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Find current and past articles of interest about trails and greenways. If you have an idea for a feature article, or want us to post a trail or greenway related news article of statewide interest, send us an e-mail.
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| TEA-21: Where the Money Is and How to
Get It A look at the Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century |
WITH ITS
SPECTACULAR SCENERY,
outdoors-loving population and (mostly) mild climate, California has
long been a haven for
bicyclists and walkers. But with the passage of the new federal
transportation bill,
TEA-21, the Golden State has the potential to become an even greater
paradise for those
who favor alternative modes of transportation. The Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21), signed by President Clinton on June 9, 1998, brings even more funding to trail projects than its predecessor, ISTEA. Experts agree that the money from TEA-21 may be a boon to California trail projects. ISTEA, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, was a federal law that revolutionized transportation spending by providing significant funding for trails and bikeways. Over six years, from 1992 to '97, about $2.6 billion went to transportation enhancement projects such as bicycle and pedestrian trails, rail-trails, landscaping, scenic and historic preservation and other projects that foster alternative modes of transportation. |
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TEA-21
provides even a
bigger pot of enhancement money. TEA-21 offers $3.6 billion spread
over the next six
years, through 2003. That's an increase of almost 40 percent.
In California, there's even more reason to celebrate. The California Department of Transportation, which administers the state's TEA-21 enhancement money, is scheduled to receive $147 million more for transportation enhancements than it did under ISTEA, an increase from $214 million to $361 million. The total comes to about $60 million a year. "It's an extremely significant and valuable funding source for trails," said Marsha Mason, chief of transportation enhancement activities at Caltrans, which administers most of the state's federal trail money. The California Transportation Commission has divided the enhancement funding into four categories: regional, statewide, conservation land and Caltrans' own projects. California's 43 regional transportation agencies, such as the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in the Bay Area and the San Diego Council of Governments, will receive 75 percent of the state's enhancement funds. The commissions will decide when and how to distribute their money. The other 25 percent will be divided into three shares. The first, the statewide environmental enhancement share, totaling between $20 and $30 million, will be available beginning in 2002. Federal, state, regional and local agencies, as well as non-profits, can apply for funding through the California Resources Agency. Non-profit groups must partner with a public agency.
In the conservation lands share, state and private agencies can apply for funding to acquire scenic lands with a high habitat conservation value. Caltrans and the Resources Agency will distribute the money. Ten million has already been allocated. The final share, about $40 million, will stay with Caltrans for its own enhancement projects related to state highways. A match of 11.5 percent is required. For information about any of these sources, contact Marsha Mason at (916) 654-5275 or see Caltrans' enhancement web site at www.dot.ca.gov/hq/TransEnhAct/. While the enhancement budget is the biggest slice of pie available for trails, there are other trail funding sources within TEA-21, as well. Trail money can be found through the following programs: Recreational Trails, Surface Transportation Program (STP), Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ), Scenic Byways, Highway Safety, Bridge, National Highway System, Transit Enhancements, Transportation and Community and System Preservation Pilot, and High Priority Projects. The Hazard Elimination Program is also a potential source of funding for trails. Like enhancements, it receives a set-aside of 10 percent, and though it could, in the past it has not funded trails. The funding level for the Recreational Trails Program under TEA-21 increased significantly over that provided under ISTEA. Beginning next year and for the following four years, California will receive $3.5 million per year for recreational trails. Thirty percent of the money is earmarked for motorized recreational trails, with the remaining 70 percent for non-motorized trails, said Odel King, manager of the Planning and Local Services Section of the California Department of Parks and Recreation, which administers the program. The funds will be awarded on an 80/20 matching basis; the program provides 80 percent of the money for a project and the grant recipient provides the remaining 20 percent. Local jurisdictions, state agencies and non-profits responsible for public lands are eligible to apply for the funds. "We are going to be as flexible as we can in determining when non-profit organizations have management responsibilities over public lands," said King. Funds will be allocated every year for TEA-21's six year duration. California has already received its fiscal year 1998 and '99 allocations. The application deadline for those funds was Dec. 1, 1998. The application deadline for each of the next four years will be Oct. 1 (or the first business day thereafter), 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002. More information may be found at the state parks web site, www.cal-parks.ca.gov/grantsindex.html. The enhancement money available in TEA-21 is the result of years of political battles waged by trail advocates. But the fight didn't end when the bill was signed into law. State departments of transportation were given a lot of leeway as to how to spend the money allotted them in TEA-21, which, in California, meant taking on the state transportation commission. The commission, which oversees Caltrans, intended to transfer $20 million, the state's share of the enhancement money to other projects. Members of the commission wanted to spend the money on Caltrans staffing, among other things, said Laura Cohen, California policy director for the Rails to Trails Conservancy. So the trail community, led by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and Trust for Public Land, mobilized and testified at every commission meeting from July through October. They wrote, they faxed, they phoned and e-mailed. They badgered and pled until the commission finally agreed to a compromise. Half, about $10 million, would be available in the statewide competition and half would be transferred out. The exception to this is that the full $20 million will be transferred out of the program if the state's Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Program (EEMP) is extended past its current expiration of 2000. This is a provision that environmental groups objected to strenuously, but did not prevail. The EEMP is a popular state funded program that often provides the necessary matching funds for Enhancement projects, and Rails-to-Trails argued that its successful reauthorization should not deprive the Enhancement Program of $10 million. "While we didn't achieve everything we'd hoped for, people really hung in there and made a difference. We're very grateful for their help," Cohen said. With a new administration and up to five new CTC members to be appointed by Governor Davis in the next couple of months, there is an opportunity to revisit some of the issues raised last year and to create an even better, more accessible Enhancement Program in California. Check this site for updates, news and other funding information about TEA-21.
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| Millennium Trails: Connecting America's Communities | MILLENNIUM
TRAILS IS A
NATIONAL INITIATIVE of the White House Millennium Council in
partnership with the
Department of Transportation that will recognize, promote and
stimulate the creation of
trails to "honor the past and imagine the future" as part of
America's legacy
for the year 2000. From the earliest routes of our ancestors, to new
urban greenways, to
itineraries that tell the story of our nation, trails are an
important part of the
American landscape, providing connections between people, land,
history and culture. What are the major elements of Millennium Trails? Millennium Trails has three main objectives: 1. To recognize over 2000 trails projects in honor of the millennium, stimulating new activities to celebrate and enhance those trails; 2. To promote existing and new trails to the public; 3. To support the development of new trails through new federal and state funding, and private partnerships. Recognition of Trails Between 1998 and 2000, the Department of Transportation and its nonprofit project partner, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, will recognize Millennium Trails by: a. Designating twelve "National Millennium Trails" -- trails of national significance. These will be large, visionary projects that allow people to walk or bike to national wonders, trace historic canals and commercial routes, or commemorate trails of discovery and migration. b. Selecting fifty-two "Millennium Legacy Trails" from nominations by governors in each state, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Private funds will provide awards to each trail for historic research, promotion, maps and events; to form coalitions with historic and cultural groups; and to leverage more funding. c. Recognizing up to 2,000 local trails projects as "Community Trails 2000." Community Trails will be nominated directly by local participants and by the national panel from among the trails projects benefiting from local grants through Department of Transportation, National Park Service and other federal and state resources. Promotion of Millennium Trails Each trail will receive a special Millennium Trail marker, and will be encouraged to create a community celebration around the installation of the marker and trail signs. Designation events will honor the many volunteers and public and private partners it takes to create a trail. Five major festivals will celebrate visionary trails of regional and national importance that mark the landscapes and cultures that shaped America. For example, New Orleans, Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis, Indianapolis and Kansas City could simultaneously announce and celebrate the creation of a new "Jazz and More American Music Trail." New York could celebrate its role in immigration in a "Pathways to Freedom" festival in 2000. The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy will create a database of trail projects on the Internet, and will encourage trail projects to create their own web pages with itineraries, events, historical and cultural information. Rails-to-Trails manages the National Transportation Enhancement Program Clearinghouse, a database of information on how to create new trail projects and apply for funding. This database will serve as a resource for Millennium Trails projects. The toll-free number is 1-888-388-6832. The Department of Commerce, through its Office for Tourism Industries, and major private partners in the tourism industry, plans to promote Millennium Trails through a new cultural heritage tourism initiative called "American Pathways to 2000." On the first weekend in June, 2000 -- traditionally National Trails Day -- the American Hiking Society plans 2,000 Millennium Trails events all over the nation. Support for Millennium Trails The Department of Transportation is allocating $5 million for this project: $4 million from Public Lands Highway Discretionary Funds and $1 million for coordination over two years. Proposals for visionary projects that are candidates for National Millennium Trails are presently under review for Public Lands Highway Discretionary Funds awards. For more information about the Public Lands Highway Discretionary Fund, go to www.fhwa.dot.gov/discretionary/00plhsol.htm. How to apply for designation as Millennium Trail As a National Millennium Trail -- Twelve National Millennium Trails will be nominated from the pool of applications by a Green Ribbon Panel. Groups wishing to apply to have their trail designated a National Millennium Trail should first contact one of the following partner organizations to discuss their trail and receive additional information about this category. Contact information and an application is provided at the Millennium Trails website at . Applications for National Millennium Trails must be postmarked by Monday, May 10. Send application packages by mail to National Millennium Trails, c/o Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, 1100 17th Street, 10th Floor, N.W., Washington, DC, 20036, Attn: Marianne Fowler, Senior Vice President of Programs. It is anticipated that National Millennium Trail designations will be made in June, 1999. As a Millennium Legacy Trail -- The fifty-two selected Millennium Legacy Trails will include one trail from each of the fifty states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. They will be identified by a Green Ribbon Panel selected by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Candidate legacy trails will be submitted by the nation's Governors. Millennium Legacy Trails will be selected from a pool of nominations submitted to Rails-to-Trails Conservancy by officials in each of the fifty states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Each state will designate a point of contact and develop its own application instructions. Each state will submit its nominations for Millennium Legacy Trails to Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in July, 1999. Millennium Legacy Trail designations will take place in August. Check back here for more information about how California will nominate a state Legacy Trail. As a Community Trail 2000 project -- These designated trails will include thousands across the U.S. which are important to the communities they serve, be they large or small. Trails in this category will be invited to participate in a grand Millennium Trails celebration occurring on National Trails Day 2000. Each Community Trail must be represented by a Trail Friends Group, managing agency or other organization that will complete the Millennium Trails application. Each trail designated in the Community Trails 2000 category will be representative of the diversity of trails; rail-trails and greenways, historic trails, cultural itineraries, recreational paths, waterways, alternative transportation corridors and other trail types will be included. Community Trails will include trails that serve a wide range of trail users and communities, and trails in various levels of completion. Trails in the early phases of planning can be considered if their applications clearly demonstrate an ability to complete the project. Designation of Millennium Trails in the Community Trails 2000 category will be coordinated by the American Hiking Society in cooperation with Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. Complete application instructions and deadlines are being developed and will be available at the Millennium Trails website at soon. How will the projects link historical, cultural and physical features? Millennium Trails may be recreational and scenic trails; they may be linked sites or itineraries; or they may be both. Many trails connect physical pathways to the patterns and cultures of settlement, historical events and sites surrounding the trail. Each trail will be understood to be a trail in its most basic form: a path, either physical or conceptual, connecting places. The Freedom Trail in Boston is a good example. It directs walkers along miles of paths, sidewalks and roadways, past sites such as Faneuil Hall -- the Old State House -- and North Church, important to Boston's role in the American Revolution. Many community trail-builders and the nonprofit organizations that support them form coalitions of people who bring their expertise in history, preservation and local traditions to enrich the trails experience. Department of Transportation and National Park Service resources are available for this kind of interpretation. In addition, the National Endowment for the Arts is producing a "how to" booklet on ways arts organizations can work with transportation agencies to build successful collaborations on trails. State humanities councils are resources for historic research. State and local preservation groups may be active in saving important buildings, monuments and sites that are destinations for itineraries or that enhance trails. Some sites may be eligible for assistance from Save America's Treasures, a White House Millennium program in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In one cultural example, the Phoenix, Arizona Arts Commission involved artists in several pedestrian bridges, adding sculptural forms and panels of human, animal and abstract designs. Arts agencies in North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee are working to create a mountain musical trail and a Cherokee heritage trail near the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Trail. How can I get involved? Whether you are an individual, a business, a public agency or nonprofit organization, there are many opportunities to get involved in the Millennium Trails program. For additional information, please contact either the U.S. Department of Transportation or the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, which is assisting in the program's administration: MILLENNIUM TRAILS PROGRAM Jeff Olson, R.A. Program
Director/Consultant RAILS TO TRAILS
CONSERVANCY Do you have an article to
offer? Please submit
it! |
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