AASHTO - Freight Transportation Network

Chair -- James Lynch, Montana
Vice Chair -- Jeff Honefanger, Ohio
Secretary -- Jim March, FHWA
Liaison -- Leo Penne, AASHTO

State Initiatives

KANSAS
Budget vise may delay state highway projects The fate of the proposed Northwest Bypass near Wichita and 650 other state highway and bridge projects could be in jeopardy because of the state's budget crunch. In 1999, lawmakers approved a $4 billion, 10-year plan to improve Kansas highways. The plan pledged to transfer sales tax money from the state's general fund each year to pay for road projects, Kansas Department of Transportation spokeswoman Krista Roberts said.

To continue reading go to: http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/7723741.htm TEXAS
On the road again Texas needs back more of the money it sends to the federal highway fund.
That was the message presented Tuesday as people gathered at the Lamar County Chamber of Commerce for a reception welcoming new Texas Department of Transportation Paris District Engineer Bobby Littlefield.
“We send our money to Washington, and we don’t get enough back,” said Lawrence Olsen, executive vice president of Texas Good Roads/Transportation Association. To read the full story go to http://web.theparisnews.com/story.lasso?wcd=10772 MISSOURI
Toll roads again sought as option for Missouri While sponsoring legislation that would allow the construction of toll roads and bridges, state Rep. Lanie Black says he isn't certain Missourians are ready to embrace the idea. But with voters seemingly hostile to tax increases, as evidenced by the resounding statewide defeat of a transportation tax package in 2002, Black says there aren't many funding options left for pursuing certain costly road and bridge projects. "I don't know what the answer is, but I think to try to find an answer is really important," said Black, R-Charleston. "If toll roads are part of the equation, that's good."

To continue reading go to: http://www.semissourian.com/story.html$rec=128784 WASHINGTON STATE
Initiative plan seen as too costly State Transportation Secretary Doug MacDonald says a proposed statewide initiative that would earmark more than one-third of the state gas tax for construction of new freeway and highway lanes may leave his agency with little money for anything else.
What's more, he added, the money would be redirected to many projects the public doesn't support.
"The notion that we would pave over this planet and move on to the next one has pretty much passed in this country," MacDonald said yesterday.
A group headed by Bellevue Square owner Kemper Freeman Jr. has said it plans to file a voter initiative next week that would divert 10 cents from the state's 28-cents-per-gallon gas tax to a new "congestion relief fund." For the most part, that money could be spent only on new general-purpose lanes that meet congestion-relief criteria specified in the measure.
The money involved is substantial. During the 2001-03 biennium, when the gas tax was 23 cents, it raised about $1.5 billion.
The proposal doesn't suggest what transportation projects might be cut to provide more money for highway lanes.

To continue reading go to: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001836970_kemper15m.html