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Transportation Industry

SafeTea-LU: "pork" or "turkey"?

International Railway Journal, Sept, 2005 by William Vantuono

AFTER a nearly two-year impasse between the White House and the United States Congress, Congress last month passed, and President George W Bush signed into law, the $US 286.4 billion "Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users" (SafeTea-LU) bill. It's virtually guaranteed that almost no-one will call it by anything other than its acronym. Opinions vary on whether it will live up to its long, lofty title.

SafeTea-LU succeeds TEA-21 (Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century) in providing funding for United States highway, bridge, railway, pubic transport, and safety programmes up to 2009. Though nearly 80% is for highway projects, it guarantees $US 52.6 billion for rail and bus transit projects. It also includes about $US 6 billion for transport safety and $US 24 billion for special projects over the next six years.

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Special Projects

All told, there are about 6400 special projects identified in the bill by members of the House of Representatives. Advocates say their Congressional representatives are "bringing home the bacon", while critics call them "pork." Conservative Senator John McCain (Republican-Arizona), one of four who voted against SafeTea-LU, told the Associated Press the $US 24 billion is "egregious," and pointed to dozens of projects he sarcastically termed "interesting."

The most overcooked example of pork, he said, is $US 2.3 million for landscaping on the Ronald Reagan Freeway in California. "I wonder what Reagan would say," McCain remarked of the former American president, who was known as a fiscal conservative.

US Congressman Don Young (Republican-Alaska), chair of the powerful House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, rather triumphantly stated that he managed to "stuff the turkey." Indeed. Alaska, ranked number 48 out the 50 states in population, came in number four in special projects at $US 941 million, including $US 231 million for a new highway bridge near Anchorage to be named "Don Young's Way."

Of course, there's another connotation for "turkey," and it doesn't signify something particularly tasty. Public transport did fare reasonably well with $US 52.6 million in guarantees, but American Public Transportation Association (Apta) president, Mr Bill Millar, said that even more funding is needed. "The United States Department of Transportation has identified infrastructure needs far in excess of the final amount approved in this new legislation," he said. "Our members hope that Congress will continue to review funding sources and mechanisms that will enable us to more completely address the growing needs of our country."

It's the freight railways that may have the right to cry "fowl" the loudest. Though they did not come away empty-handed, SafeTea-LU earmarks for railfreight public-private partnerships fall woefully short of projected costs, and will pay, in most cases, for little more than studies.

For example, there is $US 100 million for initial federal funding of the Chicago Regional Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (Create) project, a plan to ease the movement of railfreight and passengers through Chicago, the biggest bottleneck in the country. Create, which involves six Class I railways and the Metra commuter rail system as well as state and local agencies, is estimated to cost $US 1.9 billion to complete. Project officials had hoped for $US 600 million in SafeTea-LU and were confident they would get at least $US 400 million. "The meagre handout means that freight delays, chronically blocked street crossings and inefficient commuter rail service on some routes will persist for years to come in the nation's busiest rail hub," said Crain's Chicago Business.

Yet, there are some brighter spots for railfreight. Another public-private partnership, the Alameda Corridor East extension in California, got $US 125 million. SafeTea-LU also increases Section 130 level crossing safety funding from $US 165 million to $US 220 million annually; sets aside $US 90 million for Norfolk Southern's Heartland Project to increase rail intermodal clearances between Virginia and Ohio; authorises $US 35 million in new Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) loans for small railways and lifts the collateral requirement for these loans; and earmarks nearly $US 30 million for rail relocation projects in Portsmouth, Virginia, and St Teresa, New Mexico.

Pork or turkey? It depends upon whether your project involves steel wheels or rubber tyres.

William Vantuono

Editor, Railway Age

Transportation Industry

SafeTea-LU: "pork" or "turkey"?

International Railway Journal, Sept, 2005 by William Vantuono

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