The US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN) released his blueprint for the federal surface transportation reauthorization bill last Thursday. (links to these documents are at the end of this post)
The future progress of important Panhandle projects such as highway maintenance, railroad overpasses, and the Heartland Expressway will be largely influenced by this bill.
The House T&I highway and transit subcommittee is tentatively scheduled to markup the SAFETEA-LU reauthorization blueprint today. The committee print will only include programmatic and policy changes, without funding formulas, specific funding details and project earmarks. A full committee markup is expected before the end of July.
Where this will lead is higly uncertain as US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood last week announced the administration’s recommendation for an 18-month program extension. This is being supported by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Given the funding challenges, an extension of some sort is highly likely. The Economist magazine published an article titled "Delays Ahead." It can be viewed at http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13871995
Some interesting points made by the referenced Economist article:
- "The trouble with a bold $500 billion plan is that it requires $500 billion. The Highway Trust Fund provides federal money for transport. It will be broke by late August."
- "Washington's main transportation strategy has been not to have one....an integrated system for planning, one that includes passenger rail, freight, highways and mass transport, does not exist"
- "...The transport secretary (Sec Lahood) says he would send more money to metropolitan areas and use cost-benefit analyses to guide investment."
- "There may be a new vision for transport, but it will never progress until someone is willing to pay for it."
To view the 3 main documents released by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, visit, courtesy of NADO, the following links:
Executive Summary:
http://www.nado.org/legaffair/executive.pdf
Complete Program Consolidation and Reoganization Plan:
http://www.nado.org/legaffair/compiled.pdf
Working Outline:
www.nado.org/legaffair/blueprint.pdf
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