AIArchitect, March 22, 2004 - Transportation Funding, Tax Bills Offer Windows of Opportunity

03/2004

Transportation Funding, Tax Bills Offer Windows of Opportunity

As Congress continues its negotiations on the transportation and highway funding bill, the AIA is pressing for amendments that provide stronger incentives for projects that place a greater focus on the impact of transportation on communities and livability.

Congressional negotiators are working with figures that approach $300 billion, a sum that clearly has a way of shaping communities. Traditionally, 80 percent of the funds in the transportation legislation are spent on highways and 20 percent on mass transit. Some of the money is portioned off for “enhancement” projects such as bike paths, restoration of historic transportation facilities, mitigation of water pollution from highway runoff, and many other development projects.

To encourage state highway projects to be designed to safeguard environmental, scenic, or historic values and to preserve and enhance aesthetic and architectural principles, the AIA is advocating for amendments that would add a new “context-sensitive design” provision. The AIA is also asking Congress to direct the Secretary of Transportation to arrange for the Institute to conduct a study on the role of transportation in enhancing the quality of life in our communities and identify best practices for promoting livable communities. In addition, the AIA is calling for federal grants to be made available for projects that follow enhanced design and planning. For these endeavors, the AIA has the support of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Preservation Action.

Other work to be done
The AIA also is joining its colleagues at the Trust in applauding the work of the Senate to retain strong protections for historic resources in the massive transportation funding bill. The Institute also is urging the House of Representatives to incorporate an amendment that Preservation Action reports served as an important “catalyst for what has become known as context-sensitive design and for greater community involvement in decision-making.” Specifically, the National Trust and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) are praising a compromise to amend Section 4(f) to streamline historic preservation reviews of transportation projects while maintaining the strong Section 4(f) standards of protection for historic places.

The fate of Section 4(f) is still unclear. The National Trust is reporting that opponents of 4(f) are “still committed to weakening the substantive and effective Section 4(f) protections for historic and cultural resources, capitalizing on the overall frustrations with the delays in completing complex and expensive highway projects, and are spreading the misconception that environmental and historic preservation reviews are the primary cause of big delays.”

The AIA Government Advocacy team is also working with congressional staff on the Tax Fairness and Job Creation (The “JOBS Bill”) and asking legislators to extend a 3 percent tax cut on gross receipts to architecture and engineering firms of all sizes. Read more and contact your members of Congress. (Log in with your member number and leave the password blank.)

Get more information on the AIA’s position on the transportation reauthorization language.

Photos courtesy of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The recently completed U.S. Highway 93 and the preservation of the historic French Quarter of New Orleans have been hailed as models of community-based planning and context-sensitive design, and both show the benefits of Section 4(f). The law initially stopped each dead in its tracks because early designs would have destroyed valued historic and community assets. It was only after the states agreed to a new approach that met the requirements of Section 4(f) that these projects were able to move forward.