In Thurston County, WA, we have been working on a rail-trail for the
past decade or so, doing the easy stuff first and creating a
constituency of trail users. All the "low-hanging fruit'' had "been
picked" and the remaining part of the trail, called the "Bridging the
Gap Project" which will join the two sections of trail. While only
about .7miles long, it crosses two major arterials AND Interstate 5.
It's a major undertaking to say the least, but a stalwart group
(mostly staff and electeds from the region!) kept meeting to
strategize on what to do. It was clear the project's price tag would
require serious federal assistance. Then came the word that Rep.
Brian Baird was going to be in town, right before the last
reauthorization of SAFETEA-LU (federal transportation funding bill),
and we had to get this project on his radar screen.

I called Baird's office, arranged a bike tour of the project area and
recruited other local advocates to join us so that together, we could
show him how important this project was to his area. He was gracious
and engaged, and promised to see what he could do. More than that, he
followed through (being a member of House Transportation didn't hurt,
either!). As a result of the reauthorization, he brought home $4.1
million for this project. We just broke ground on it this month and
should see Phase 1 (of 3) done by the end of this year!

Rep. Baird saw me at the ceremony, shook my hand and said that taking
him on the ride a few years ago was a big reason that we were
standing there that day. I told him that many folks have been
involved, but I was indeed proud for my part in it because,
considering that I spent a total of four hours planning and doing the
whole ride, I "brought in" in over $1 million/hour, which I thought
wasn't to shabby! We had a good laugh.

[Thanks to everyone who got this e-mail that has worked on this
project. Now onto the NEXT one!!]
--
- Larry Leveen

OlyBikes Locally-Owned Bike Shop

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