All Aboard Heel-Toe Express!

WPTZ Channel 5
October 20, 2008
http://www.wptz.com/news/17765260/detail.html

Alternative Transportation Gaining Traction

Chittenden County transportation advocates are looking for some big money to encourage walking and biking.

All Aboard Heel Toe Express!

The Chittenden County Metropolitan Planning Organization (CCMPO) has unveiled a list of 12 projects that it says could both ease traffic congestion and improve the environment.

"There's just a great opportunity for those federal dollars to be spent in a good way," said CCMPO planner Brian Davis.

The list of projects, which would cost about $50 million, comes as part of a larger national effort to encourage federal transportation officials to allocate money for alternative transportation efforts.

They include new bikeways across the Winooski River and around Lake Champlain, improvements to the Route 15 corridor and programs to encourage people to walk and bike.

Advocates say that despite falling gas prices, there is still demand.

"Even at these gas prices--there are a lot more people biking than we had two years ago," said Charlene Wallace, of Local Motion, a nonprofit group that supports alternative transportation efforts.