Every trip in Virginia starts off on foot. Walking and biking are important modes of transportation on their own but prove even more critical as first- and last-mile connections to rail and transit. Most Virginians don’t walk or bike nearly as much as they would like because our infrastructure does not allow them to do so safely and conveniently. Biking on our roads often feels unsafe and pedestrian fatalities have surged across the Commonwealth over the last decade. Virginia needs to dedicate funding and enact policies that not only keep us safe while walking and biking but actually expand access to these two healthy, affordable, and sustainable ways of getting around.

Wyatt Gordon

INCREASING ACCESS TO BIKING AND WALKING
GUARANTEEING TRANSIT EQUITY
BUILDING OUT RAIL CAPACITY

• Fund key water quality programs at levels consistent with achieving the goals of the Watershed Implementation Plan (see chapter Meeting Our Chesapeake Bay Clean-Up Goals, p. 1).
• Fund land conservation programs (see Healthy, Resilient Communities and Landscapes, p. 88).
• Increase funding for key state environmental agencies to levels adequate with programmatic needs, including programs to address resiliency and climate change needs.
• Fund and ensure rapid and thorough integration of environmental justice mandates. See additional recommendations in Working Towards Environmental Justice (p. 118).
• Ensure Virginia’s natural resources programs are adequately and reliably funded going forward by adopting dedicated funding mechanisms, such as application of the full statewide recordation fee revenue (see Exploring Dedicated Funding for Conservation, p. 94).

[vcnva-issue-bills issue=”public transportation”]

[vcnva-issue-events issue_category_id=”7″]

Check back in January for talking points for the 2022 General Assembly Session.