Best. Week. Ever.

With the awesomeness surrounding the passage of healthcare reform, new DOT policy should not be overlooked.

Increased commitment to and investment in bicycle facilities and walking networks can help meet goals for cleaner, healthier air; less congested roadways; and more livable, safe, cost-efficient communities. Walking and bicycling provide low-cost mobility options that place fewer demands on local roads and highways. DOT recognizes that safe and convenient walking and bicycling facilities may look different depending on the context — appropriate facilities in a rural community may be different from a dense, urban area. However, regardless of regional, climate, and population density differences, it is important that pedestrian and bicycle facilities be integrated into transportation systems. While DOT leads the effort to provide safe and convenient accommodations for pedestrians and bicyclists, success will ultimately depend on transportation agencies across the country embracing and implementing this policy.

This is an overt shift from past federal transportation policy that provided little to no provision for bikes and pedestrian safety. Or existence. Or really anything besides cars. I am curious to see how they try to implement, or even recommend, good transportation strategies in the middle of suburbia, other than a walkway from the megamall to the Walmart, but enough about the sad state of post-WW2 \’planning.\’ The policy shift is unsurprising, given that we have the first president from an urban area in nearly 50 years, and from an area of Chicago that is highly walkable.