Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 5, 1993 TAG: 9304050218
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BLAZING TRAILS - LITERALLY, PERHAPS
THERE IS $7.5 million out there waiting to be grabbed for transportation "enhancement" projects in Virginia that veer off the well-worn path of the interstate-highway system.Every locality has a crack at a share of this money. Even more exciting, every individual and every group in every locality has a crack at identifying projects that (1) would make communities more livable and (2) are environmentally sound and make economic sense.
Every individual. Every group. So start thinking about spending some of this money, which comes to the state via the federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991.
You might be wondering: If the money is to be used for transportation-related projects but specifically cannot be used to build more highways, what does the federal government have in mind? A list to browse through:
Providing facilities for pedestrians and bicycles.
Acquiring scenic easements and scenic or historic sites.
Scenic or historic highway programs.
Landscaping and other scenic beautification.
Historic preservation.
Rehabilitating and operating historic transportation buildings or structures.
Preserving abandoned railway corridors for such uses as hiking or biking trails.
Controlling and removing outdoor advertising.
Archaeological planning and research.
Mitigating water pollution caused by highway runoff.
Any one of these could be of real benefit to some locality, but the program is not without its critics.
For this is not new money, but money reallocated from more traditional highway projects. ISTEA (referred to as "ice tea" by transportation insiders) requires states to set aside each year at least 10 percent of their federal Surface Transportation Program funds for these new types of projects.
That will amount to $155 billion nationwide over the six years, 1992-97, covered by the act. In Virginia, it's $7.5 million this year - $7.5 million less for highway construction in a state with pressing construction needs in the congested Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads areas.
Those needs are real - but won't ever be satisfied. The relatively small sum going toward non-traditional means of transportation is an important first step in trying to break the cycle of building larger and larger highways that quickly fill up, creating new demands to make them larger still.
ISTEA won't eliminate the need for new roads. But the modest program does give localities the flexibility to spend some of their transportation money in ways to reduce the demand for new roads - or at least make new roads fit into the community more pleasantly.
It recognizes that a community might have a need for, say, a bicycle path or a pedestrian walkway; that a neighborhood might want landscaping or greenbelts to soften the effects of a road through a historic area; that an organization might like to create a trolley system to promote tourism.
The Virginia Museum of Transportation is working hard on just such an idea for downtown Roanoke, and it would like to get some of this funding.
ISTEA offers an opportunity to cut new trails, figuratively and literally, in seeking creative solutions to local transportation needs.
Virginia has its own list of criteria it will follow when it decides how to disburse this money. Among them are economic benefits for travel and tourism; cost-benefit ratio; and incorporation of education programs.
No one knows how the money eventually will be spent; the program is too new. But this is certain: Localities that don't think about their needs and submit a proposal won't see any of it.
Roanoke has started thinking. Planners will hold a workshop at 7 p.m. Tuesday in City Council Chambers to hear ideas from citizens and groups about what the city's criteria should be in applying for funds.
Any locality that has transportation needs beyond laying new highways - and what locality doesn't? - should be gearing up in similar fashion. Groups and individuals interested in changing the direction of transportation policy should make sure they are heard. It's time to get on board.