by Sharon Richardson

The debate over funding for public transit vs. funding for highway projects is not new. Monies for both highways and transit are scarce, and there is an increasing demand for funding for rail projects in rapidly growing communities such as Charlotte, North Carolina and Salt Lake City, Utah.

In fact, according the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of Charlotte's Mecklenburg County rose 36 percent between 1990 and 2000 and exceeded 752,000 people in the 2003 estimate.

The demise of new starts — transportation projects designed to promote mobility improvements, operational efficiencies, cost effectiveness and environmental benefits — may come as the 2005 Transportation-Treasury spending bill (HR 5025 — H.Rept 108-671) cuts projects it determines have no tangible benefit.

The Senate draft bill would give $34.9 billion in highway funding, $259 million more than under the House bill. Transit programs would receive $7.8 billion, $509 million above the House level which includes $1.5 million in grants for new starts.

According to John Hood, president of John Locke Foundation, a conservative think tank in Raleigh, N.C., light rail for Charlotte and similar cities is a bad federal investment. Taxpayer dollars would be better spent on improving the road network, with some funds devoted to better bus service for the truly transit-dependent.

At the same time, however, Charlotte Chamber of Commerce President Carroll Gray said, “We need to build more roads, but we don’t think you can build more roads forever.”

To read more about about this policy issue and others go to www.ieeeusa.org/forum.

Sharon Richardson is staff assistant for communications and government relations at IEEE-USA in Washington, D.C. She is also an editorial assistant for IEEE-USA's quarterly magapaper, IEEE-USA News & Views. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's.