Bicycling advocates are urged to trade their spandex for suits and head for Des Moines for Iowa Bicycling Day at the Iowa Capitol.
Mark Wyatt, executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, says they’ll be lobbying state legislators on a range of cycling-related issues, with a headquarters set up in the Legislative Dining Room.
“If you’re not able to make it, that doesn’t mean you can’t participate,” Wyatt says. “We’re holding a virtual lobby day for bicycling. Go to our website, IowaBicycleCoalition.org, sign in there and if you’ve never taken action before, this is the day to take action and let your legislators know what your priorities are.”
One key measure Wyatt says they’ll be pushing for is called I-WILL, for Iowa’s Water and Land Legacy, to further expand the state’s already-stellar bike trail system. “There’s a proposal in the Senate to enact IWILL, which is the Outdoor Recreation and Natural Resources Trust Fund,” Wyatt says. “This is what was approved (by voters) about 12 years ago so there’s a proposal right now to fund IWILL and that will produce probably $9 million in trails.”