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- The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) was enacted June 9, 1998. TEA-21 expires on September 30, 2003, but the US Department of Transportation is currently working on reauthorization. Among the projects that may be funded by TEA-21 are: pedestrian and bicycle facilities, acquisition of scenic easements and historic easements and sites, and preservation of abandoned rail corridors and rights-of-way.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/tea21/sumcov.htm
- Transportation projects in North and South Carolina
progress through a standard process of planning, design
and construction. Improvements for bicycling and walking
may be included in the Transportation Improvement Program
(TIP) as part of the construction of a highway project or,
where no highway project is programmed, as an independent
project. Bicycle and pedestrian projects follow essentially
the same TIP process as do highway projects. Inclusion of
a bicycle or pedestrian project in the TIP does not guarantee
that it will be implemented; rather, it means that it will
receive further study and will be implemented if feasible.
Incidental projects are considered in conjunction with the
planning study for the given highway or bridge project and
implemented, if feasible. For a complete explanation
of the process, see http://www.ncdot.org/transit/bicycle/funding/funding_TIP.html.
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Funding is always more easily accomplished if projects are broken into readily-identifiable phases so that they can be funded incrementally. Also, a great deal of the cost for pedestrian and bicycle facilities is the "site prep" work such as design and grading. If these are included in the design and initial grading work for ALL street and highway projects, then the cost of adding the actual facility drops dramatically.
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Do not discount the value of volunteer efforts in greenway, bicycle path, or pedestrian facility development. Many grant programs will permit the use of volunteer time as in-kind match, or will give higher priority to projects that show strong volunteer/community support.
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Multi-modal and inter-modal facilities should be incorporated into capital improvement plans.
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