Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Federal trail funds no longer coming

The money to improve air quality would have been 76 percent of funds expected for projects in 2004 to 2009.

By NICOLE JOHNSON
Published December 14, 2005

Federal money slated to expand Pinellas County's network of hiking and biking trails has been eliminated.

Now it will be up to the cities and county to determine when and how they'll pay for almost $9-million in projects this year.

The federal aid had accounted for 76 percent of the funding anticipated for trail projects planned for Pinellas County between 2004 and 2009.

For a decade, the Florida Highway Administration had earmarked the money through a program designed to reduce traffic congestion and combat air pollution.

In the mid 1990s, the Tampa Bay area was designated as one that needed improvement under the Congestion Mitigation Air Quality program, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

In Pinellas County, the remedy was to expand bicycle and pedestrian programs, including expanding the Pinellas Trail.

The idea: fewer automobiles, less air pollution.

"This was to encourage people to do other forms of transportation, like biking," said Paul Bertels, Clearwater's traffic operations manager.

The Pinellas Trail, a 34-mile pedestrian- and biker-friendly corridor, is used by an estimated 100,000 people a year, according to the county.

Since receiving the poor air quality designation, the Tampa Bay area had received about $12-million a year to implement trail expansions and pedestrian programs.

But last year, after Congress passed a new federal transportation bill and EPA standards changed, the county was no longer considered in need of air quality improvement, said Bob Clifford, planning manager for the Florida Department of Transportation district that includes the Tampa Bay area.

The DOT is responsible for allocating the the federal Congestion Mitigation Air Quality funds to local metropolitan planning organizations.

With the loss of that designation, so went a funding source many localities have depended on to expand their trail systems.

"We liked to think the money was certainly coming to us, so we could work on these projects and get these things completed," said Troy Salisbury, St. Petersburg's director of bicycle pedestrian programs.

But the money was never intended to be there forever, Clifford said.

"The entire intent was for the air to get better," Clifford said. "By EPA standards, the air had gotten better. ... At that time, we told the MPO, that the funding would go away."

City officials and cycling groups have said they will work to persuade the MPO and the DOT to fund the trail projects. The planning organization's board is slated to prioritize federal spending on upcoming transportation projects at its meeting this afternoon.

"These are critical projects," said Bertels, who chairs the MPO's technical coordinating signal committee. "Even though the (Congestion Mitigation Air Quality) label has gone away, the projects are still very strong, viable projects that need to be done."

The Metropolitan Planning Organization meets at 1 p.m. today in the fifth-floor assembly room of the Pinellas County Courthouse, 315 Court St., Clearwater.

[Last modified December 14, 2005, 00:13:09]