We reported yesterday that the president's six-year transportation plan proposes simplifying federal policy by eliminating 55 highway programs and rolling them all into five umbrella programs: the National Highway Program, Highway Safety Improvement, Livable Communities, Federal Allocation, and Research, Technology, and Education.
Here's the list, from DOT, of the 55 programs they intend to consolidate. There are a few popular programs among livability advocates in here, like Safe Routes to School, bicycle and pedestrian grants, and the TIFIA loan program. If this consolidation plan is enacted, it will be up to advocates to continue to push for important projects once they no longer have a dedicated funding source.
Many transportation reformers have spoken in favor of more competitive, more flexible funding. Here it is, folks.
The programs that will be "consolidated" out of existence:
- Interstate Maintenance (IM)
- Highway Bridge Program (Bridge)
- National Highway System (NHS)
- Surface Transportation Program (STP)
- Ferry Boat Program
- Appalachian Development Highway System
- Equity Bonus (EB)
- Historic Covered Bridge Preservation
- Puerto Rico Highway Program
- Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP)
- Hazard Elimination & Rail Highway Crossings
- Railway-Highway Crossings (deduction from HSIP)
- High Risk Rural Roads Program
- Operation Lifesaver
- Work Zone Safety Grants
- National Work Zone Safety Clearinghouse
- Road Safety (Delta and Public Awareness)
- Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality (CMAQ)
- STP, Transportation Enhancements
- Recreational Trails
- Scenic Byways
- America's Byways Resource Center
- Safe Routes to School
- Transportation, Community, and System Preservation
- Non-Motorized Pilot Program
- Bicycle and Pedestrian Grants (Clearinghouse)
- Highways for LIFE
- Future Strategic Highway Research (deductions: IM, NHS, Bridge, STP, CMAQ, HSIP)
- Great Lakes ITS Implementation
- Indian reservation Road Bridges
- Additional CA for States w/Indian Reservations
- Refuge Roads (RR)
- Public Lands Highways, Forest Highways (PLH)
- Lake Tahoe Region MPO (deductions from IRR, PLH, PRP, RR)
- Alaska Highway Takedown (deduction from NHS)
- Denali Access System Program
- Going-to-the-Sun Road, Glacier National Park, Montana
- Highway Use Tax Evasion
- Grant Program to Prohibit Racial Profiling
- National Corridor Infrastructure Program
- Coordinated Border Infrastructure Program
- Projects of Regional and National Significance
- High Priority Projects
- Transportation Projects
- Interstate Maintenance Discretionary (deduction from IM)
- Bridge Set-Aside (deduction from Bridge)
- Magnetic Levitation Program
- Truck Parking Facilities
- Freight Intermodal Distribution Pilot Grants
- Delta Region Transportation Development Program
- Value Pricing Pilot Program
- Pavement Marking Systems Demonstration Projects in Alaska & Tenn.
- Road User Fees Field Test - Public Policy Center of Univ. of Iowa
- Multimodal Facility Improvements
- TIFIA