A part of the American Trails Advancing Trails Webinar Series, “The FAST Act: Advancing Trails with the New Federal Transportation Bill “ will look at the FAST Act legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in December 2015. The presenters will explain what the legislation means for trail funding of future projects. They will go over changes to the Transportation Alternatives Program that funds walking and bicycling projects, and review the Recreational Trails Program, which remains the same since the last legislation. The webinar will also touch on new provisions to a low-interest loan program (known as TIFIA), which could help communities—in urban, suburban, or rural areas—more quickly build a complete trail or active transportation network.

Key Learning Objectives:

Participants will be able to…

• Describe the changes to the Transportation Alternatives Program between MAP-21 and the FAST Act.
• Understand how the Recreational Trails Program works with respect to: funding allocations for different trail types, requirements to receive funding (i.e. advisory group must meet once a year), and the governor opt-out provision.
• Explain what the TIFIA program is, generally, and know that bike/ped work is eligible for TIFIA.
• Identify the 5 major changes to the TIFIA provisions in the FAST Act.
• Understand that collectively, these provisions could make it easier to finance (take out a low-interest loan) to complete a bike/ped/trail network.

This webinar is presented by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy:

• Marianne Wesley Fowler, Senior Strategist for Policy Advocacy (and American Trails Board 2nd Vice-Chair)
• Kevin Mills, Senior Vice President of Policy
• Leeann Sinpatanasakul, Advocacy Coordinator

See a full description and the presenters’ bios HERE.

Additional Information:

Payments Accepted:
Payments accepted are credit cards (Visa and MasterCard), PayPal, checks, and purchase orders. If paying via purchase order, please select “check” as your payment method in the online store and in the “notes” section write in your purchase order number.

Recording:
All webinars in the American Trails Advancing Trails Webinar Series are recorded. A link to the recording is included with the purchase of the webinar and will be sent within a day or two following the webinar, along with a pdf of the resources slide shown during the Q&A portion of the webinar that includes presenter contact information. Access to the recordings may also be purchased after the live session through the American Trails Online Store.

Closed Captioning:
Complimentary closed captioning in English is offered for our webinars, thanks to a partnership with VZP Digital. An unedited transcript will be sent to attendees following the webinar. If you require closed captioning in another language, please email trailhead@americantrails.org.

Questions?
Contact the American Trails office at trailhead@americantrails.org or (530) 605-4395.