DALLAS - Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., will propose a $2.3 billion, five-year program to fund transportation projects on federally controlled land next week following the May 28 shutdown of a historic bridge in Washington, D.C., to repair deteriorating steel beams.
The closure of the 83-year-old Arlington Memorial Bridge for up to nine months to replace some corroding steel beams is an example of the crisis affecting the nation's transportation infrastructure, Norton said.
Repairs to the bridge linking Washington and Virginia are expected to cost $250 million, exceeding the total of $240 million the National Park Service receives per year for transportation projects across the nation. Only $15 million to $20 million of that is allocated to the Washington area, she said.
Norton's bill, the Save Our National Parks Transportation Act, would provide the National Park Service with $460 million per year from fiscal 2016 through 2021for surface transportation projects on federal lands, with $150 million per year dedicated to nationally significant federal and tribal projects.
"It is no wonder that the National Park Service is unable to even begin this vital work on the bridge," Norton said. "The federal government, the Congress of the United States to be specific, has been shameful in simply not allocating funds."
The National Park Service is responsible for maintaining federal transportation assets nationwide, including roads, bridges, parking lots, and buses, that provide access to national parks and national monuments.
"This funding still leaves federal lands transportation at best a step-child in infrastructure funding," Norton said. "However, it would begin to erase the shameful neglect of federal transportation infrastructure."
Norton, the ranking Democrat on the highways subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, called for the creational of a Washington-area coalition in Congress to "begin the uphill climb of rescuing priceless and essential federal assets like the Memorial Bridge that bring millions to the states by providing everything from workplace corridors to tourist sites."
The Arlington Memorial Bridge carries more than 68,000 vehicles per day. It is a major access route for many federal buildings, Arlington Cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial and sites along the National Mall, and other key historic points in the District of Columbia and Virginia.
The repair work will require closing two of the six lanes for six to nine months. Vehicles weighing more than 10 tons will not be allowed to use the bridge during the repairs. The weight restrictions mean that tour buses and Metro commuter buses operated by Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority will have to find alternative routes, Norton said.
"With the closure of lanes and bans on Metro, tour, and other buses on the Arlington Memorial Bridge, this bridge has become a national symbol of the crisis facing the nation's most important infrastructure, particularly those bridges and roads that must be totally funded by the federal government and are not part of any state allocation," she said.
The Arlington Memorial Bridge is a vital commuter link as well as the gateway to the nation's capital, said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.
"This is not just embarrassing - it's outrageous," Warner said. "We have to get serious about fixing and upgrading our roads, bridges, ports, and other infrastructure.
In other action, the Congressional Budget Office said Friday that extending the Highway Trust Fund's solvency through the end of fiscal 2015 on Sept. 30 would require $3 billion of additional revenue.
Keeping the fund solvent through calendar 2015 at current spending levels would require $8 billion of additional revenue, CBO said in a letter to Rep. Sander Leven, D-Mich., the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee. A six-year transportation bill would require up to $90 billion of additional revenue, CBO said.
