The recently-released New York State Assembly and Senate one-house budgets offer contradicting paths for New Yorkers who walk and bike. In a win for active transportation, the Assembly included $20 million in dedicated complete streets funding to ensure the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists. The Governor and the Senate, however, failed to include similar provisions in their budgets.

Back in 2011, Governor Cuomo signed the Complete Streets Law. Since then, implementation has been hampered across the state without any state dollars dedicated to support projects and while federal dollars have been slashed. New Yorkers, tell your legislators and Governor to fund complete streets projects and to keep New Yorkers safe and active!

New York State boasts the second highest percentage of commuters who bike or walk to work, but 26th when it comes to spending on bike and pedestrian projects. Even worse, pedestrians and bicyclists make up 27 percent of all traffic fatalities in New York–the highest combined share of any state. The decision to create dedicated funds for complete streets will be made in the next two weeks, and the time to act is now.

What can you do?

Thank your assemblymember for supporting $20 million worth of dedicated funding for complete streets. Let them know why bike-ped infrastructure is important to you.

Tell your state senators to get on the right path and to start funding complete streets now. Ask them to speak up to leadership and to include $20 million for bike-ped projects in the final budget.

Other ways you can help build statewide support for dedicate complete streets funding:

• Visit your legislator’s local office.

• Ask your family, friends, parents’ organizations and coworkers to contact state legislators.

• Write a Letter to the Editor of your local newspapers.

 Together we can keep New Yorkers biking, walking and moving safely.