President Bush has signed into law the $300 billion federal highway funding bill, known as SAFETEA-LU, approved by Congress just before it broke for the August-Labor Day recess. The controversial legislation took over two years to agree to and enact, requiring numerous Continuing Resolutions extending the prior federal highway bill past its expiration.
Recreational Trails Program Funding
Favorable funding for the Recreational Trails Program (RTP) was included in the legislation. The total funding for the next five years is $370 million, compared with the Administration’s request for $300 million ($60 million per year) and the Senate-passed provision of just over $280 million. RTP funds are used to build and maintain recreational trails for various motorized and non-motorized users, including recreational riders.
The year-by-year breakdown of RTP funds follows:
· $60,000,000 for fiscal year 2005
· $70,000,000 for fiscal year 2006
· $75,000,000 for fiscal year 2007
· $80,000,000 for fiscal year 2008
· $85,000,000 for fiscal year 2009
Transportation and Pedestrian Walkways: Horses
The Senate version of the highway bill included a provision specific to the equestrian community. Under the current federal highway law equestrians are not specifically listed as potential users of shared-use transportation paths. We have been told that some land managers have used this to deny access to equestrians to these paths, even though that was not the intent of the federal law.
Language had been included in the provisions dealing with “Bicycle Transportation and Pedestrian Walkways” in the Senate bill to specifically list equestrians, among others, as permitted users. Unfortunately, after several reviews of the final bill (which is over 1,000 pages) reported by the Senate-House Conference Committee formed to work out the differences between the House and Senate versions, we have been unable to find this provision. It appears that nearly the entire section dealing with “Bicycle Transportation and Pedestrian Walkways,” which included provisions dealing with bicyclists, pedestrians and other users, was not included in the final conference bill.
The AHC will meet with representatives of the Federal Highway Administration, which supported the equestrian language, to consider other alternatives to deal with this issue.
If you any questions about this legislation, please contact the American Horse Council at (202) 296-4031.
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