Biking & Walking Resolution

WHEREAS, increasing walking and bicycling offers the potential for cleaner air, greater health of the population, reduced traffic congestion, more livable communities, less reliance on fossil fuels and their foreign supply sources and more efficient use of road space and resources; and

WHEREAS, in 2001 crashes involving bicyclists and pedestrians represented 13 percent of the traffic fatalities in S.C. and in the U.S.; and

WHEREAS, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in its February 24, 1999 Policy statement "Guidance on the Bicycle and Pedestrian Provisions of the Federal-Aid Program" urges states to include bicycle and pedestrian accommodations routinely in their programmed highway projects; and

WHEREAS, bicycle and pedestrian projects and programs are eligible for funding from almost all of the major Federal-aid funding programs; and

WHEREAS, the South Carolina Department of Transportation Commission is strongly committed to improving conditions for walking and bicycling; and

WHEREAS, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) calls for the mainstreaming of bicycle and pedestrian projects into the planning, design and operation of our Nation's transportation system;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the South Carolina Department of Transportation Commission in meeting duly assembled this 14th day of January 2003, affirms that bicycling and walking accommodations should be a routine part of the department's planning, design, construction and operating activities, and will be included in the everyday operations of our transportation system; and

THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the South Carolina Department of Transportation Commission requires South Carolina counties and municipalities to make bicycling and pedestrian improvements an integral part of their transportation planning and programming where State or Federal Highway funding is utilized.

L. Morgan Martin, Chairman
Robert W. Harrell, First Congressional District
John N. Hardee, Second Congressional District
Eugene C. Stoddard, Third Congressional District
H. Howell Clyborne, Jr., Fourth Congressional District
B. Bayles Mack, Fifth Congressional District
John M. "Moot" Truluck, Sixth Congressional District

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