The Georgia Department of Transportation Board members and our Commissioner went to Washington to meet with our state's congressional delegation last week. The purpose of our visit was to voice our concerns with relation to not getting our "fair share" of federal transportation tax dollars. The last two federal transportation allocations for high-speed rail and TIGER essentially cut Georgia out -- we literally came away empty handed.

 
This is not about stimulus dollars -- its federal dollars we receive on an ongoing basis.

We receive our federal funds through SAFETEA-LU.  We went to D.C. to ask our delegation for a long-term extension of SAFETEA-LU, which expires on February 28. If our extension request is not granted, the entire funding program would come to a halt.  Congress has extended SAFETEA-LU three times for short periods, but now we are asking them to reauthorize the program for a six-year period. These short-term extensions are making it very difficult for GDOT and transit agencies to plan and schedule FY 2010-11 capital projects and transit capital operating budgets.  By extending SAFETEA- LU, GDOT can move forward with its capital projects and not jeopardize contracts already committed to contractors.

WE'RE THE PERENNIAL DONOR STATE

We also asked our delegation to address the funding formula that makes us a donor state. Right now, for every dollar we send to Washington, D.C in federal motor fuel tax, we only receive $.92 back for transportation projects. The other $.08 is sent to other states in the form of a "Robin Hood-like" bait and switch subsidy. 

SOME OF THE "GREEN" WE NEED IS CALLED CASH

Another request we made centers on streamlining environmental stipulation. Naturally, GDOT does not want to do anything to jeopardize the environment, but we do believe the present bureaucratic process to review an environmental document takes entirely too long. For example, the federal environmental document is called a NEPA document.  On a major project, the average time for a NEPA document to be approved through the system is 72 months. To put that into perspective, in the 1960’s President Kennedy announced we were going to put a man on the moon and in less than 72 months, and we did it. With today's technology we should be able to complete a NEPA document in much less time.

The bottom line: whether on the state or federal level, we need more funding and we need to be more efficient with the money we have.