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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

IA DOT: Bike to Work is the Goal

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Monday, April 26, 2010   

DES MOINES, Iowa - In the past, the focus of Iowa bicycle transportation planners has been recreation, but that focus is shifting as carbon emissions, energy consumption and health become larger issues. Iowa currently has more than 1600 miles of mostly-recreational bicycle trail, but only eight percent of the trips in the state are on bike or foot.

However, Milly Ortiz, the bicycle and pedestrian coordinator with the Iowa Department of Transportation, says more focus is being put on bicycle commuting in urban areas.

"All of them are starting to create their own bicycle plans, which includes bike lanes and all those other components."

Ortiz says the state is now including bike lanes on all new road projects that carry more than 3000 cars a day. There is also a new bike component in drivers education courses designed to make drivers more aware of bike commuters on Iowa's road. May is National Bike Month, and the week of the 17th is Bike to Work Week.

Mark Wyatt, executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, says bike commuting makes a lot of sense in the state's urban areas.

"Half of all automobile trips are really short trips, less than three miles or so. So, it wouldn't take much... I mean three miles on a bicycle, that's a 20 minute bike ride."

Wyatt says infrastructure is important because it has the ability to change behavior.

"I can tell you personally that I wouldn't have gotten into bicycling had they not built a trail than ran from my home to my work."

The Iowa Bicycle Coalition says many communities are working on housing and development that shorten the distance between work and home, making bike commuting much more attractive.


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