Left Wanting

Copyright 2009, Traffic World, Inc.

The $787 billion economic stimulus package signed into law by President Obama last week contains billions of dollars for highway projects, high-speed rail and transit. But some in the transportation community are still feeling left out.

Freight railroads, which had hoped to have their highly prized investment tax credit inserted into the legislation, and short line railroads, which had identified more than $700 million in "ready-to-go" projects, received no dedicated funding in the final legislation.

"We think it was sort of a missed opportunity to get some direct funding in there for freight railroads," Chuck Baker, president of the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association, said.

Baker''s association was among various groups that had pushed to have the tax credit, which would provide Class I railroads with a 25 percent for capacity expansion, intermodal and other projects. Now the next surface transportation reauthorization bill might be their best shot at finding a legislative vehicle for the measure.

The port industry also received no direct funding, though the American Association of Port Authorities identified and submitted a list of $8.4 billion in "shovel ready" infrastructure projects.

"In reality, there is no direct funding for ports in this bill," said Aaron Ellis, a spokesman for the AAPA, though he noted Department of Homeland Security''s Port Security Grant Program received $150 million in the stimulus.

And short line railroads, which had received a $100 million funding recommendation from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, were left out as well.

Industry observers say providing public funding to private companies like railroads would have proven tricky in the legislation, which was signed into law by President Obama Feb. 17.

Still, those not directly included in the legislation, which provides more than $48 billion in Department of Transportation spending, aren''t giving up hope.

Though $27.5 billion of the legislation was dedicated for highway spending, freight interests are hoping they will receive some of that funding as well because of wording in the law that gives state departments of transportation the flexibility to use the money for rail, ports and other modes as well.

"We have no way to know if they will, and obviously there is an awful lot of highway and bridge projects that need funding, but we suspect that some DOTs will see the wisdom and spend a little bit of the money on passenger and freight rail," said Baker.