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Technical amendment pipes money to Alaska
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Oct 04, 2005 05:33pm |
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| Category | News |
| News Date | Tuesday, October 4, 2005 11:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | By Jonathan Allen
Republican Rep. Don Young iced his reputation for pursuing Alaskan priorities when he set aside nearly $500 million in the recently enacted highway bill for the now-infamous “bridges to nowhere.”
But it turns out the lame-duck Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman knows the value of subtlety, too.
A narrowly crafted provision tucked into the “technical amendments” portion of the law’s transit title will give the Alaska Railroad tens of millions of dollars in subsidies largely intended to underwrite the costs of maintaining mass-transit routes in major cities, such as New York, Boston and Chicago.
Under a complex formula, rail systems are eligible for money for “fixed guideway modernization,” essentially track maintenance, based on the number of miles of their tracks laid in urbanized areas. But under the new highway law, the Alaska Railroad is eligible to receive money based on 60 percent of its total directional route miles, most of which are not in cities.
The seemingly innocuous technical amendment means big money for the Last Frontier State, underscoring Young’s deft and highly controversial ability to steer federal dollars toward the Arctic tundra.
Because a small portion of the track is laid in cities, Alaska received a pittance under the old formula. But the new provision would send $15 million to the Alaska Railroad for modernization in fiscal 2006 and more than $70 million over four years. |
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