For the first time ever, the U.S. Department of Transportation has
launched a website to solicit input from the public as part of
reauthorizing the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century
(TEA-21). U.S. DOT is now working with Congress, state and local
officials, and other stakeholders to develop its proposals to take to
the Office of Management and Budget after Labor Day. Comments will be
accepted until January 1, 2003, but submit your comments by August 30,
2002 for the greatest impact.
Visit <http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reauthorization/>
to submit
your comments. Feel free to use American Hiking Society's
recommendations below. We encourage you to tell stories and give
examples that describe your experience with the transportation system,
especially foot trails. How would you like to see federal resources
address local needs? Please send a copy of your comments to cmontorfano@americanhiking.org
and info@nynjtc.org. We will use your information and ideas
in our effort making the case for further transportation reform.
Comments may be submitted online by typing into a form, attaching a
document file, or sending written comments to: Docket Clerk, U.S.
Department of Transportation, Room PL-401, Docket Number:
OST-2002-12170, 400 7th St. SW, Washington, DC 20590.
If you comment on-line, you will be asked to create a user ID and
login and may submit comments in as many issue areas as you like. Your
comments will be visible to other users of the website. Questions
about the comment process can also be directed to U.S. DOT at
1-800-647-5527.
Background:
Although most hikers and trail organizations associate trail system
development and funding with the traditional land management agencies
(e.g. National Park Service, USDA Forest Service, state and local
natural resource agencies), the U.S. Department of Transportation
(DOT) also plays an important role-in fact, thanks to transportation
policy reform in the early 1990s, the DOT's Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA) has become the nation's largest single source
of funding for multiple use paths, trails, and related projects.
In 1991 Congress enacted the Intermodal Surface Transportation
Efficiency Act (ISTEA), a six-year law authorizing a wide range of
federal-aid transportation programs, including new programs that fund
trails. ISTEA marked a shift in national transportation policy-one
acknowledging energy conservation, protection of the environment, and
community quality of life as high priorities along with the
traditional goals of federal transportation spending. In 1998,
Congress enacted the Transportation Equity Act for the Twenty-First
Century (TEA-21), which continued and expanded the programs benefiting
trails (among other policies) begun in ISTEA for another six years.
ISTEA and TEA-21 have been a tremendous boon to trail development
and bicycle and pedestrian systems of all kinds. In its first six
years alone, ISTEA provided over $1 billion for multi-use trail
development, including more than $350 million for rail-trails. TEA-21
expires on September 30, 2003 and is likely to be renewed for another
six-year term. Congress will hammer out the new law, tentatively known
as TEA-3 or T-3, over the next year. The two key trail programs of
TEA-21 for hikers are the Transportation Enhancements Activities
program and Recreational Trails Program.
Transportation Enhancements (TE) are investments that protect the
environment and provide significant economic and community benefits,
including the development of walking and bicycling infrastructure,
acquisition and preservation of scenic and historic property and
resources, and street and landscape improvements. Hiking trails are
eligible for TE funding as long as there is a transportation element
to the project being funded. TE funds may be used for many costs
associated with trail development, including project planning;
engineering and design; right-of-way acquisition; and construction of
trailhead facilities, treadway, bridges, and underpasses.
The Recreational Trails Program (RTP) provides money to states to
develop and maintain recreational trails and trail-related facilities
for both non-motorized and motorized recreational trail uses,
including hiking. Recreational Trails Program funds may be used for
maintaining/restoring existing trails; development or rehabilitation
of trailside and trailhead facilities and trail linkages;
purchase/lease of trail construction and maintenance equipment; new
trail construction (with restrictions for new trails on Federal
lands); property or easement acquisition; certain state administrative
costs; and environmental protection and trail safety educational
programs.
Recommendations:
As the reauthorization process for TEA-21 begins, American Hiking
Society recommends the following to strengthen the funding programs
that benefit foot trails and elevate the importance and priority of
foot trail projects:
- Retain and improve the existing TEA-21 funding and planning
programs that benefit trails, especially the Transportation
Enhancements (TE) and Recreational Trails Programs (RTP), to ensure
continued funding of hiking and foot trail projects. Specific
improvements to these programs include:
- Encourage states to simplify the paperwork, application, and
approval processes for small-scale non-motorized projects.
- Improve level of citizen participation in foot trail and
transportation planning at the state and local level; ensure State
Recreational Trail Advisory Committees include trail users from all
significant trail uses in a state.
- Explicitly identify trail segments from the National Trails
System as priority projects for completion and enhancement to help the
trails become the resources Congress intended.
- Encourage more flexibility for the Recreational Trails Program
and Transportation Enhancements to function as grant programs rather
than reimbursement programs to help address the problems small
organizations may face in furnishing outlays up front; encourage
in-kind contributions and volunteer labor as part of the non-federal
match; allow non-governmental organizations to directly sponsor and
administer projects that have been approved by Metropolitan Planning
Organizations, advisory committees, or states; allow RTP and TE funds
to cover a percentage of administrative costs of non-governmental
organizations.
- Provide greater consideration to interpretive signage and wayside
exhibit trail projects on highways.
- Require all highway construction/reconstruction projects to
consider safe trail crossings, if applicable, to make trail
intersections with roads/highways safer through signing,
signalization, and off-grade crossings as warranted.
- Encourage trail development as a key component of national
transportation infrastructure. The 22 national scenic and historic
trails combined with thousands of miles of other federal, state, and
local trails and trail networks provide myriad connections between the
nation's public lands and natural places with historic and cultural
sites, urban areas, towns and communities. Recognizing trails as
infrastructure would enhance transportation, environmental,
recreational, health, and economic development initiatives throughout
the nation.
- Minimize the transportation versus recreation distinction
regarding eligibility for trails under the Enhancements program. Foot
trails by their nature are related to surface transportation, not just
recreation, and should be eligible for TE project funds.
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For more information, please visit <http://www.americanhiking.org/policy/current/tea.html>
where you can download fact sheets on TEA-21 and RTP and American
Hiking Society's white paper on TEA-21 reauthorization. We hope you
will join our efforts to strengthen these programs that benefit trails
and hikers nationwide.
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Sign-on to LWCF Letter:
The Trail Conference has signed onto the following letter:
September 4, 2002
Dear Senator:
As civic and community leaders from across the country --
representing park and recreation advocates and professionals, land
trusts, community park groups, the sporting goods and outdoor
recreation industries, youth sports organizations, smart growth
proponents, wildlife enthusiasts, park planners, and recreational
trails organizations -- we are writing to ask you for your leadership
in supporting a strong and vigorous Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF)
and Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program (UPARR).
This summer, millions of American families have headed to the
beach, hiked in the mountains, visited America's cultural heritage
areas, viewed wildlife, held family reunions at a state or local park,
or participated in youth sports activities. However, what many
encountered were crowded beaches, overused trails, historic properties
in need of repair, less wildlife habitat, and not enough recreational
facilities to accommodate demand. We Americans seek a 'close-to-home'
recreational experience, and options for more distant recreation, too.
We've come a long way in recent years toward meeting demands, but we
have a long way to go.
That's why we supported the House's effort to fully fund the
Title VIII Conservation Trust at its $1.44 billion authorized level
and encourage the Senate to do likewise during full passage of their
Interior Appropriations Bill. We recognize the Conservation Trust as a
significant short-term commitment to funding parks and recreation
through LWCF and UPARR and support efforts to fully fund this program
on an annual basis.
We also ask that during the deliberations for the passage of a
final Interior Bill, you work with your colleagues on both sides of
the aisle to match the House-passed funding levels for stateside LWCF
at $154 million and UPARR at $30 million.
The resurgence of the stateside LWCF program through the auspices
of the Title VIII Conservation Trust has renewed hope that Congress
will restore this partnership to its rightful place. We also know
first-hand how states and localities match federal funds to help
provide publicly-accessible recreation places. Further, urban
communities rely on the partnership opportunities available through
UPARR to restore parks in neighborhoods desperate for fun-filled, safe
places to bring their children to play, while at the same time
increasing the economic vitality of those areas.
Right now, Congress has a unique opportunity to provide an
increased investment in our nation's quality of life. We urge you to
take advantage of this opportunity and work with your colleagues
towards passage of a strong Interior Bill that adequately funds
stateside LWCF and UPARR. Our states and communities are counting on
you to help assure access to public parks and recreational areas for
generations to come.
Sincerely,
NY-NJ Trail Conference
