Scenic highways. Hike & bike trails. Graffiti abatement. Who needs ’em?
State transportation officials have abruptly ended a program aimed at making roadways prettier, safer and historically relevant, blaming federal budget pressure caused by war and hurricanes.
But the Texas Historical Commission’s director said Tuesday the state Department of Transportation purposely targeted millions in proposed “transportation enhancement” initiatives because agency officials have never liked the program. An agency spokesman denied the claim.
“People can philosophically have that position, but this money was appropriated by the U.S. Congress, which had a big debate over whether to continue it,” said Larry Oaks, executive director of the historical commission, which had projects among the hundreds denied funding by the Texas Transportation Commission’s decision to cut back enhancement projects and focus on congestion relief.
“It’s not just about driving on the roads. It’s about having a great experience as you travel America,” Oaks said.
A letter sent last week by Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson told the historical commission and others hoping for enhancement money that it was merely responding to three Federal Highway Administration requests this year to give up more than $305 million promised to Texas, “with the majority of the cuts coming from the Transportation Enhancement program.”
“The spending authority withdrawn by the FHWA is due in part to hurricane response and the continuing war on terrorism,” Williamson said.
The letter went on to tell applicants that because of “unstable and unreliable” federal transportation funding, state officials won’t pursue future enhancement projects unless mandated by law.
That seems awfully petty to me. I could see a temporary suspension of this program, but forever? What’s the rush?
I should note that TxDOT has a fair bit of unallocated money lying around, as was discussed earlier this year when State Rep. Trey Martinez-Fischer proposed using it to fund a temporary rollback of the state gas tax. There’s really no reason why they couldn’t withstand a temporary cutback in funds if they wanted this program to continue.
One project that’s still safe for now, as it has already had its funds allocated, is the Green Ribbon Project, which State Rep. Garnet Coleman discussed in his guest post in August. Coleman released the following statement (Word doc) about TxDOT’s decision, which includes a list of all affected Houston-area projects. A full accounting of the state’s projects is here (PDF). Note the wide variety of things that have been made possible by this program – it’s a lot more than just planting trees. I have a feeling this one isn’t going to go away without a fight, so stay tuned.