TEA-21 extension passed; more waiting until final bill

On February 29th, Congress voted to extend TEA-21 for two more months, giving themselves until the end of April to pass the new transportation bill (or another extension). The good news is that the new extension explicity forbids State DOTs from transferring money out of four programs: Enhancements, CMAQ, safety set-aside and the set-asides for metropolitan areas. Had Congress not acted by midnight on February 29th, the FHWA would have shut down and the flow of transportation money to the states would have halted (bad news in an election year). . . .

EXTENSION INSTEAD?
It is quite possible that this dynamic, combined with the low level of funding, will cause Congress to decide to extend the existing legislation into 2005 and deal with it after the elections. This approach is favored by some of our partners in the broader transportation reform movement, who are unhappy with provisions in the Senate bill which weaken environmental protections, soften clean air requirements and reduce public input to the process. An extension would give the bike community more time to build support for Complete Streets, but we have some good new language in SAFETEA and TEA-LU, so we're prepared for either scenario.

THE STATUS OF BIKE PROGRAMS & POLICIES
As the price tag in the House drops from $375 to $275, we'll see drops in funding for "core" programs like enhancements, Rec Trails, and CMAQ. We're watching to make sure that any cuts are made across the board, and don't unfairly target specific programs. We're also prepared to fend off any suggestions that new programs like Safe Routes get cut entirely, rather than simply reduced proportionally. So far, nobody's suggesting it in public, but you never know what's going on behind the scenes.

Summit participants did a great job of pitching Complete Streets to their Representatives. We found a fair amount of general support for the concept, but few Representatives are eager to lead on this issue. It's unclear if we can codify the support into a successful push, but for the first time, the bicycle community has clearly told Congress "We need
Complete Streets."

Summit attendees also talked up the need to direct more traffic safety funding to bicycle and pedestrian projects . . .

We've been hearing rumors of yet another attack on the railbanking statutes that allow construction of rail-trails, but have not yet ferreted out the details.