Photo Credit: Daniel Paschall
Last week, the Bicycle Coalition attended the 2026 National Bike Summit for the opportunity to meet with New Jersey and Pennsylvania elected officials for Hill Day. We’d like to thank all who participated and advocated for a better, safer, more accessible future for bicycling in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Constituents throughout the region met with their State Senators and Members of Congress requesting they co-sponsor the Safe Streets and Roads for All Reauthorization Act, the Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Active Transportation Safety Act, to maintain the Vulnerable Road User Special Rule and to share the many benefits that bicycling safety improvements bring to their community. Here’s more information on what we covered:
Capitol Hill Day
The Asks:
MAINTAIN THE VULNERABLE ROAD USER SPECIAL RULE:
WHAT IT IS
In 2005, Congress created the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) to help reduce fatalities on our roadways. The program requires every state Department of Transportation (DOT) to write a Strategic Highway Safety Plan, which lists high-impact safety projects identified through a data-driven process. However, while the process may help identify projects important to reducing fatalities of people in cars, it does not always work for all situations.
In those cases, Congress has created ‘special rules’ to ensure that fatalities and crash types not identified through the normal process are addressed. One example is the “Rural Roads Special Rule,” which requires states to increase funding to rural roads if fatalities on those roads increased over the last two years of data. In the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Congress created a Vulnerable Road Users (VRU) Special Rule because, between 2001 and 2021, fatalities of bicyclists and pedestrians were increasing at twice the rate of all road users.
WHAT IT DOES
If a state’s VRU fatalities are 15% or more of the state’s total roadway fatalities, the VRU special rule requires that the state spend 15% or more of its HSIP dollars on VRU safety. Three years into implementation, every state that has qualified has easily met that requirement.
Overall, states saw a 25% increase in their HSIP funding, so even in states where the VRU special rule applies, they still saw a significant increase in flexible safety funding. More than a third of the states that qualify for the VRU special rule also transferred out additional HSIP.
WHY IT MATTERS
- Before the rule, on average, states were spending 4-5% of the HSIP on VRU safety, with many spending less than 1%. Since the rule came into effect, HSIP spending on VRU safety has increased 50%. Every state that qualifies has had no problem obligating 15% each year.
- In addition to the VRU special rule, states also now do a Vulnerable Road User assessment as part of their Strategic Highway Safety Plan, which helps them identify high-injury networks for vulnerable road users. The special rule ensures that states with high fatality rates now have a funding source to address those areas.
KEEP TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES ROBUST
TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES BUILDS COMMUNITIES
The Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) is the only formula transportation program that is designed to support local government priorities. It receives about 2% of the federal highway funding allocated to transportation. States receive TAP funding through the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and local governments can then apply for project funding through a competitive process. The program is wildly oversubscribed. For every dollar awarded, four dollars are requested.
Please support a transportation reauthorization bill that maintains a robust Transportation Alternatives Program, does not combine TAP with other programs, and includes the Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Active Transportation Safety Act.
DO NOT COMBINE TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES WITH OTHER PROGRAMS
- This is the only program designed to give local governments access to transportation funding. Combining it with other funding programs may dilute local governments’ access to this program.
- The TAP structure works well in that local governments of all sizes can access the program. In general, states use the program to help as many local governments as possible. If TAP is combined with a program that funds larger projects like PROTECT, it will limit the number of communities that benefit from the program. It will also be difficult for programs like PROTECT to meet their needs, as there will not be enough funds to build those larger projects. When programs are combined, the available funding is often cut. Transportation Alternatives is itself a combination of three programs: Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes to School, and Recreational Trails. When those programs were combined to form Transportation Alternatives, funding decreased by 30%. We do not want that to happen again.
PASS THE SARAH DEBBINK LANGENKAMP ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION SAFETY ACT (H.R. 2011/S. 944)
- This bill gives states the flexibility to use Highway Safety Improvement Program funds as part of the local match for Transportation Alternatives programs that are safety projects. This will give local governments an avenue to fund safety projects identified in Safe Streets for All plans.
- Rural and small communities have difficulty financing the 20% local match required by TA. If a project they apply for is an FHWA-proven safety countermeasure or has been identified in a certified safety plan, this bill would allow the state to help those communities build the project with HSIP funds.
- FHWA has found that adding bicycle lanes can reduce total crashes up to 49% on urban 4-lane undivided collector and local roads, adding sidewalks can reduce crashes by 65-89% in neighborhoods, and adding a shoulder on a rural road can reduce pedestrian crashes by 71%.
SAFE STREETS AND ROADS FOR ALL REAUTHORIZATION ACT
WHAT IT IS
Created in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), the Safe Streets and Roads for All Program (SS4A) has been making communities safer to walk, bike, and drive in. Discretionary grants awarded through this program are used to support local, tribal, and regional projects that focus on developing data driven safety action plans and implementing projects that address the roadway safety crisis. SS4A is structured to make sure that every community has a chance to apply for funding and since its inception 77% of communities across the US have received a grant, covering over 420 congressional districts.
The SS4A program is vital for our nation’s road safety goals and it supports the Department of Transportation’s National Roadway Safety Strategy, a “comprehensive approach to significantly reducing serious injuries and deaths on our Nation’s highways, roads, and streets.”
WHAT IT DOES
The bill will reauthorize and fund the SS4A program at $5 billion each year for fiscal years 2027-2031. Additionally, the allocation for planning projects will be decreased from 40% to 20% in order to fund more implementation projects, so communities that have created safety action plans in the first iteration of SS4A can begin implementing the physical projects.
WHY IT MATTERS
Everyone deserves to get home safely, no matter how you choose to travel or how small or rural your community is. The SS4A program benefits all kinds of communities, with roughly half of grants going to communities that have never before received a federal transportation grant, many of those being small and rural communities.
By making streets and roads in communities safer, we make communities stronger. Investing in safer road infrastructure creates jobs, prevents deaths and serious injuries, reduces the costs associated with those deaths and injuries, and makes communities more comfortable to walk, bike, and roll in. Vulnerable road users like bicyclists and pedestrians account for 20% of roadway fatalities, but only make 12% of all transportation trips. SS4A offers communities a critical opportunity to ensure the safety of everyone on the roadway.
Photo Credit: Daniel Paschall
The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia leads the movement to make every bicycle ride safe, to empower youth and adults to ride, and to foster a ridership that reflects the diversity of the region. Join or renew to continue that advocacy and education work throughout the region. More info here.