By Ron Thaniel
December 8, 2003

In the recently released H.R. 3550, "The Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (TEA-LU), the bipartisan leadership of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee unveiled a new $17.6 billion program titled Projects of National and Regional Significance. The proposed would fund large and expensive infrastructure projects. A key priority has been ensuring that this program was included in the House bill.

In announcing the program, House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Don Young (AK) said, " No one can dispute that America's surface transportation system is in trouble. Our transportation infrastructure is old and getting worse. Thirty two percent of our major roads are in poor or mediocre condition and 28 percent of our bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete."

"Congestion is affecting our quality of life and costing our nation $67 billion a year - more than $1,100 for the average commuter each year. Commuters are sitting longer and longer in traffic jams and billions of gallons of gas is wasted each year due to congestion," said Young.

Conference of Mayors Transportation and Communications Chair Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels said, "In many cities, major highways and bridges are falling apart. A strong transportation network is a key building block for economic growth."

"We can't create a 21st Century economy with 1950s infrastructure. By proposing a major new initiative to fix aging parts of our system, the Committee is making sure our economy doesn't get struck in traffic," said Nickels.

Eligible transportation projects for this program include any surface transportation project eligible for Federal assistance under title 23, United States Code, including freight railroad projects.

To be eligible for assistance under this section, a project shall have eligible project costs that are reasonably anticipated to equal or exceed the $500,000,000 million or 75 percent of the amount of Federal highway assistance funds apportioned for the most recently completed fiscal year to the State in which the project is located.

Inclusion of this legislation in TEA-LU is a victory for America's cities and the Conference will continue to advocate for this program and other essential metropolitan focused transportation programs as the debate on TEA-21 reauthorization continues over the months ahead.

Please visit the Conference website at usmayors.org to view H.R. 3550, "The Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (TEA-LU)."