Feds Fund Rail Projects As American Commuters Drive Less, Take Trains More
By John O'Dell September 30, 2008
Fuel prices are driving American commuters out of their cars and onto intercity trains, so the federal Transportation Department has decided to spend $30 million on an assortment of state rail programs previously ineligible for federal matching funds.
The agency announced today that its latest cumulative mileage data shows that American motorists drove 3.6 percent fewer miles in July than in the corresponding month a year earlier.
That doesn't sound like much of a dip until the actual miles are tallied: The department estimates that Americans drove a total of 254.5 billion miles (yes, with a "b") in July, so that 3.6 percent decline equals 9.6 billion fewer miles than in July, 2007.
At the same time, DOT Secretary Mary Peters reported, transit ridership was up 11 per cent and Amtrak carried more passengers than in any previous month in its history.
The decline in driving began in November, 2007, federal statistics show. In the ensuing 10 months, through July, Americans drove 62.6 billion miles less than in the same period a year earlier, according to DOT estimates.
Peters said in a statement issued with the announcement of the driving numbers and rail grants that the drop in auto travel shows that Congress needs to move away from federal fuel taxes as the nation's principal source of transportation funding.
Of the $30 million in rail project grants announced Tuesday, more than a third goes to just two states: Washington gets $6 million for a grade crossing project in Tacoma, and California gets $5 million for track and crossing improvements on a congested Amtrak route in the San Joaquin Valley.
Other grants for intercity rail planning and construction go to projects in Arizona, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Such projects previously had not been eligible for federal matching funds grants because all federal money went directly to Amtrak, the department said.
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
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