Along the Road - United States. Department of Transportation activity - Brief Article

Public Roads, July, 2000

"Along the Road" is the place to look for information about current and upcoming activities, developments, trends, and items of general interest to the highway community. This information comes from Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sources unless otherwise indicated. Your suggestions and input are welcome. Let's meet along the road.

Policy and Legislation

Slater Forwards Legislation for Transportation Programs

Slater forwarded legislation to Congress that would authorize the use of $468 million in federal transportation funds to support expanded passenger rail services, including improvements for high-speed rail service on intercity corridors across the United States.

By investing money in high-speed rail, DOT can help to reduce congestion on U.S. highways. Less congestion helps to improve the environment and air quality and contributes to making more livable communities.

Slater also asked Congress to approve $398 million in contracting authority for DOT's new Emergency Relief Fund Reserve Fund. The annual $100 million allotted for the fund is not enough to keep up with the natural disasters that have occurred over the past few years. A new fund, in addition to the current emergency fund, would eliminate the backlog of current emergency needs.

Slater also requested funding for $221 million in additional contracting authority for surface transportation safety, environmental, and mobility enhancement research. He also requested an additional $120 million for transportation systems deployment; $140 million in additional contracting authority for the Borders and Corridors programs; $74 million from the Revenue Aligned Budget Authority (RABA); $70 million from RABA for research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on heavy trucks, the needs of older drivers, aggressive driving, seatbelt use, and highway safety among rural and minority populations; $48 million from RABA to improve mobility in the Mississippi Delta region; $50 million from RABA for transportation services that provide former welfare recipients with access to employment; $25 million in additional contracting authority for the Transportation and Community and System Preservation Pilot Program; and $10 million from RABA for a commercial driver's licence pilot program.

Task Force Reports Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel Will Cost Millions More To Complete

A report issued by a federal task force found that Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel (CA/T Project -- the largest highway project ever attempted in American history -- could cost an additional $300 million to $480 million, raising the cost overrun from $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion and the total estimated cost of the project from $13.4 billion to $13.6 billion. The project replaces the existing I-93 elevated highway with an underground expressway and extends I-90 to Boston's Logan International Airport. It was originally estimated to cost $10.8 billion.

In its report, the task force faulted Massachusetts for breaching its trust with FHWA and others by "intentionally withholding knowledge of the project's potential cost overrun." The task force also faulted FHWA for failing to maintain a sufficiently independent relationship with CA/T project leadership.

On Feb. 14, DOT's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a report on the CA/T project, indicating that cost estimates were much higher than previously thought. Massachusetts announced that the estimate had risen from $10.8 billion to $12.2 billion -- a $1.4 billion increase. FHWA Administrator Kenneth Wykle then drafted a six-part action plan to address issues raised in the OIG's report. Part of the plan was to establish a task force to conduct a complete review of the FHWA oversight processes. The task force found that FHWA needed to enhance federal oversight and require fiscal responsibility from the leaders of the CA/T project.

On May 17, Massachusetts Gov. Cellucci signed legislation to authorize the use of state funds to cover some of the cost increase for the CA/T project.

Major challenges for the project's designers and builders include difficult soil conditions, tight working space, the proximity to huge glass-and-steel office towers and fragile old brick buildings, the need to hold up an elevated highway while tunneling directly beneath it, and keeping Boston open for business throughout 14 years of construction.

The project has been under construction since late 1991.

Management and Administration

FHWA and FTA Issue Proposed Planning and Environmental Rules

FHWA and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issued two proposed rules to strengthen the transportation planning process and promote environmentally sound investment choices. The rules would govern the process for distributing more than $30 billion worth of highway and transit projects annually.

One of the rules is for metropolitan and statewide planning (FHWA Docket No. FHWA-99-5933) and the other is for highway and transit project development and implementation under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (FHWA Docket No. FHWA-99-5989).The two rules are linked in terms of their working relationship between FHWA and FTA and are posted in the Federal Register (May 25, 2000, Vol. 65, No. 102).