Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 9, 1993 TAG: 9312090102
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Pena was scheduled to make his announcement in Union Station, reflecting the administration's philosophy that the country must have an interconnecting transportation system, not just a highway system.
The map - detailing more than 158,000 miles of U.S. roads that now carry most of the country's interstate trucks and travelers - was ordered in 1991 highway-mass transit legislation, partly to be certain that a truly national highway system was preserved as states and cities gained greater control over transportation decisions once made by the federal government.
Pena is also to unveil a "national transportation system" map that will include transit systems, railroads, ports and other facilities.
Pena in effect is firing the first shot in two battles: Congress's final decision on the national system map, as well as the 1997 battle over new transportation legislation to take the country into the next century.
Congress must adopt a final National Highway System map by Sept. 30, 1995, and before doing so may reopen many familiar highway debates, including the balance among highways, the environment and other transit methods.
The 45,376-mile interstate system will automatically be a part of the new national system, and Pena is to propose an additional 113,298 miles of current major four- and two-lane highways. A small number of new highways are planned, mainly bypasses in congested areas.
In all, the system will amount to about 4 percent of U.S. highways, which account for about 40 percent of all vehicle miles.
Highway improvement efforts will be concentrated on those routes, which will be eligible for about $6.5 billion a year in federal funds.
Administration officials have emphasized that the map will not be the forerunner of a new interstate highway system.
by CNB