DOT seeks $67B for transportation infrastructure, safety

WASHINGTON — Two-thirds of the $67 billion the Bush Administration is requesting to finance transportation projects would go towards highways, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters announced this week.

The Administration is seeking a record $42 billion for highway construction and safety programs for 2008.

“Our goal is to deliver a transportation system that frees all of us to make daily decisions confident we can reach our destinations safely, without worrying about how we will get there, or if we can make it on time,” Secretary Peters said.

The 2008 budget also requests $175 million to cut traffic congestion by developing commuter traffic information systems, accelerating construction along trade and travel corridors and helping metropolitan areas test new solutions. The budget request includes $1.3 billion for commuter rail and transit projects for urban areas and $100 million for transit projects in smaller towns and rural areas, the Secretary added.

Secretary Peters invited Congress to work with the Department on solutions to financing and managing the American transportation network, noting that the government is spending from the Highway Trust Fund at a rate that is faster than the growth in revenue in part because of the explosive growth in earmarks.