Why Some Members of Congress Want to Go Big on Greenways

A bold new bill would significantly expand federal funding for walking and biking infrastructure by treating them as essential tools to accomplish America’s transportation goals — even as some in Congress and the White House incorrectly dismiss them as distractions.

U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-New Jersey) recently introduced the Parks to People Act, which would fund a $300 million discretionary grant program aimed at building greenways of national and regional significance — and not only in America’s parklands, as the bill’s name might imply.

Co-led by U.S. Rep Lucy McBath (D-Georgia), the initiative would pay for all kinds of greenways, which the bill defines broadly as “a hard-surfaced or wheelchair-accessible facility built for active transportation,” with preference given to projects that “reduce traffic congestion, improve access to jobs, and lower emissions.” It would also prioritize projects that close gaps in existing multimodal transportation networks, or that cross multiple jurisdictions or state lines, where it’s particularly hard to build new greenways without federal support.

The legislation may seem like a tall order during President Trump’s second term, as politicians hostile towards infrastructure that doesn’t privilege cars dominate the capital.

Last April, USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy inaccurately claimed that bike lanes universally congest streets by removing lane space from drivers. And in November, House transportation committee chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.) said that he and his Congressional colleagues are “not going to be spending money on … bike paths or walking paths” when Congress reauthorizes the core federal transportation programs this fall, and will urge his elected peers to focus on “traditional infrastructure” like roads for drivers instead.

Advocates have long argued that walking and biking paths are traditional infrastructure, considering that both predate the automobile — and both can actually cure traffic jams if they provide a reliable alternative to driving by connecting people to the destinations they rely on.

“Connectivity is key to maximizing the potential of the country’s active transportation infrastructure in all types of communities–rural, suburban and urban,” said Kevin Mills, vice president of policy at Rails to Trails Conservancy in a statement to Streetsblog. “As debate on the next federal transportation law moves forward, protecting and enhancing dedicated sources of funding to accelerate progress on active transportation networks is a priority.”

McIver’s bill would not be the first competitive grant program to try to plug the holes in America’s piecemeal greenway infrastructure.

The last major federal infrastructure law, passed in 2021, created the Active Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program with a similar mission “to construct projects to provide safe and connected active transportation facilities in active transportation networks.” The program also focused on projects that speed “the delivery of connected active transportation networks and expanded mobility opportunities.”

But that program provided only $44.5 million in funding — just a sixth of the $300 million that McIver’s bill budgets for. The new bill also earmarks $5 million for planning and design grants, to help communities take key initial steps before launching ambitious projects.

Both that seed money and the program’s sheer scale could be enough to really move the needle, advocates hope. And a well-funded discretionary grant program for active transportation infrastructure might also inspire and catalyze other investments in multimodal travel, such as those funded by formula-based programs.

Unfortunately, the second Trump administration repeatedly demonstrated that discretionary grant programs are uniquely vulnerable to partisan interference. The current USDOT clawed back, slow-walked, or outright froze billions of dollars for sustainable projects in its first year — including some grants authorized under the existing Active Transportation program.

Yet proponents insist there’s still a place for competitive initiatives like Parks to People, because they’re designed to center the role of greenways in accomplishing bipartisan goals like ending congestion. And if successful, that strategy could lay the groundwork for a truly complete national network of multimodal paths, and create a playbook for overcoming political opposition.

“The Parks to People Active Transportation Act is exactly the kind of policy our nation needs to get federal funding flowing to these critical projects — from the Maine-to-Florida East Coast Greenway to similar efforts in Detroit, Denver, Los Angeles, and beyond,” said Dennis Markatos-Soriano, the executive director for the East Coast Greenway Alliance Executive Director. “We are grateful for Rep. McIver’s leadership in building a path forward by dedicating federal support for transformational greenway planning, design, and construction toward a healthy, sustainable, and thriving future.”