Federal Highway Official Promises Roads Will be Priority
Speaking at the American Road and Transportation Builders Association's 100th annual convention Tuesday, the administrator of the Federal Highway Administration promised support in restoring about half of a proposed $8.4 billion cut to the highway trust fund. It was the agency's first public vow of support, coming soon after U.S. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta told a Senate group he would also support the partial restoration. FHWA Administrator Mary Peters also vowed that the agency will reemphasize road-building as its priority instead of being "focused on too many areas." Peters said later that 'in the past the agency got into a lot of social policy issues" such as land use and environmental justice. "Those are local decisions to be made," she said.
Nevertheless, the FHWA can play a role as mediator when disputes between other federal agencies and local groups are holding up projects, she added. While ARTBA and other highway advocates would like to see more than $4.4 billion restored to the highway trust fund in the next budget cycle, Peters noted that the amount would "bring us back to [original] TEA-21 levels. That's about what we should have expected."