Transportation Equity Act Offers Transit-Related Funds
The passage of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) in
1998 represents unprecedented opportunity for communities that are seeking to
build or expand their transit systems. This opportunity will be realized through
significantly increased overall spending on surface transportation, the
retention of the ability of communities to "flex" highway dollars for
transit projects, the creation of new programs and by program changes that allow
local communities to raise capital through the use of innovative financing. Most
importantly, Congress established "guaranteed" funding for surface
transportation projects, which ensures a minimum funding level each fiscal year
until TEA-21 expires on September 30, 2003.
TEA-21 authorized $217 billion in overall surface transportation spending,
which represents an increase of 40% over the funding authorized in the
Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). Included in
the $217 billion is a total of $36 billion of "guaranteed" monies and
$5 billion in "non-guaranteed" monies for transit. The reference to
"guaranteed" monies refers to actions taken by Congress to ensure that
gasoline tax revenues held in the Highway Trust Fund and the Mass Transit
Account would be spent on surface transportation projects, rather than be
allowed to accumulate for deficit-reduction purposes. As a result, while
Congress could provide less than the "guaranteed" levels in the annual
appropriations bill, this provides no help since these monies could be used for
no other purpose. To date, Congress has provided the "guaranteed"
funding levels in Fiscal Years 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001.
TEA-21 retains the "flex" provisions of ISTEA, which permits local
communities to utilize monies directed by formula to the National Highway System
(NHS), the Surface Transportation Program (STP) and the Congestion Mitigation
and Air Quality program (CMAQ) for eligible transit purposes. The eligibility
for transit projects in each program varies, with CMAQ and STP program funds
proving to be the monies most readily flexed by communities since the programs
were first established in ISTEA.
A large portion of the STP and CMAQ program monies are directed specifically
to the local communities to be allocated by the Metropolitan Planning
Organization (MPO) through the short-and long-range Transportation Improvement
Program (TIP). The MPOs develop both three- year and 20-year plans that must be
amended at least once...
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