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.
“BESTEA PROJECTS IN THE 24TH DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E954 on May 22, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
BESTEA PROJECTS IN THE 24TH DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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HON. BRAD SHERMAN
of california
in the house of representatives
Thursday, May 21, 1998
Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss for the record the projects located in my district which I anticipate will be included in the impending Conference Report on H.R. 2400, the Building Efficient Surface Transportation and Equity Act, or BESTEA as we commonly refer to it in the House. The House-passed bill contains several worthy projects which I requested the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee include in the legislation and which will benefit the residents of the 24th Congressional District of California. I urge the Conferees to include as many of these projects as possible in the Conference Report, to even increase the spending for some of them, and to make certain changes in the project descriptions which I have furnished to members of the Conference Committee. I thank Chairmen Shuster and Petri, Mr. Oberstar and Mr. Rahall for their important work on this legislation so critical to our nation's infrastructure needs.
I put these explanations in the Congressional Record today so that all members of Congress are aware of these details before they vote on the Conference Report on H.R. 2400. I am confident that these explanations will be satisfactory to the Congress and that no Member will seek to delay, amend, recommit or defeat the Conference Report because they disagree with the intended expenditures described below.
I will identify these projects with the numbers as they appear in the House-passed version of H.R. 2400, as the Conference Report is not yet available.
In general, for high priority projects which the House Committee agreed to primarily at my request--Numbers 29, 38, 100, 110, 254, 279, 338, 366, 374, 471, 528, 593, 697, 706 in Section 127 and Numbers 67 and 145 in Section 333 the following rules apply: If the project is located within an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County or Ventura County, then the relevant county transportation agency should be considered the lead agency, unless otherwise identified below. If the project is located within an incorporated city of these counties, then the city agency which deals with transportation should be considered the lead agency. Many of these projects are deliberately described in the statute in a manner which gives the lead agency considerable discretion.
Project 29 provides funds to the City of Thousand Oaks for those of the following uses considered of highest priority by the City: general street improvements, repairs and resurfacing; construction of sound walls along SR23 in accordance with the priorities of the City's sound wall prioritization list; or contributions by the City to be used along with other available State or Federal funds to widen SR23, but only if funds otherwise available for that purpose are insufficient.
Projects 100, 338, 593, and 697 will provide for street improvements, repairs and resurfacing, and/or for the construction or improvement of bicycle paths, in Oak Park, CA, Westlake Village, CA, Calabasas, CA and Agoura Hills, CA, respectively. The individual projects will be selected by the applicable lead agency.
For Project 110 the lead agency is the City of Los Angeles. These funds are to be used in conjunction with the ongoing efforts to improve the business climates of the Canoga Park and Reseda communities of the City of Los Angeles.
For project 254 the lead agency is the Los Angeles City Department of Transportation. This project consists of the construction of a bikepath mostly along the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority's right-of-way, commonly known as the Burbank-Chandler right-of-way. The bike path will connect the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area with Pierce Community College.
For Project 366 the lead agency is the National Park Service (NPS). Funds are to be used for the creation of recreational trails (including the acquisition of parcels necessary for the right-of-way of each trail, and the physical construction of the trails themselves) in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area according to priorities established by the NPS, with the highest priority being the Backbone Trail. Funds to acquire the right-of-way for the Backbone Trail are included in a list presented by the Administration to the Appropriations Committees for the anticipated expenditure of $699 million appropriated in FY98 for high priority land acquisitions, etc. by the NPS and other federal agencies. In the extremely unlikely and unfortunate event that the funds ultimately provided from FY98 appropriations for purchasing the right-of-way of the Backbone Trail are insufficient, funds provided by Project 366 would be used for that purpose. In the expected circumstance that funds sufficient to purchase the right-of-way of the Backbone Trail are made available from funds appropriated for FY98 in the Interior Appropriation Bill, then $200,000 of the funds provided in Project 366 are available for the physical construction of the Backbone Trail on such right-of-way. In any event, after all necessary funding is secured for the completion of the Backbone Trail, the remaining funds provided for Project 366 are to be used for the creation of other recreational trails in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area selected by the NPS. Such trails could include the Upper Mulholland Trail, the Fering Trail, the Nicholas Flats-Charmlee Connector Trail, and the Stone Ridge Trail.
It is my hope that in addition to Project 366, additional funds for recreational trails in the Santa Monica Mountains will be included in the Conference Report, perhaps in a separate section detailing priority projects primarily authored by Senators. The cost of completing the important and worthy Recreational Trail projects (including right-of-
way acquisitions) mentioned in the preceding paragraph exceeds $20 million. Accordingly, any and all funds provided from FY98 appropriations, and from the funds provided in H.R. 2400 for Project 366, and any funds provided in other provisions of H.R. 2400 for the creation of Recreational Trails in the Santa Monica Mountains, are not surplus or duplicative. Rather, all such moneys will be used by the NPS to create as many Recreational Trails in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area as funding from all sources will allow. The NPS is quite qualified to determine how the various other Recreational Trail Projects should be prioritized behind the #1 priority--the Backbone Trail. Finally it should be noted that most or all of the other trails the NPS would like to create in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area branch-off of, or connect with, the Backbone Trail.
For Project 528 the lead agency is the City of Malibu. Of the amount allocated for this project, $50,000 is to be used to construct a low frequency traffic alert radio station to serve those traveling in the Malibu area, particularly on the Pacific Coast Highway. The remaining funds are made available to plan, engineer and implement safety improvements, especially median barriers, on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.
I also want to take this opportunity to urge the Conference Committee to fully fund the projects in other parts of Ventura County, particularly Project 1048 to widen SR23.
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