Communities continue work on biking trails

For the past several years, Americans have been increasingly health-conscious, and there is growing interest in bicycling and walking as part of a healthy lifestyle. For that reason, lawmakers have been increasingly amenable to the prospect of including hiking and biking trails in public policy. The U.S. Department of Transportation drafted a response to the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), which requires biking and hiking trails to be included in all transportation projects unless exceptional circumstances exist. As evidence of the increased interest in Iowa trails,the Iowa DOT and the Iowa Bicycle Coalition recently sponsored the “2008 Iowa Bicycle Summit” to help city administrators, engineers, bicycle advocates