General Assembly

 

Raised Bill No. 5386

February Session, 2010

 

LCO No. 1559

 

*01559_______TRA*

Referred to Committee on Transportation

 

Introduced by:

 

(TRA)

 

AN ACT CONCERNING THE SAFETY OF PEDESTRIANS AND CYCLISTS AND THE PROMOTION OF HEALTHY COMMUNITIES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. (Effective October 1, 2010) (a) As used in this section: (1) "Department" means the Department of Transportation; (2) "regional entity" means a regional planning organization or a council of governments; (3) "federal funds" means funds received by the state under the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ), or the National Highway Safety 402 Funds Program; (4) "infrastructure" means, but is not limited to, sidewalks, bicycle lanes, bus shelters, crosswalks, pedestrian islands, intersection bulb-outs and multi-use trails; and (5) "healthy community" means a community that provides initiatives to incorporate health and fitness into the daily lives of its residents and promotes active, outdoor lifestyles in order to improve the health of its residents, reduce obesity and relative negative health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.

(b) The department shall use ten per cent of all federal funds received to create a competitive grant program for municipalities for the construction of infrastructure for pedestrian, cycling and other nonmotorized road users, and transit access, for the improvement of safety and the promotion and facilitation of active lifestyles and healthy communities.

(c) The competitive grant program shall be administered by the department as follows: (1) The department shall issue a request for proposals for infrastructure projects. Such request for proposals shall enumerate how projects shall be selected to receive a grant and shall require proposals for projects to be submitted by municipalities to the appropriate regional entity; (2) municipalities may submit such proposals annually; (3) each regional entity shall select five proposed infrastructure projects and shall submit such projects to the department; and (4) the department shall award grants for infrastructure projects from those projects submitted by regional entities.

(d) Such grants may be used by municipalities for projects that: (1) Improve safety for pedestrians; (2) improve safety for cyclists and other nonmotorized road users; and (3) provide safer access and egress to transit.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:

Section 1

October 1, 2010

New section

Statement of Purpose:

To establish a competitive grant program for awards to municipalities for projects that promote healthy communities and improve the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]