{"id":8925,"date":"2026-03-13T10:00:58","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T15:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/bike-and-walking-trails-lose-hundreds-of-millions-under-trump\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T10:00:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T15:00:58","slug":"bike-and-walking-trails-lose-hundreds-of-millions-under-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/13\/bike-and-walking-trails-lose-hundreds-of-millions-under-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Bike and walking trails lose hundreds of millions under Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Atlanta
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Atlanta Beltline’s Southwest Trail runs under MARTA heavy rail tracks. The Atlanta Regional Commission is continuing to work with local governments and other community partners to plan and develop the Flint River Gateway Trails network. Plans call for the Beltline to connect to the Flint River Gateway Trails. (Photo courtesy of Atlanta Regional Commission)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cities and states are filing lawsuits and scrambling for alternative sources of money as the Trump administration seeks to shut off the federal funding spigot for biking and walking trails.<\/p>\n

Since the early 1990s, there has been fairly consistent \u2014 and largely bipartisan \u2014 federal support<\/a> for bicycle and pedestrian projects. Federal funding for such projects reached new heights during the Biden administration, as major spending measures in 2021<\/a> and 2022<\/a> included billions in new money for them.<\/p>\n

But in his efforts to eliminate what he perceives as diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives \u2014 and to roll back anything associated with his predecessor \u2014 President Donald Trump has targeted hundreds of millions in federal grants for biking and pedestrian projects. And further cuts could be coming.<\/p>\n

The broad tax and spending measure Trump signed last summer rescinded $2.4 billion from the Biden administration\u2019s Neighborhood Access and Equity Program, money included in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act to address long-standing safety issues stemming from past infrastructure projects, including interstate highways<\/a> that split minority communities.<\/p>\n

Of that total, at least $750 million<\/a> was specifically earmarked for trails, walking paths and bike lane projects, according to data on grant recipients collected by Rails to Trails Conservancy, a nonprofit that advocates for trails and the construction of multiuse paths in abandoned railroad corridors.<\/p>\n

Mark Treskon, a principal research associate at the nonprofit Urban Institute, said the administration seems to view bike and pedestrian trails as \u201ca policy thing that people on the left like,\u201d and is cutting funding as a \u201cknee-jerk reaction\u201d to former President Joe Biden\u2019s policy priorities.<\/p>\n

But Nate Sizemore, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Transportation, said the Trump administration is simply \u201cgetting back to basics\u201d by \u201cbuilding the essential infrastructure needed to safely move people and commerce.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs grant programs become available for applicants, we will ensure that every taxpayer dollar is reinvested into rebuilding the roads and bridges our economy demands. \u2026 This decision reflects a significant shift away from the previous administration\u2019s costly social and climate initiatives that deprioritized the needs of American drivers and increased congestion risks,\u201d Sizemore wrote in an email.<\/p>\n

Already reeling from the $750 million in cuts included in Trump\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, cities and states that are counting on federal money for biking and pedestrian projects are worried about further cuts when Congress reauthorizes a broad transportation funding law that expires<\/a> on Sept. 30. Biden\u2019s 2021 infrastructure measure boosted the amount of money available for bike and pedestrian projects under that law.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is on the table, and there\u2019s lots of risks to not only some of these grants that have been given under the last transportation bill \u2026 but it also implicates programs that are like the bread and butter of building trails, walking and biking infrastructure that have been around for many decades,\u201d said Kevin Mills, vice president of policy at Rails to Trails Conservancy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve heard warning signs from the administration, from leaders in Congress and from the heads of state transportation departments that they are looking to focus more on cars and less on active transportation, and sometimes less on transit as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeking alternatives<\/h4>\n

In the aftermath of last year\u2019s cuts and uncertainty over the future of federal funding, some states and cities have seen their projects completely stall, while others have found ways to move forward while decreasing their reliance on federal support.<\/p>\n

In Connecticut, Rick Dunne, the executive director of the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments, the federal metropolitan planning organization in that area of Connecticut, said the Trump administration pulled $5.7 million in funding to build around 9 miles on a 42-mile trail project known as the Naugatuck River Greenway Trail last September<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would have leveraged a whole bunch of state money and local dollars to build these sections,\u201d Dunne said, noting that the council was hoping to use the federal funds to get matching dollars locally. \u201cIt would have advanced all of the activities on the trail and built major sections using other state, federal and local funding for construction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunne said Connecticut is limited in how it raises transportation funds because it doesn\u2019t have counties.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s either paid for by those small local towns, 10,000 to 20,000 people, or it\u2019s paid for by the state,\u201d Dunne said. \u201cBut once we lose the federal funding, then we start losing some of the state funding and local funding that would have matched it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunne said the council has not received any further communication from the U.S. Department of Transportation.<\/p>\n

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Terry Brunner, director of the city\u2019s Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency, said the Trump administration last September pulled an $11.5 million grant to build part of a 7.5-mile pedestrian and bike lane around the city\u2019s downtown.<\/p>\n

The city decided to sue<\/a> the administration in November to get those funds back, and the case is still wrapped up in court.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hoping we get a positive outcome on the lawsuit,\u201d Brunner said. \u201cWe\u2019ve also got a backup plan to ask for another federal funding source, or try to get funding from the state of New Mexico to the city of Albuquerque to complete the section, because we were about 90% done with the design of this trail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brunner said Albuquerque has one of the highest pedestrian and cyclist death rates<\/a> in the country, so getting people off the streets onto a safe trail is a priority for the city.<\/p>\n

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I don’t think they’re going to stop us, but they’ll delay us.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u2013 \u2014 Terry Brunner, director of the Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency in Albuquerque, N.M.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think they\u2019re going to stop us, but they\u2019ll delay us,\u201d he said, noting that the city is lucky because the state is offering funding and that the city budget may have some flexibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorically, we\u2019ve always had a good partnership in Albuquerque with the federal government, and this is taking away a little bit of that shine and making us feel as if the federal government just really doesn\u2019t care about Albuquerque.\u201d<\/p>\n

Projects in Republican-led states<\/h4>\n

The Trump administration also rescinded<\/a> a $147 million grant for Jacksonville, Florida, to complete the 30-mile urban Emerald Trail.<\/p>\n

Kay Ehas, CEO of Groundwork Jacksonville, the city\u2019s nonprofit partner in building the Emerald Trail and restoring Hogans and McCoys creeks, says the group is continuing to work with the city \u201cto identify funding to replace the federal grant that was rescinded last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are enlisting the support of corporate and private donors to fund design, which keeps the project moving while we seek government dollars for construction,\u201d Ehas told Stateline.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in Georgia, the Atlanta Regional Commission is continuing to plan and develop Flint River Gateway Trails, said Josh Phillipson, principal program specialist at ARC. The 31-mile network of bike and pedestrian paths would connect communities along the Flint River in the southern portion of the metro Atlanta area. The commission tapped into the area\u2019s annual allocation of federal transportation funding to cover the cost of the $1.5 million master planning effort, which includes a 20% local match from ARC, despite losing a $65 million<\/a> federal grant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not doing anything on the construction because we don\u2019t have those dollars at this point,\u201d Phillipson said. \u201cWe\u2019re stepping back a little bit more into our traditional role of doing the long-range planning, but we\u2019re going to be sticking with this project, committed for the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mills, of Rails to Trails Conservancy, lamented the loss of the Neighborhood Access and Equity grants, which would have helped areas \u201cwhere historic transportation investments had split communities in two,\u201d cutting off residents from economic opportunities and their neighbors.<\/p>\n

In Atlanta, for example, Phillipson said the trails project was meant to \u201cbridge over core infrastructure decisions of the last century that were overwhelmingly impacting more diverse communities,\u201d making it \u201cdifficult now to walk or ride a bike between two adjacent communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Treskon, of the Urban Institute, said cities and states will be hard-pressed to replace all the federal money they lost.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty big hit across the board for the places that had built that into their financial plans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Stateline reporter Shalina Chatlani can be reached at schatlani@stateline.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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