By the American Horse
Council 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.
