[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 67 (Friday, May 22, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E954]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           BESTEA PROJECTS IN THE 24TH DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BRAD SHERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 21, 1998

  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss for the record the 
projects located in my district which I anticipate will be included in 
the impending Conference Report on H.R. 2400, the Building Efficient 
Surface Transportation and Equity Act, or BESTEA as we commonly refer 
to it in the House. The House-passed bill contains several worthy 
projects which I requested the Transportation and Infrastructure 
Committee include in the legislation and which will benefit the 
residents of the 24th Congressional District of California. I urge the 
Conferees to include as many of these projects as possible in the 
Conference Report, to even increase the spending for some of them, and 
to make certain changes in the project descriptions which I have 
furnished to members of the Conference Committee. I thank Chairmen 
Shuster and Petri, Mr. Oberstar and Mr. Rahall for their important work 
on this legislation so critical to our nation's infrastructure needs.
  I put these explanations in the Congressional Record today so that 
all members of Congress are aware of these details before they vote on 
the Conference Report on H.R. 2400. I am confident that these 
explanations will be satisfactory to the Congress and that no Member 
will seek to delay, amend, recommit or defeat the Conference Report 
because they disagree with the intended expenditures described below.
  I will identify these projects with the numbers as they appear in the 
House-passed version of H.R. 2400, as the Conference Report is not yet 
available.
  In general, for high priority projects which the House Committee 
agreed to primarily at my request--Numbers 29, 38, 100, 110, 254, 279, 
338, 366, 374, 471, 528, 593, 697, 706 in Section 127 and Numbers 67 
and 145 in Section 333 the following rules apply: If the project is 
located within an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County or Ventura 
County, then the relevant county transportation agency should be 
considered the lead agency, unless otherwise identified below. If the 
project is located within an incorporated city of these counties, then 
the city agency which deals with transportation should be considered 
the lead agency. Many of these projects are deliberately described in 
the statute in a manner which gives the lead agency considerable 
discretion.
  Project 29 provides funds to the City of Thousand Oaks for those of 
the following uses considered of highest priority by the City: general 
street improvements, repairs and resurfacing; construction of sound 
walls along SR23 in accordance with the priorities of the City's sound 
wall prioritization list; or contributions by the City to be used along 
with other available State or Federal funds to widen SR23, but only if 
funds otherwise available for that purpose are insufficient.
  Projects 100, 338, 593, and 697 will provide for street improvements, 
repairs and resurfacing, and/or for the construction or improvement of 
bicycle paths, in Oak Park, CA, Westlake Village, CA, Calabasas, CA and 
Agoura Hills, CA, respectively. The individual projects will be 
selected by the applicable lead agency.
  For Project 110 the lead agency is the City of Los Angeles. These 
funds are to be used in conjunction with the ongoing efforts to improve 
the business climates of the Canoga Park and Reseda communities of the 
City of Los Angeles.
  For project 254 the lead agency is the Los Angeles City Department of 
Transportation. This project consists of the construction of a bikepath 
mostly along the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority's 
right-of-way, commonly known as the Burbank-Chandler right-of-way. The 
bike path will connect the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area with Pierce 
Community College.
  For Project 366 the lead agency is the National Park Service (NPS). 
Funds are to be used for the creation of recreational trails (including 
the acquisition of parcels necessary for the right-of-way of each 
trail, and the physical construction of the trails themselves) in the 
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area according to priorities 
established by the NPS, with the highest priority being the Backbone 
Trail. Funds to acquire the right-of-way for the Backbone Trail are 
included in a list presented by the Administration to the 
Appropriations Committees for the anticipated expenditure of $699 
million appropriated in FY98 for high priority land acquisitions, etc. 
by the NPS and other federal agencies. In the extremely unlikely and 
unfortunate event that the funds ultimately provided from FY98 
appropriations for purchasing the right-of-way of the Backbone Trail 
are insufficient, funds provided by Project 366 would be used for that 
purpose. In the expected circumstance that funds sufficient to purchase 
the right-of-way of the Backbone Trail are made available from funds 
appropriated for FY98 in the Interior Appropriation Bill, then $200,000 
of the funds provided in Project 366 are available for the physical 
construction of the Backbone Trail on such right-of-way. In any event, 
after all necessary funding is secured for the completion of the 
Backbone Trail, the remaining funds provided for Project 366 are to be 
used for the creation of other recreational trails in the Santa Monica 
Mountains National Recreation Area selected by the NPS. Such trails 
could include the Upper Mulholland Trail, the Fering Trail, the 
Nicholas Flats-Charmlee Connector Trail, and the Stone Ridge Trail.
  It is my hope that in addition to Project 366, additional funds for 
recreational trails in the Santa Monica Mountains will be included in 
the Conference Report, perhaps in a separate section detailing priority 
projects primarily authored by Senators. The cost of completing the 
important and worthy Recreational Trail projects (including right-of-
way acquisitions) mentioned in the preceding paragraph exceeds $20 
million. Accordingly, any and all funds provided from FY98 
appropriations, and from the funds provided in H.R. 2400 for Project 
366, and any funds provided in other provisions of H.R. 2400 for the 
creation of Recreational Trails in the Santa Monica Mountains, are not 
surplus or duplicative. Rather, all such moneys will be used by the NPS 
to create as many Recreational Trails in the Santa Monica Mountains 
National Recreation Area as funding from all sources will allow. The 
NPS is quite qualified to determine how the various other Recreational 
Trail Projects should be prioritized behind the #1 priority--the 
Backbone Trail. Finally it should be noted that most or all of the 
other trails the NPS would like to create in the Santa Monica Mountains 
National Recreation Area branch-off of, or connect with, the Backbone 
Trail.
  For Project 528 the lead agency is the City of Malibu. Of the amount 
allocated for this project, $50,000 is to be used to construct a low 
frequency traffic alert radio station to serve those traveling in the 
Malibu area, particularly on the Pacific Coast Highway. The remaining 
funds are made available to plan, engineer and implement safety 
improvements, especially median barriers, on the Pacific Coast Highway 
in Malibu.
  I also want to take this opportunity to urge the Conference Committee 
to fully fund the projects in other parts of Ventura County, 
particularly Project 1048 to widen SR23.

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