What’s the ask?

Here’s a link to the full draft of the Cycling Safety Ordinance from Cambridge, Mass that Friends of Slow Streets is basing its policy on. It essentially states that when a (major) street comes up for resurfacing, it is mandatory to include protected bicycle lane infrastructure on streets that meet a certain criteria and accelerates areas that aren’t slated for reconstruction.

In 2018 the City of Grand Rapids adopted a resolution around Vision Zero and engaged in a campaign. It is time to adopt Vision Zero, meet the benchmarks on a timeframe with appropriate funding.

There are a lot of ways infrastructure can be funded and every city does it a little differently! In Grand Rapids, we have a “Vital Streets” millage that already pays for the reconstruction of our streets. There are state dollars that come from Grand Valley Metro Council’s “STBG” grant . Federal money from the bipartisan infrastructure bill has allocated billions of dollars for protected bicycle lane infrastructure.

This list is not exhaustive and there are other important, existing revenue streams that have yet to be tapped into.