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Funding Sources
: Background
Prior to the 1990's only a few million dollars a year of federal funds
were being invested in bicycle or pedestrian facilities. While the
energy crisis of the early 1970's had spawned new interest and some
modest government initiatives to make improvements for bicycling,
very little money from government at any level was invested in bicycle
and pedestrian facilities. Likewise, the outdoor recreation industry
and business community in general provided very little funding for
facilities, planning, programs or organizational development. Throughout
the late 1970's and 1980's the largest amounts of funds for bicycling
and walking were invested by state and local parks agencies building
multi-use trails, however even these levels of investment were very
small compared to what is happening today.
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Starting
with the passage of ISTEA (the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency
Act) in 1992, hundreds of millions of dollars are now being spent
annually on bicycle, pedestrian and trail facility development. Millions
more are spent regularly on planning, safety and promotion programs.
Growth in all sectors of funding, public and private, and at all levels
of government has been tremendous throughout the 1990's and into the
21st Century. Even beyond transportation departments, other governmental
agencies such as park departments, health departments, schools, and
law enforcement agencies now are spending a portion of their budgets
for bicycle- and pedestrian-related activities. Over $200 million
a year is being spent from federal transportation funds, primarily
on capital development projects. Federal and state requirements for
cost-sharing has brought state agencies, local governments, non-profit
groups and private foundations fully into the funding stream.
What
do we mean by Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities and Programs
Before we go much further in a discussion of funding opportunities,
we need to define more precisely what types of bicycling and walking
activities we are talking about. So for our purposes here, we will
limit our discussion to four basic categories of bicycle and pedestrian
activities: a) capital improvement projects, b) planning and research
initiatives, c) special or ongoing safety/education programs, and
d) advocacy organizations.
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• Capital
improvement projects are usually construction activities
or other physical modifications of the built or natural environment
that improve conditions for bicycling and/or walking. Typically,
they require a significant level of design and engineering work,
and may include land acquisition as well. They can range in
cost from $50,000 to many millions. These projects are usually
construction activities or other physical modifications of the
built or natural environment that improve conditions for bicycling
and/or walking. Typically, they require a significant level
of design and engineering work, and may include land acquisition
as well. They can range in cost from $50,000 to many millions.
These projects are usually funded by government entities, however
matching funds are often required and it is not uncommon for
5%-50% of such projects to be funded with non-government monies.
Small scale projects, and projects where land acquisition is
the primary cost, are frequently funded 90-100% with non-government
sources.
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• Bicycle
and pedestrian planning or research activities usually
do not involve any construction or land acquisition costs. Projects
typically range from $25,000 to $500,000, or may be up to a
million for a very large city that has decided to do a very
comprehensive plan. Planning, again, is usually funded by governments,
however in cases where governments have not made bicycle and
pedestrian planning a priority, private funds have been used
to conduct community-based planning efforts and/or publish planning
documents for whole areas or particular facilities, as a means
of attracting the attention of elected officials and government
agencies. In the past, very little research related to bicycle
and pedestrian planning and traffic operations has been conducted
at the regional (Metropolitan Planning Organization -- MPO)
or state level, however increasingly state and local governments
are funding applied research in the area of traffic modeling,
facility design, and testing of innovative road treatments,
materials and equipment that serve bicyclists and pedestrians.
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• Bicycle
and pedestrian safety/education programs can include
a wide range of programmatic activities, such as child bicyclist
safety training, ongoing bike helmet give-aways, training for
traffic engineering or planning professionals, traffic safety
campaigns, start-up and training costs for police-on-bike programs,
campaigns to increase rates of bicycling or walking such as
bike-to-work days, publication of maps and brochures, maintenance
of websites, or other on-going programs. Program costs frequently
include staff time, consultants, publishing costs, travel, or
equipment purchase, but do not involve capital improvements
or planning activities. Program costs typically range from $5,000
to $250,000 and are as frequently funded by non-government sources
as by government.
• Funding for public interest advocacy
organizations working
on bicycling and walking initiatives is usually not provided
by government funding programs, however it is increasingly common
for state or local public interest groups to receive government
funding to implement particular projects, programs or planning
tasks, on a contract for services basis. However, to fund basic,
or start-up operational costs, non-governmental organizations
typically use community fundraising schemes, membership fees
and/or foundation grants. |
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