HIGHWAY CAPACITY IMPROVEMENTS IN CENTRAL FLORIDA

The Committee has noted the need for a major, coordinated effort on the part of State and Federal agencies to meet the increasing highway capacity needs in the Interstate 4 corridor in central Florida. The State of Florida has initiated a comprehensive study of this corridor which will identify and prioritize a series of improvements to the corridor to substantially increase highway capacity. The study, scheduled to be completed in August 1988, is expected to recommend a range of improvements including the addition of travel lanes, interchange modifications, and new interchanges where appropriate. Current levels of congestion, as well as anticipated increased congestion due to explosive population growth in central Florida, necessitate increasing the capacity of the Interstate 4 corridor in the most expeditious manner possible.

It is the intent and expectation of the Committee that the Federal Highway Administration work cooperatively with the State of Florida so that, subsequent to the completion of the corridor study, project development time is held to an absolute minimum. The Committee strongly supports the concept of a single environmental study done on a corridor basis, rather than a series of studies structured around the limits of individual construction projects. A corridor approach to facilitate project development will serve to reduce the number of studies required and, in the process, substantially reduce the time required for reviews by the relevant Federal agencies. The Committee encourages and supports any additional innovative concepts which will facilitate the early completion of capacity improvements of the Interstate 4 corridor in central Florida.

ALASKA HIGHWAY DEMONSTRATION PROJECT

Under Public Law 100-17, section 149, the demonstration project section of the highway title of the bill, the Committee understands that the State of Alaska has the flexibility to dedicate, consistent with this program, its apportioned funds to demonstrate the feasibility of nontraditional modes of transportation on the Alaska Marine Highway Transportation System.

TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS

The Committee has included bill language which makes a technical correction to the recently enacted highway bill. The enrolled bill reversed the dollar figures for two Idaho demonstration projects. This correction is necessary for the two projects to proceed for engineering and construction.

This activity seeks to identify, correct, and evaluate those critical elements that contribute to loss of life, disabling injuries, and property damage on American highways. The emphasis of research is to provide workable and timely solutions to a set of critical safety problems. Major projects involve improved traffic barriers, construction zone safety, traffic and pedestrian safety, and rural highway safety improvements.

Under the administration's budget request, this program would be funded by drawdown from the "Federal-aid highways" account and controlled within the limitation on general operating expenses. Under the overall limitation, the administration requested a total of $20,000,000 for research and development in both highways and highway safety. The Committee recommends $7,000,000 for highway safety research and development to be funded by drawdown from Federal-aid highways under the "Limitation on general operating expenses" account. This is the same level provided by the House allowance, and the amount provided in fiscal year 1987.

Section 402 of title 23, United States Code, authorizes programs to assist States and localities in implementing highway safety programs in accordance with uniform standards established by the Secretary. Most of the activities carried out under the FHWA standards involve development and implementation of systems, procedures, manuals, et cetera, to assist highway agencies in the orderly planning and implementation of safety construction and operational improvements.

The Committee recommends $10,000,000 for liquidation of contract authority for highway-related safety grants. This is the same amount as the budget request and the House allowance, and $2,000,000 less than that provided in fiscal year 1987.

LIMITATION ON OBLIGATIONS

The Committee has set the obligation ceiling at $9,900,000.

The railroad highway crossings demonstration projects are authorized by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973, as amended, and title III of the National Mass Transportation Assistance Act of 1974.

Projects are funded under this authority for cities specified in law. The Federal share is derived-two-thirds from the Highway Trust Fund and one-third from general funds. A total of 19 specific sites have been named in a variety of acts as eligible for the program. The sites were chosen when a rail-highway crossing created a safety hazard, or impeded pedestrian or highway flow.

The Committee recommends $2,080,000 for the Pine Bluff, AR, Sixth Street overpass and $390,000 for the Lincoln, NB, K and L Streets project. The House allowance for fiscal year 1988 includes $14,000,000 and earmarks the funds for five specific sites. There is no budget request for this program.

This activity comprises the majority of all federally aided programs through which the States are financially and technically aided to continue a national highway system that meets the transportation needs of the Nation in terms of capacity and safety.

All programs included within the Federal-aid account are financed from the highway trust fund. Authorizations in the form of contract authority are enacted in substantive legislation. Except for interstate construction, these authorizations are apportioned and/or allocated to the States and generally remain available for obligation over a 4-year period. Liquidating cash appropriations are subsequently requested to fund outlays resulting from obligations incurred under contract authority.

The Committee recommends a liquidating cash appropriation of $13,400,000,000 for the Federal-Aid Highway Program, the same as the budget estimate and that provided by the House.

OBLIGATION CEILING

The bill also includes language limiting obligations to $12,220,000,000. This is $280,000,000 below the House allowance and $567,000,000 below the budget request. The administration's request, however, would include under the ceiling programs that were previously exempt from the limitation, and cap the minimum the minimum allocation program at

$250,000,000.

The Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987, Public Law 100-17, created a number of demonstration projects, which are exempt from the obligation limitation, and increased the amounts available for the minimum allocation program (which is also exempt from the obligation ceiling). So in addition to the $12,220,000,000 available for obligation under the limitation, it is estimated that an additional $1,000,000,000 to $1,200,000,000 may be obligated in fiscal year 1988 due to changes contained in Public Law 100-17.

The total obligations for fiscal year 1988 could, therefore, be as high as $13,420,000,000.

INTERSTATE 4-R DISCRETIONARY PROGRAM

The Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987, Public Law 100-17, authorized the interstate 4-R program (resurfacing, restoring, rehabilitation, or reconstructing) and set aside $200,000,000 for discretionary 4-R projects. The Committee expects that in administering this program FHWA will follow the criteria established in section 114 of the act, which directs that priority consideration be given to any project where costs exceed $10,000,000 on a high volume route in an urban area or a high truck volume route in a rural area.

Given the statutory criteria, the Committee directs the Secretary to give priority consideration to an interstate 4-R discretionary project in Iowa involving the replacement of pavement on Interstate 80 from Iowa Route 90 to the Dallas-Polk County line. This segment is a crucial part of the Interstate System and is undergoing serious pavement deterioration because of the heavy volume of truck traffic. In addition, the Committee directs that the pending request from Oregon for discretionary 4-R funds be given priority consideration.

DISCRETIONARY BRIDGE PROGRAM

For fiscal year 1988, a total of $1,630,000,000 was authorized by Public Law 100-17, for the bridge replacement and rehabilitation program. Of this amount, $225,000,000 is set aside for the discretionary bridge program reduced by $26,421,000 for the annual demonstration projects' deduction. The net amount available is $198,579,000.

The Committee directs the Secretary to give priority designation to several bridges that have extremely low rating factors and which serve as major links for both interstate and intrastate commerce and directly impact the economic development of an area. The Committee, therefore, directs that priority designation be given to the Sixth Street Bridge in Huntington, WV; to the Southside Bridge in Charleston, WV; to the

Girard-Belmont Avenue Bridge in Philadelphia, PA; the Martin Luther King Bridge in East St. Louis, IL; and the Doremus Avenue Bridge in Newark, NJ.

INTERSTATE TRANSFER GRANTS-HIGHWAYS

This program, part of the Federal-aid highways activity, provides funding of highways substituted for Interstate System segments withdrawn from the system under 23 U.S.C. 103(e)(4). After the joint request by a State Governor and the local governments concerned, the Secretary may withdraw (from the Interstate System) interstate highway segments which pass through or connect urbanized areas within the State determined not to be essential to a unified Interstate System. The value of a withdrawn segment, adjusted for inflation, establishes an authorization against which Congress may provide funds.

Under existing law, 75 percent of the contract authority provided for highway projects substituted for withdrawn interstate highway segments is distributed by statutory formula. The remaining 25 percent is distributed on a discretionary basis.

The formula approach results in some areas receiving apportionments that partially fund segments or fall short of expeditious funding for particular projects. In earmarking funds in previous reports accompanying the appropriations bill, the Committee was impressed with the necessity to insure that certain withdrawal areas were provided sufficient funding for timely completion of planned projects that often involved multijurisdictional compacts-a particular project facet not measurable by formula.

For fiscal year 1988, $740,000,000 is to be available for interstate transfer-highway projects. Of this amount, $162,867,609 is available for discretionary allocation after $22,132,391 is set aside for the discretionary programs contribution for demonstration projects identified in section 149 of Public Law 100-17, the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987.

The Committee directs the following discretionary allocations: