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Viewpoint7/15/91 Our State may be greatly affected by a possible revolution in National transportation policy under discussion in Washington. For 35 years Federal money has been spent primarily on the inter-state highway system in largely rural states. Urban states have complained that their transit needs have been short-changed. The U.S. Senate has passed a landmark bill that would earmark less Federal money for highways and give the states flexibility to allocate their share of the Federal money as they saw fit -- for additional highways or the repair & renovation of existing ones, or to improve or extend rail transit, or build new systems. One big problem is rivalry between states now receiving generous highway funds and those seeking a larger share of the pie. The Senate bill calls for spending $115 billion for transportation projects in the next five years. It is generally agreed that even this would not be enough to repair the Nation's deteriorating road networks, and to maintain and operate existing big-city bus and rail mass transit systems, to say nothing of new ones. When the bill is finally passed, Hawaii, as well as other states, may have to reorder their transportation priorities. The City's proposed rail transit system will have to compete with other City and State transportation needs in terms of the benefits it can show compared with alternative transit systems. This should help decision makers make rational determinations instead of merely diving into the pork barrel for all they can get.
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