Senate approves transportation equity act reauthorization.

In Early February, the Senate passed the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act (SAFETEA), a plan for a six-year reauthorization of the nation's surface transportation program. In March, the House of Representatives is expected to take up its bill, the Transportation Equity Act-Legacy for Users (TEA-LU). Then, the two bills will go to a conference committee to work out the differences.

Debate on the bill in the senate centered on the $318 billion price tag, according to Martha Roskowski from the non-profit group America Bikes. "Fiscal conservatives complained that the bill's spending was not in line with the 2004 budget," Roskowski said, "and that the funding package was laced with credits, offsets and other 'funny money.' But other Senators, eager to send 'jobs, jobs, jobs' back to their states, overrode those objections to pass the bill." Senators also chose to overlook President George W. Bush's threat to veto the bill, which calls for $62 billion more than the President's proposal.

Some of the line items of SAFETEA include $360 million for the Recreational Trails Program, $220 million for National Scenic Byways and $420 million for the creation of Sale Routes to School--all over the period of six years.

Additionally, a new Alternative Transportation in National Parks Prograto, funded at $25 million a year, would include bicycle and pedestrian projects in national parks as eligible activities.

"NRPA endorses the proposed funding levels proposed in the House and Senate versions of the bill for most of the programs of interest," said Rich Dolesh, senior policy associate for the Public Policy Office in Washington, D.C. However, Dolesh does caution that some of the items present in the bill include language that would fundamentally change law in Section 4(f), which currently protects parks, recreation and wildlife lands from developmental encroachment.

The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has outlined other items present in the bill that may have a detrimental effect on air, water and transportation.

"This bill would take us back to the time when building highways took precedence over public health, and when people had little or no say in transportation decisions that affect their communities," said Deron Lovaas, deputy director of NRDC's Smart Growth Program. "Environmental protections shouldn't end up as road kill in the rush to pass a federal transportation bill."

For updated information on the progress of. this important federal legislation for parks and recreation, log on to www.nrpa.org.