Happy New Year from all of us at the Ohio Transportation Team!
We look forward to seeing old friends and new faces at the Chapter Retreat, January 28 and 29 in Maumee Bay State Park.
The Transportation Team will have time on both Saturday and Sunday to share our recent successes and plan for a successful 2017.
Here are 13 transportation things to be thankful for as we celebrate 2016 and ring in the new year:
1. Ohio will become the 40th state to provide common sense protections to bicyclists, when Gov. Kasich signs the Three Foot Rule; read more here. Congratulations to our member activists and our allies across the state on this important victory.
2. Sierra Club celebrated National Drive Electric Week in September with events throughout the state, including Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo.
3. On a related note, sales of electric vehicles (EVs) were up nationwide in September!
4. Columbus was designated the U.S. Dept. of Transportation's "Smart City" and was awarded $50 million in grants.
5. The Cincinnati streetcar - dubbed the Cincinnati Bell Connector - began service in September. In October, more than 40 Sierra Club members and friends celebrated with a ride around town.
6. In general, Sierra Club volunteers were engaged and made a huge difference in 2016. Let's keep it up this year!
7. Club representatives from Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus attended the recent Transportation Equity Summit and established some great friendships. We are now working with the Transportation Equity Coalition to address the biennial Transportation Budget.
8. Protected bicycle lanes proliferated in Ohio. Let's build more today!
9. The Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments pledged more funding to bicylce infrastructure projects than ever before.
10. Bikeshare systems are expanding across the state.
11. We maintain a cautious optimism that the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is reimagining the ill-advised Eastern Corridor project in southwest Ohio to accommodate multiple modes of sustainable transportation in lieu of a damaging new highway.
12. The Obama Whitehouse has named the Brent Spence Bridge one of 40 Proposed U.S. Transportation and Water Infrastructure Projects of Major Economic Significance; read more here.
13. 2017 is going to be a challenging year, but we have YOU, and we have unity, so we will prevail!