Bike Walk Nebraska’s week at the Capitol

The Omaha-based nonprofit has made an appearance each day, pushing for bike and pedestrian-related legislation.

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – The nonprofit group Bike Walk Nebraska is making a big investment of time as representatives come each day from Omaha to promote legislation related to biking and walking.

“Some of it is as simple and sort of mundane as making sure our statutes have updated language when it comes to electric bikes”, explains Executive Director Julie Harris. “Everything from that to supporting legislation that will avoid utility poles getting installed in sidewalks.”

On the other hand, there are exciting projects that they’re hoping get funding, like the Cowboy Trail, which stretches across the northern part of the state.

“If we can maintain it, and keep it in good shape, we know a lot of people are going to want to come and ride across Nebraska”, says Harris. “We have a lot of people who like to ride coast to coast or even those who want to ride from their small towns. We think it’s a worthy investment.”

Getting that work done means a lot of hours are logged in committees, waiting to testify. And despite hiking and biking seeming relatively non-polarizing, there’s still much to be done.

“There’s always a lot of questions”, laughs Harris. “There’s a lot of misinformation that we sort of have to slap down. There’s a lot of folks who may not understand the benefit or the need for activity, or safety, or all these things, so that’s really our job.”

That job doesn’t end when the week ends, but this particular week remains a very busy one for Bike Walk Nebraska.