{"id":67,"date":"2026-06-04T04:10:54","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T04:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbanatlasmedia.com\/?p=67"},"modified":"2026-06-04T04:10:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T04:10:54","slug":"a-rolling-protest-helped-win-some-of-the-best-provisions-in-congress-new-infrastructure-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbanatlasmedia.com\/?p=67","title":{"rendered":"A Rolling Protest Helped Win Some of the Best Provisions in Congress’ New Infrastructure Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Critical policies that could unlock funding for cycling and pedestrian infrastructure across America have cleared the first hurdle in Congress \u2014\u00a0and the advocates who fought for them are launching a national nonprofit to promote a model that they hope can get the bill across the finish line and <\/em>achieve similar wins.<\/p>\n

Read more Washington is Creating the Most Expensive Traffic Jam in the World<\/a><\/p>\n

Last month, advocates for the bipartisan Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Safety Act celebrated after legislators folded several key provisions of the bill into the House\u2019s latest major transportation bill, the BUILD America 250 Act. <\/p>\n

That bill passed out of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on May 22, and will now make its way through a months-long legislative gauntlet known as the federal \u201creauthorization\u201d process. If the Langenkamp provisions survive negotiations on Capitol Hill, though, they will explicitly encourage communities across America to spend their guaranteed Highway Safety Improvement Program dollars on filling gaps in their active transportation networks for the first time.<\/p>\n

Even better, these provisions will allow communities to fortify their bike lanes and greenways with federal money alone. In years past, the same process required an onerous local match that many governments pointed to as an excuse to neglect people outside of cars in their HSIP plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is tremendous bipartisan support in the country for making our roadways far more pedestrian and cyclist friendly,\u201d said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), who introduced the legislation, in an interview with Streetsblog. \u201cAnd this is especially true at a time of soaring gasoline prices. The pressure has been on for us to make sure that our tax dollars go to help people who are using every conceivable kind of transportation \u2014 including walking and bicycling.\u201d<\/p>\n

They might sound wonky, but the measures outlined in the Langenkamp Act have topped many advocates\u2019 policy wishlists for years. Proponents say they could unlock millions of dollars and catalyze countless active transportation projects that wouldn\u2019t otherwise happen.<\/p>\n

But they\u2019ve been particularly urgent since the 2022 death of the mother, diplomat and cycling advocate for whom the bill is named \u2014\u00a0and the advocacy rides her family have organized in her memory every year since.<\/p>\n

Known as the Ride For Your Life, these rolling protests have flooded D.C. streets with thousands of cyclists who turned out to demonstrate their support for Langenkamp\u2019s namesake law and other measures to end traffic violence.<\/p>\n

Langenkamp\u2019s family recently established a nonprofit that will fight for similar legislation across the country. With each campaign, they\u2019ll organize similar advocacy rides, which the family described as the cornerstone of their efforts. Raskin said these rides were essential to \u201cmobilize focus and attention\u201d around his legislation. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople keep getting killed on our roads, and almost everywhere that happens, there\u2019s a huge community of people who want to do something about it,\u201d said Dan Langenkamp, Sarah\u2019s husband. \u201cI hope that we can work with those people to help channel their grief and anger into advocacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, Ride For Your Life isn\u2019t the first or only organization to adopt the humble group ride as a tool for policy change.<\/p>\n

Read more Does Your City Need a \u2018Department of Sidewalks\u2019?<\/a><\/p>\n

Cyclists who participated in Amsterdam\u2019s Stop De Kindermoord protests in the 70s, for instance, helped transform the Netherlands into the biking capital of the world by laying down alongside their bikes in the street \u2014 long before the word \u201cdie-in\u201d was common parlance. <\/p>\n

More recently, the Magnus White Cycling Safety Act gained significant momentum after the Ride for Magnus: Ride For Your Life turned out more than 4,300 cyclists across 48 states. The provisions of that bill, which would require new cars to carry automatic braking systems capable of detecting cyclists and pedestrians, also appear in the current draft of BUILD America 250.<\/p>\n

Langenkamp noted that some bike advocates still struggle to identify the kind of hyper-specific demands that could truly save lives on the road. It can be difficult for them to meaningfully engage the powerful people who can fulfill those demands, or successfully tie well-intentioned but otherwise vague \u201cawareness\u201d rides to their cause, he said.<\/p>\n

With support from an organization that\u2019s done all three, though, he hopes Ride for Your Life can help organizers conduct advocacy rides with real impact \u2014\u00a0and pass laws with real teeth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is affect real change on the ground by pairing our rides with legislation or policy asks,\u201d Langenkamp stressed. \u201cWe bring in not only the families or people impacted by traffic violence, but also sympathetic legislators, the general public, and advocates to this effort. It actually works in getting things done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Langenkamp and Rep. Raskin acknowledged that their bill alone won\u2019t end the epidemic of cyclist deaths in America, and agreed that group rides alone aren\u2019t always enough to get good legislation off the ground. Even with the Langenkamp act included, the larger bill to which their legislation belongs drastically overfunds highways at the expense of other modes, and it will take all kinds of organizing to change that, including flipping seats in Congress itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s really what elections need to be about,\u201d added Raskin. \u201cWe need to have a rigorous public conversation about whether or not we are doing enough to invest in our transportation infrastructure in a way that benefits everybody in the country \u2014 and not just motorists.\u201d <\/p>\n

With Ride For Your Life events planned in Madison, Boston, and D.C. this autumn, Langenkamp hopes his group will continually refine their recipe for demanding change through more rides and smart organizing \u2014\u00a0and, in the process, potentially create a powerful new community of advocates on wheels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know that there are more than 100 people killed a day on U.S. roads \u2014\u00a0and it\u2019s not just cyclists and pedestrians, it\u2019s everybody,\u201d said Langenkamp. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason why there should not be more people interested in this subject \u2026 I think that we can actually help change the narrative and make this a higher priority issue, if we organize better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more These Advocates Are Mapping \u2014 and Grading \u2014 Every Bike Rack In Town<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…and the advocates behind the ride are doing it again soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-federal-policy"],"yoast_head":"\nA Rolling Protest Helped Win Some of the Best Provisions in Congress’ New Infrastructure Bill - Urban Atlas Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/urbanatlasmedia.com\/?p=67\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Rolling Protest Helped Win Some of the Best Provisions in Congress’ New Infrastructure Bill - Urban Atlas Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"...and the advocates behind the ride are doing it again soon.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/urbanatlasmedia.com\/?p=67\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Urban Atlas Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-04T04:10:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanatlasmedia.com\\\/?p=67#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanatlasmedia.com\\\/?p=67\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanatlasmedia.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/036f6ba8a22b3d538020592ea1365862\"},\"headline\":\"A Rolling Protest Helped Win Some of the Best Provisions in Congress’ New Infrastructure Bill\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-04T04:10:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanatlasmedia.com\\\/?p=67\"},\"wordCount\":1037,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanatlasmedia.com\\\/?p=67#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanatlasmedia.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/6c89eca429b443c00b40c0d0da06fc68.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Federal Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanatlasmedia.com\\\/?p=67#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanatlasmedia.com\\\/?p=67\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbanatlasmedia.com\\\/?p=67\",\"name\":\"A Rolling Protest Helped Win Some of the Best Provisions in Congress’ New Infrastructure Bill - 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