January 31, 2006

 

Allen D. Biehler, P.E.

Secretary of Transportation

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation

400 North Street – 8th Floor

Harrisburg , Pennsylvania    17120-0095

 

RE:       Federal Highway Administration Directive for Rescission of Funds

 

Dear Secretary Biehler:

  

It has come to my attention that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has issued a directive that requires states to return a portion of their previously allocated highway program dollars. I understand that the amount required for rescission for Pennsylvania is $94,265,140.  The Transportation for Livable Communities Project (TLC) is concerned with the rescission because it may result in an inequitable distribution of funds.   The Commonwealth has the latitude to decide which program fund balances – Transportation Enhancements, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ), Bridge, as examples will be cut. TLC has called for increased spending of the funds obligated for these programs in the 2005 Regional Policy Guidance Document’s Programming and Funding Policy Paper:  TLC issued this document to respective government agencies for use in guiding the region's public investments and planning at the county, region, and state levels toward creating sustainable communities.

 

“SPC is urged to spend the suballocation of federal transportation dollars from PENNDOT on discretionary programs such as CMAQ per federal program guidelines. SPC could also seek greater funding for transportation planning to manage these discretionary programs by supporting efforts to increase the percentage takedown for these programs from the federal highway and public transportation dollars allocation.” 

 

TLC therefore recommends that PENNDOT implement the FHWA directive in a balanced way (i.e., treat individual program balances fairly), by spreading the burden evenly across the range of affected programs or correlating the rescissions to the relative size of the program categories. Please contact me at 412/258-6652 if you have any questions or require additional information.

 

Sincerely,

 

David R. Ginns

Transportation Specialist

 

The Transportation for Livable Communities Project (TLC) is a partnership of Sustainable Pittsburgh and the Surface Transportation Policy Project serving to advance transportation reform in southwestern Pennsylvania .  TLC is also a member of the Pennsylvania Alliance of Public Transportation Advocates that was formed to address the public transportation funding crisis.

 

C:         The Honorable Governor Edward G. Rendell;  James R. Hassinger, President and Chief Executive Officer, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission; Dennis Veraldi, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Port Authority of Allegheny County;  James A. Cheatham, Pennsylvania Division Administrator, Federal Highway Administration, US Department of Transportation; Susan Borinsky Regional Administrator, Federal Transit Administration, Region 3