Mica proposal slashes transit, highway funding

Written by jrood

As reported by Railway Age: As expected, Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) Thursday unveiled a six-year surface transportation reauthorization bill, totaling $230 billion, roughly 20% less than the previous bill, SAFETEA-LU, and also significantly less than a $500 billion reauthorization bill introduced to Congress, but never passed, in 2009. Mica, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has said future spending should not exceed funding available in the Highway Trust Fund, which has been supplemented by general revenue in recent years. Federal transit funding assistance and even highway funding directed to the states would decrease as a result. The bill's effort to reduce costs includes revamping or terminating numerous programs, and removing any requirement for states to offer "transportation enhancements" such as pedestrian and bicycle improvements, though saving generated by the latter change would be marginal at best. The bill also would not allow states to impose tolls on existing interstate highway lanes, though tolls could be imposed on new highway lanes and on existing federal (U.S. number) roads. Mica's bill also rejects any increase in the federal fuels tax, last changed in 1993 and already producing lower revenue due in part to more efficient automotive fuel use and alternative-fuel vehicles. Negative reaction to the Mica bill, some of it bipartisan, preceded the bill's introduction. Rep. Ear Blumenauer (D-Ore.), an ardent advocate of light rail, streetcar, and bicycle transportation, said, "The proposed funding levels in this reauthorization are disastrously stingy and do not meet the minimum levels required to keep America's transportation network safe and our economy competitive." He added, "Funding at these levels will result in hundreds of thousands of lost jobs and roads, railways and bridges with structural deficiencies that threaten our communities."

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