The city’s bike paths have been good for Dan Hughes’ business.

“I talk to people all the time who say, ‘I live in such-and-such a place and there’s a path two blocks from me. That’s where I’m going to ride,'” said Hughes, owner of Sunflower Outdoor and Bike Shop, 802 Mass.

Some of the city’s most prominent bicycle-pedestrian paths — along the South Lawrence Trafficway and Clinton Parkway — were built or rebuilt in the 1990s using federal money. But now that money is in question, and city officials say the future of such projects in Lawrence is threatened as a result.

“If it were to come up now, it would be difficult,” Assistant City Manager Debbie Van Saun said. “We really rely on funding — federal, state grants — to do a lot of the projects we get done.”

For the past 12 years, Congress required states to set aside a small percentage of their federal highway money for projects to enhance communities, such as pedestrian walkways, recreational trails, tourist service facilities and historic building renovations.

But the federal House Appropriations Committee approved a proposal by voice vote Thursday to give states the option of spending that money — $600 million in 2004 — on road projects.

The proposal still must go before the full House and the Senate must approve the idea for it to take effect.

Kansas has received $107 million in “transportation enhancement funding” since 1992. More than $4 million of that was disbursed by the Kansas Department of Transportation to Lawrence and Douglas County.

Ninety-three communities across the state applied for the 2004 grants, state officials said. Only 48 projects were selected.

The U.S. House of Representatives is considering a proposal to make spending optional for bicycle paths and pedestrian walkways. Much of this money has helped pay for the current bike paths and walkways in and around Lawrence, such as this one south of the South Lawrence Trafficway near the Youth Sports Inc. complex.

“The program in Kansas has been very popular with a lot of our communities,” said Stan Whitley, a KDOT spokesman. “As it is now, there’s not enough to meet the requests that we receive every year.”

That money hasn’t just gone for bicycle paths. The Union Pacific Depot in North Lawrence was restored and landscaped using $1 million of the federal money.

It is the possibility of losing financing for the bicycle-pedestrian paths that has raised the most concern in Lawrence, however. The city and county have received $2.75 million in funding for the paths since 1994.

“It would be unfortunate if that happened,” Mayor David Dunfield said. “Transportation funding is so heavily weighted to automobile transportation, it’s nice to have a little something earmarked for alternatives.”

Without the federal set-aside requirement, however, legislators could decide differently. Rep. Carol Beggs, R-Salina, a member of the Kansas House Transportation Committee, said KDOT should focus on road construction and maintenance.

“I don’t see bike paths as an enhancement to our transportation needs,” he said. “There are some things that are not really focused on being for the benefit of the public at large.”

¢ 6News video: Bike paths may lose funding under new plan¢Lawrence/Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Office¢Lawrence Bicycle Club¢League of American Bicyclists

Hughes disagreed.

“I think anytime you can add recreation areas for people to pedal their bikes, push baby strollers or Rollerblade,” he said, “that adds a lot to the community.”

— The Associated Press contributed to this article.