Trump Pulls Street Safety, Bike Lanes Grants Deemed ‘Hostile’ to Cars

Cities from San Diego to Boston to Fairfield, Alabama, received a simple rationale from the Trump administration earlier this month when it rescinded federal grants for street safety measures, pedestrian trails and bike lanes: The projects aren’t designed for cars. In notices to local officials, the US Department of Transportation deemed the projects “hostile” to automobiles and “counter” to the agency’s priority of "increasing roadway capacity for motor vehicles.”

Transit advocates say they saw the cuts coming, but called the department’s rhetoric alarming and ironic. Grant programs like RAISE and Safe Streets for All are being targeted for cuts at a time when pedestrian safety remains a major public concern, they say, and as demand for active transportation infrastructure expands beyond liberal cities to include Republican and Trump-supporting municipalities. But grant recipients are not giving in, as some look for other ways to fund their projects, Ted Mann reports. Today on CityLab: Trump Cancels Trail, Bike-Lane Grants Deemed ‘Hostile’ to Cars