[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 64 (Wednesday, May 11, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2880-S2881]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CARDIN (for himself and Mr. Casey):
  S. 950. A bill to amend title 23, United States Code, to repeal a 
prohibition on allowing States to use toll revenues as State matching 
funds for Appalachian Development Highway projects; to the Committee on 
Environment and Public Works.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, today Senator Casey and I are introducing 
a bill to help facilitate the completion of critically important 
transportation infrastructure to the Appalachian region of the United 
States. The Appalachian Development Highway System, ADHS, is designed 
to alleviate Appalachia's isolation from major commercial corridors and 
create better transportation connectivity between communities within 
the Region and to destinations outside of Appalachia.
  According to the Appalachian Regional Commission, ARC: ``Because the 
cost of building highways through Appalachia's mountainous terrain was 
high, the Region had never been served by adequate roads. Its network 
of narrow, winding, two-lane roads, snaking through narrow stream 
valleys or over mountaintops, was slow to drive, unsafe, and in many 
places worn out. The Nation's interstate highway system had largely 
bypassed the Appalachian Region, going through or around the Region's 
rugged terrain as cost-effectively as possible.''

[[Page S2881]]

  That's why in 1964, ARC recommended that investments in improving 
Appalachia's highways were essential to economic growth of this 
historically economically depressed region of the country. The ADHS is 
currently authorized at 3,090 miles and is nearly 88 percent complete 
or under construction. The remaining miles left to be built are located 
in some of the more difficult places to build located near the mid-
Atlantic portion of Appalachia.
  The difficulty of construction in this region makes these stretches 
of the ADHS more expensive to build as well. The legislation I am 
filing today will provide Appalachian States with greater flexibility 
on how they may raise and their portion of matching funds that are used 
towards ADHS projects.
  Toll credits, first authorized in the Intermodal Surface 
Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA), are being used 
extensively by States with toll facilities. As of May 31, 2007, over 
$18 billion in toll credits had been approved in 22 States and Puerto 
Rico. Toll credits are designed to encourage States to increase capital 
investment in transportation infrastructure and enable States to 
simplify program administration. However, there is an interesting 
exception for how and where toll credit may be used.
  SAFETEA-LU included a modification to the toll credit requirements as 
codified in Section 120(j) of Title 23, United States Code, U.S.C., 
prohibiting the use of toll credits on the Appalachian Development 
Highway System program under Section 14501 of Title 40.
  Our legislation, quite simply, repeals this prohibition against 
States using toll credits as their state matching funds for ADHS 
projects.
  Given these particularly difficult economic times that have presented 
exceptional budgetary challenges for States to revenue adequate 
revenues to pay for essential infrastructure projects, I believe States 
need the flexibility to use highway revenues as they see fit regardless 
of the means in which those revenues are raised. The SAFETEA-LU 
prohibition against the use of toll credits on the ADHS is 
discriminatory against a particular revenue mechanism.
  Allowing a State to use toll credits towards an ADHS project does not 
require that State to raise the tolls revenues on the ADHS road that 
the toll credits were used towards.
  I urge my colleagues to join Sen. Casey and I in repealing SAFETEA-
LU's prohibition against one particular revenue stream that could be 
used to complete an incredibly important system of transportation 
infrastructure designed to serve a historically underserved region of 
rural America.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 950

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. MATCHING FUNDS FOR APPALACHIAN DEVELOPMENT HIGHWAY 
                   PROJECTS.

       Section 120(j)(1)(A) of title 23, United States Code, is 
     amended by striking ``and the Appalachian development highway 
     system program under section 14501 of title 40''.

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the development of 
the Appalachian Development Highway System, ADHS. The completion of 
this highway system, which connects 13 States from New York to 
Mississippi, is critical to the economic development of the region as a 
whole.
  Despite the significant progress Appalachia has made over the past 
few decades, the region has continued to face economic challenges. In 
the 420-county region, approximately one fourth of these counties are 
designated as having high poverty, meaning that the poverty rate is 1.5 
times the U.S. average. According to the Appalachian Regional 
Commission, two thirds of the Appalachian counties have unemployment 
rates that are higher than the national average.
  Completion of the Appalachian Development Highway System will spur 
economic development in the region and create much needed jobs. The 
Federal Government has played a significant role in the development of 
this initiative and I urge my colleagues to renew this commitment.
  Today, my colleague Senator Cardin from Maryland and I introduced a 
bill that will help the continued development of this highway system. 
Our bill will reverse language in the 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, 
Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, SAFETEA-LU, 
that prohibits the use of toll credits for the non-federal share for 
ADHS projects. This legislation would allow States to unlock existing 
unspent balances and make it easier for States to access and leverage 
additional funding. Our bill will allow ADHS projects to move forward, 
such as Route 219 in my home State of Pennsylvania. In addition, this 
change would eliminate a disparity that does not exist for the vast 
majority of other Federal transportation programs.
  I urge my colleagues to support this important piece of legislation.
                                 ______