3 July 2003: Support railtrails

A little-known section of the Bush Administration's "SAFETEA" proposal could have a devastating effect on the Rails-to-Trails movement if it is incorporated into the final TEA-21 reauthorization currently working its way through Congress.

The House and the Senate are currently working on their own versions of the TEA-21 reauthorization, which are independent of the administration's SAFETEA proposal. Nevertheless, with the administration, the House, and the Senate all controlled by one party, there is always the possibility that the adminstration's proposal will influence the House and the Senate versions of TEA-21 reauthorization.

With work on the TEA-21 reauthorization bill currently in progress in both the Senate and House of Representatives, now would be a good time to contact your Senators and Representative to express your support for bicycle and pedestrian issues in general, and Rails-to-Trails in particular.

Please note that an inaccurate email message has been circulating about the anti-railtrail section of SAFETEA. The email claims that Missouri Senator Kit Bond has introduced an amendment with the anti-railtrail language. This is not true; Senator Bond has not introduced any amendments related to the TEA-21 reauthorization. MoBikeFed News has more details about the inaccurate email message.

Information about the railtrail-unfriendly section of the Bush administration's SAFETEA proposal:

Background Information
Railbanking, Rail-Trails and Section 1716 of SAFETEA
Provided by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, July 1, 2003

There are nearly 12,500 miles of open rail-trail in the United States. Another 16,760 miles are in development, with communities in every state awaiting their construction. The enormous popularity of trails is fueled by their ability to generate civic pride and economic prosperity by catalyzing small business growth, promoting tourism and increasing property values. Rail-trails enhance livability by improving air and water quality, and preserving natural, cultural and historical resources. They also create healthy people and communities by making it easy and fun to get outside for exercise, transportation and recreation.

The driving policy force behind this huge movement is two pieces of federal legislation: 1) the 1983 railbanking provisions of the National Trails Systems Act allowing unused railroad corridors to be preserved for possible rail reactivation if managed on an interim basis as trails and 2) the Transportation Enhancements (TE) program included in federal transportation legislation since 1991 which has provided more than $530 million for rail-trail acquisition and development. Specifically, 4,334 miles of rail corridor have been railbanked; 1,611 miles of railbanked corridor are open to the public (85 trails); and over $115 million in Transportation Enhancements dollars have been devoted to railbanked rail-trails.

On Sept. 30, 2003, current federal surface transportation legislation, TEA-21 expires. It is currently undergoing congressional renewal or “reauthorization.”

The Bush Administration’s proposed transportation bill, introduced in both the House and the Senate as part of the Safe and Flexible Transportation Equity Act, “SAFETEA,” includes a provision, Section 1617, captioned indemnification on Certain Railbanked Projects. This provision was included in the transportation bill at the request of the U. S. Department of Justice. Its purpose is to stop states from using TE or any other federal dollars for railbanked trails. It does so by requiring them to reimburse the federal government for any such investment, plus attorneys’ fees, if such a corridor is the subject of a winning takings claim. Its affect would be to stop railbanking in its tracks.

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy strongly opposes Section 1617 of SAFETEA. This provision would render railbanking useless as a tool for corridor preservation and interim trail use.

For additional information about the legislation, including the actual text proposed, an analysis of it, and a state-by-state list of affected trails, please click on the "comment on this article" link at the end of this message.