At the conference, the sharp distinction between cities with a strong municipal commitment to cycling and traffic calming and those where advocates have had to carve out marginal improvements was again evident (MTR #276). Philadelphia now represents one of the former, with city plans to expand on the 120 miles of bike lanes it has installed since the mid1990s. 80 miles of streets with wide curb lanes and an emerging suburban bikeway network augment the bicycle network.

Conference presentations spotlighted the growing American body of experience and knowledge with traffic calming techniques and policies. The Tri-State Campaign's Jon Orcutt gave a popular presentation on how to tap relatively unused funding sources for bike/ped improvements in New Jersey and Long Island. New York State has created a grant fund directed towards Long Island municipalities for traffic calming capital projects with $2.7 million in federal "hazard elimination" money (MTR #274, 225). In New Jersey, $11 million in state local aid money is available for municipal pedestrian and bicycle projects, though demand continues to widely outstrip available funds (MTR #225). Talks by Transportation Alternatives' John Kaehny and Ellen Cavanaugh on mapping locations where cyclists and walkers are hit by cars and on the Bronx Safe Routes to School program were well-received.

A panel discussion on ISTEA-3 seemed somewhat premature, since one presidential and two congressional elections will take place before TEA-21 expires in 2003. National transportation reform and bike/ped groups would do better for now to focus attention on implementing and spreading the word about effective state and metropolitan policies and projects.