The economy is slow but spending seems to be at a all time high. According to the Federal Highway Administration spending on biking and walking projects rose to about $1.2 billion dollars in 2009. This comes at a sharp contrast to the $6 million that the federal government was spending twenty years ago.
The spending was actually about $600 million but was granted another $600 million from the economic recovery program. The initiatives although come at a much needed time where the pollution levels are reaching a new high, it surely needs to be put towards improving technology behind the biking and walking initiatives.
The new focus of biking and walking represents a much different perspective of the federal government as compared to its previous administration. Transportation secretary Ray LaHood announced that the policy named “sea change” will give biking and walking projects the same importance as automobiles in transportation.
People have started to realize this. The record number of reported walking trips has more than doubled since the first survey from 18 billion in 1990 to 42.5 billion in 2009. There was a similar trend in the Bicycling trips from 1.7 billion to 4 billion during the same period.
That makes sense why Google maps had two more options, calculating time and distance based on walking and on a bicycle towards a destination. With mobile technology you really don’t need the comforts of a car any more if you can ride a bike to the same.
Heck Nokia introduced a bicycle charger to charge your phone!