GAO auditors found that over the last five years, $78 billion in Highway Trust Fund receipts have been obligated for “purposes other than construction and maintenance of highways and bridges” such as bike paths, pedestrian walkways and facilities, “scenic beautification” and landscaping projects, and road-kill prevention projects.
Included in Highway Trust Fund Spending:
- Over $2 billion on 5,547 bike paths and pedestrian walkways, including $878,000 for a pedestrian and bicycle bridge for a Minnesota town of 847. An additional $2 million in federal stimulus funds for a bike lane along a deteriorating road in Pennsylvania, where exasperated local officials say the road is so bad they may be forced to drive on the bike path instead.
- $850 million for 2,772 “scenic beautification” and landscaping projects around the country;
- $121 million for 63 ferry projects and ferry terminal facilities, including $1.6 million for a ferry boat program in Oklahoma that features Saturday morning cartoon cruises with Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote on the ferry’s flat screen T.V.;
- $84 million for 398 pedestrian and bicyclist safety projects, including a brochure that encourages bicyclists to “Make eye contact, smile, or wave to communicate with motorists. Courtesy and predictability are a key to safe cycling”;
- $3.1 million in federal stimulus funds to make a historic canal boat a permanent floating museum in New York, in addition to the $28 million already obligated for transportation museums from FY2004-2008;
- $18 million for motorcyclist safety grants; which helped fund a “cruisin’ without bruisin’” brochure reminding bikers to “Obey traffic lights, signs, speed limits, and lane markings … and always check behind you and signal before you change lanes”; and
- $3.4 million in federal stimulus funds for a road-kill reduction project in Florida, which will help turtles and other wildlife pass under a highway.
Congress is being asked to borrow $7 billion from general tax revenues to only temporarily refill the Highway Trust Fund.
Yet we must decide if we should make roadways and bridges more scenic, or more safe. We must determine if the best way to pay for our nation’s infrastructure needs is to raise taxes on gasoline, borrow more money for yet another government bailout, or reduce spending on non-essential projects that do not strengthen roads or bridges.
No one is saying our nation should be without flowers and ferries or bike paths and boat museums. But today’s choices must be about priorities.
Washington politicians should be required to sit down with the new GAO report, the transportation bailout request, and our red pens. From there, crossing out extraneous transportation spending should be our first priority. Lives depend on it.
To read the full report, click here.
Click here to watch Senator Coburn, McCain and Inhofe discuss the report on the Senate floor.
