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July
11, 2002; Volume 8, Issue 13
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LOCAL
REPORT
Audit Reveals Cash
Crisis at VDOT as State Turns to Voters
for Road Money
|
 On
July 10, Virginia State Auditor Walter
Kucharski released a report finding that
the state Department of Transportation
has completely failed to track the money
it gets and the money it spends.
According to the report, the agency
consistently underestimated project
costs, failed to track maintenance needs
for the state's 56,000 mile road
network, approved construction projects
before identifying funding sources and
rarely updated the agency’s financial
plans to reflect cost overruns. The
state audit attributes the lack of
financial accountability to top VDOT
managers, finding that they allowed road
projects to move forward with little
oversight or information sharing between
construction and financial divisions.
Governor
Warner ordered an audit of the agency's
finances after he took office in January
and discovered that VDOT could not
answer basic questions about its
financial accounts. Severe mismanagement
forced VDOT to remove $3 billion of
projects from its original $10.7 billion
six-year transportation plan last month.
In addition, the agency will spend
nearly ten percent of its budget for
debt service by 2006 as a result of
having borrowed against future revenues.
Virginia's use of debt financing to
avoid revenue increases at the state
level is an increasingly common  tactic
among the states, and could portend a
serious of serious shortfalls in states
all over the country. The debt binge was
sparked by the Innovative Finance
provisions of TEA-21, which many states
have used to advance new road projects.
At the
same time, state officials have asked
voters to approve an 11% sales tax
increase this November in order to raise
$5 billion for transportation projects.
This funding is not designed to meet
current shortfalls, but rather to fund
new road projects, several of which are
not in any current plan, and whose full
costs have not been disclosed. The
Coalition for Smarter Growth, a
coalition of groups in the Washington
D.C. metro region, opposes the tax
proposal, saying the funds will be
primarily directed towards instigating
new highway projects. They say the
pitfall of the sales tax is that it does
not deal with land use, the fundamental
cause of traffic and sprawl.
“We can
spend all the money we want; but until
we address land use and development
issues, we will never solve traffic or
air pollution problems,” said Stewart
Schwartz, Executive Director of the
Coalition.
For more
information on the VDOT audit, click
here.
For more
information about the Coalition for
Smarter Growth and the Northern Virginia
sales tax referendum, click
here.
Written with
contributions from Nicola Wood of the
Coalition for Smarter Growth |
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DECODING
TRANSPORTATION POLICY & PRACTICE
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The
Transportation Funding Loophole:
how states underfund federal
programs |
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 The
fifth installment in STPP's “Decoding
Transportation Policy & Practice”
series explains the process that allows
states to under- and overfund federal
programs. The newest release explores
the implications of the growing loophole
on how states are spending federal
transportation dollars.
Click
here to view the series. |
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REAUTHORIZATION
NEWS
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| TRB
CMAQ Report Released, Committee
Recommends Reauthorization |
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| A
new Transportation Research Board report
finds that the Congestion Mitigation and
Air Quality (CMAQ) program is valuable
for local governments grappling with
unhealthy air and should be
reauthorized. The report comes at a time
when new research indicates that nearly
half of the US population is exposed to
dangerous levels of air pollution that
can shorten human life by months or
years. The American Lung Association’s
State of the Air Report: 2002 finds that
143 million Americans are breathing in
unhealthy amounts of ozone pollution
linked to lung and heart disease.
Representing 4
percent of the surface transportation
program under TEA-21, CMAQ is the only
federally funded transportation program
explicitly created to help communities
meet the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments.
While the TRB report refrained from
discussing changes to CMAQ funding
levels under TEA-21 renewal, the
committee did recommend that air quality
continue to be the top priority for the
program and that increased consideration
be given to longer-term land use
strategies. Key to the CMAQ discussion
now is how new pollution standards for
particulate matter and ground level
ozone will affect program funds and
whether eligibility will be extended to
newly-designated nonattainment areas
under the 8 hour ozone standard. The
Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee is expected to hold a hearing
on CMAQ in late July.
To access “Special
Report 264: The Congestion Mitigation
and Air Quality Improvement Program:
Assessing 10 Years of Experience,” click
here.
For more
information on impacts of air pollution
on public health, visit the American
Lung Association. |
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ARTBA Clean Air Forum Challenges Conformity Process
|
 On
June 27, the American Road and
Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA)
hosted a “national dialogue” on air
quality and transportation planning
featuring remarks from federal
transportation officials, state and
local practitioners, congressional staff
members, and representatives of industry
and environmental groups. During the
seminar, speakers discussed the
conformity process that holds
transportation planning accountable to
federal air quality standards.
While state and
local officials from Maryland,
Washington, DC, Charlotte, and Atlanta
addressed efforts to improve
transportation and air quality
coordination through multi-modal
investments and better planning, not all
participants suggested a commitment to
conformity standards. Senate Environment
and Public Works minority staff and
industry representatives raised concerns
that the conformity process is draining
resources away from transportation
projects, indicating an attempt to
weaken conformity requirements in
reauthorization.
Michael Replogle,
Transportation Director for
Environmental Defense, noted that
conformity is working well as a core
environmental accountability law in most
regions as a result of interagency
cooperation.
To see a 1999
DOT-EPA study documenting the positive
impacts of conformity in 15
non-attainment areas, click
here. |
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IN
OTHER NEWS
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| Capitol
Area Ozone Appeal Loses in Court |
|
 In
a related story, a three judge panel at
the US Court of Appeals ruled on July 2
that the Environmental Protection Agency
made an error when it gave the
Washington, DC region an extension to
comply with federal air quality
standards for ozone. While the direct
effects of the ruling are unclear, it
does open the possibility for the
federal government to pull
transportation funding for area projects
and start setting local transportation
policies.
The EPA has
designated the region (including the
District of Columbia, Southern Maryland,
and Northern Virginia) a “serious
non-attainment area” due to its poor
air quality. After the region failed to
meet federal regulations for air quality
in 1999, the EPA gave local leaders
until 2005 to come into compliance.
For more
information, click
here. |
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Georgia Northern Arc Project on Hold |
|
 Planning
for a controversial new highway in
Georgia called the Northern Arc has come
to an abrupt halt. Governor Roy Barnes
announced July 5 that the plans were
being put on hold to give state
lawmakers a chance to examine alleged
violations of state ethics laws on the
$2.6 billion project. In his
announcement, Barnes restated his
commitment to the proposed highway, but
recommended that the General Assembly
pass laws mandating that conflicts of
interest be made public and requiring
those with conflicts to recuse
themselves from the planning process.
For more
information on the Northern Arc and on
these recent developments, click
here.
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California Assembly Passes Auto
Emissions Bill |
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 After
a long and expensive battle between
environmentalists and the automotive
industry in California, a bill designed
to limit emissions of carbon dioxide and
other greenhouse gases has made its way
to the desk of Governor Gray Davis. The
California Assembly passed the measure
on July 1 mostly along party lines. The
bill, if enacted, would require the
state Air Resources Board to set “maximum,
feasible and cost-effective reductions”
for greenhouse gasses on automobiles in
the state. Several other states,
including Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
and Oregon, have passed laws aimed at
cutting carbon dioxide emissions from
power plants, but the California bill
would be the first in the nation
designed to target pollution caused by
automobiles.
California is
currently the nation's largest car
market, accounting for roughly 10% of
all cars sold, and is also the only
state that has the power to pass air
pollution rules that are stronger than
those set by the federal government.
For more
information from the Washington Post, click
here.
For more information from the LA Times, click
here.
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REPORTS
& RESOURCES
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| New
Resources Available from NCBW |
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 The
National Center for Bicycling and
Walking has two new resources available.
The first, a new report entitled
"Increasing Physical Activity
Through Community Design, A Guide for
Public Health Practioners," details
how to promote healthy lifestyles
through increased physical activities.
The second is a new round of workshops
to provide Metropolitan Planning
Organizations with technical assistance
on community design for active living
(sponsored in part by The Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation). Click
here for more information. |
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Passenger
Rail and Communities |
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"Pulling
Out All the Stops: The Real Cost of
Losing Passenger Rail Service in New
Mexico" documents the
"profoundly negative effects"
of losing Amtrak service on seven local
communities—available at www.stationfoundation.org.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Congress
of Pedestrian Advocates
 America
Walks, the national coalition of
pedestrian advocacy organizations, will
convene the second National Congress of
Pedestrian Advocates on Tuesday,
September 3, in St. Paul, Minnesota, in
conjunction with the ProBike/ProWalk
conference offered by the National
Center for Bicycling and Walking. The
deadline for the regular registration
rate is July 26. For more information, click
here.
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CALENDAR
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July
17
2:30 p.m.
Senate Subcommittee on Housing and
Transportation
Hearing on Special Transit Needs
July 18
3:00 p.m.
Physical Activity and the Built
Environment policy briefing
For more information, click
here.
July 30
Senate EPW Hearing
Transportation and Air Quality |
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