The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“RURAL TRANSPORTATION” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the Senate section on pages S7584-S7585 on July 12, 2001.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
RURAL TRANSPORTATION
Mrs. CARNAHAN. Mr. President, I rise today to acknowledge a group of courageous young men and women from Canton, MO. They are visiting the Nation's capital this week.
The group's journey began more than a year ago on a two-lane road in northeast Missouri. Seventeen-year-old Kristin Hendrickson was killed on Highway 61 when her car struck another vehicle head on. A four-lane road with a divider might have saved her life.
Kristin was just a few months away from graduation at Canton R-5 High School. Her unused prom dress hung in her closet, a reminder of how full of life she had been.
Kristin's friends tried to make sense of what happened.
Determined to make something positive out of this terrible loss, they started a grassroots movement: Students of Missouri Assisting Rural & Urban Transportation, or SMART. Their goal was to ``promote and ensure the safety of rural transportation needs in the State of Missouri.''
Many of the students who created SMART graduated a few weeks later, but younger students carried on the work. And those who graduated stayed involved as advisors.
The group developed four objectives:
First, to educate the public on the need to improve local transportation;
Second, to grow into other local districts, and then move statewide;
Third, to lobby legislators for funding to improve rural transportation; and
Fourth, to contact candidates for statewide office for their position on transportation, and use this information to educate the public.
SMART has already become a powerful advocacy group in Missouri. Just 2 months after the organization was founded, the nonpartisan group made a presentation at a meeting of the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission. Their members have also addressed the Missouri Governor's Conference on Transportation. Representatives of the group have met personally with Missouri Governor Bob Holden and members of the Missouri General Assembly to encourage additional funding for rural transportation projects.
But their greatest victory to date came in January when the Missouri Department of Transportation announced that it would upgrade more than 10 miles of highway 61 between Canton and LaGrange to a four-lane road.
Although the victory came too late for Kristin, there is no way to know how many lives it will save in the years to come. It would not have happened without the forceful activism of these young people.
I am extremely proud of these young people. Not only because of what they accomplished, but because of what they still intend to accomplish. They are not yet satisfied, and we have not heard the last of them.
The group continues to organize similar groups throughout Missouri. They have come to Washington this week to encourage Members of Congress to support highway safety and to advocate for additional federal resources for transportation infrastructure.
These committed young people can teach us all a lesson about how to get things done. The example they have set is not just valuable for other young people, but also for adults who have grown cynical about the political process. These young leaders have shown that you can make a difference--through action and determination. And I intend to work with them to increase the Federal Government's investment in our Nation's highways.
____________________
