an extra pedestrian-cyclist lane to the Inner Belt Bridge. Construction will soon begin and the Plain Dealer ran an editorial vigorously protesting the decision. Readers responded by email. Boy, did they respond. It was our country’s Voice of the People at its most vociferous. Juicier excerpts: 

• From jonlight: “A ridiculous proposal. For one thing, riding a bicycle on a highway is against the law!”
• From clevelandcyclist: “Cyclists have rights too. It is small-minded thinking like this that keeps Northeast Ohio stuck in the 1950’s.”
• From vet420: “If you can’t find another way to get to Tremont from downtown than the Innerbelt Bridge by foot or bike, then you are an idiot and deserve to be hit by traffic.”
• From caileagh: “eco-liberal stupidity runs rampant”
• From jshaheen: “conservative bellyaching… knee-jerk thinking”
• From beecher1: “Let’s just tear this bridge down!” 

We think beecher1 was being sarcastic because the bridge hasn’t been built yet, but frankly we’re not inclined to ask for a clarification.

Finally, Bikes Get Respect

Cycling in America has gained a lot of respect from its low in 1972 when George Wallace, the segregationist governor of Alabama and third-party presidential candidate, derided “pointy headed college professors who can’t  park their bicycles straight.” That line drew hee-haws at Dew-Drop-Inns across the country. These days cracking wise about Lance Armstrong could get you cracked with a pool cue. Bikes are not only manly (and womanly), they’re smart, they’re cool and (our opinion) they can play a real role in inner-city traffic.

One thing they aren’t though, is any kind of freight-hauler. Not even Ray LaHood thinks that.… We hope.

This story was drawn from articles in the Journal of Commerce, Denver Post, Bicycle Retailer & Industry News, CNS News, Newsweek, CBS2Chicago, All Business and Transport Topics.

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