Who is Ray LaHood?
If you said, Transportation Secretary then congratulations.
And as the SRTC blog said, he is “somewhat of a rockstar with bicycle, pedestrian, and transit advocates, but he isn't gaining any popularity with conservatives and a lot of people in the manufacturing and trucking industries.”
Image courtesy of streetsblog.net.
Last month, LaHood won hearts all over the country when he endorsed what amounted to a Complete Streets policy. Now, the backlash is setting in. At a House hearing, Rep. Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio, suggested that one explanation for the new policy is that the secretary's thinking has been clouded by drugs. "Is that a typo?" LaTourette asked. "If it's not a typo, is there still mandatory drug testing at the department?"
In LaHood’s policy statement, he said the federal government should not take the position that roads and trains are real transportation and walking and biking are not. To set this approach in motion he has formulated key recommendations for state DOTs and communities:
- Treat walking and bicycling as equals with other transportation modes.
- Ensure convenient access for people of all ages and abilities.
- Go beyond minimum design standards.
- Collect data on walking and biking trips.
- Set a mode share target for walking and bicycling.
- Protect sidewalks and shared-use paths the same way roadways are protected (for example, snow removal)
- Improve nonmotorized facilities during maintenance projects.
Read more from his blog.
(But that didn’t stop LaTourette: "So is it his thought that perhaps we're going to have, like, rickshaws carrying cargo from state to state, or people with backpacks?” Wow.)
