Highway Projects--Extent of Unobligated Balances for
Demonstration Projects as of April 30, 2004 (18-AUG-04,
GAO-04-935R).
Congress has provided funding for numerous highway demonstration
projects in legislation authorizing surface transportation
programs as well as in annual appropriations acts for the
Department of Transportation (DOT). In some cases, the projects
are identified in the legislation itself. In others, they are
identified in committee reports accompanying the legislation.
These projects are all designated for specific geographic
locations within states and for specific purposes, and funds made
available for them generally remain available for them until
expended. This report includes information we provided your staff
on July 14, 2004, on unobligated funds no longer needed that
could be rescinded from highway demonstration projects and also
includes a recommendation to the Secretary of Transportation.
-------------------------Indexing Terms-------------------------
REPORTNUM: GAO-04-935R
ACCNO: A11818
TITLE: Highway Projects--Extent of Unobligated Balances for
Demonstration Projects as of April 30, 2004
DATE: 08/18/2004
SUBJECT: Balances of budget authority
Federal funds
Funds management
Obligated budget balances
Public roads or highways
Unobligated budget balances
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GAO-04-935R
United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548
August 18, 2004
The Honorable Richard C. Shelby
Chairman
The Honorable Patty Murray
Ranking Minority Member
Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury and General Government
Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate
The Honorable Ernest J. Istook
Chairman
The Honorable John W. Olver
Ranking Minority Member
Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, and Independent Agencies
Committee on Appropriations
House of Representatives
Subject: Highway Projects-Extent of Unobligated Balances for Demonstration
Projects as of April 30, 2004
Congress has provided funding for numerous highway demonstration projects
in legislation authorizing surface transportation programs as well as in
annual appropriations acts for the Department of Transportation (DOT). In
some cases, the projects are identified in the legislation itself. In
others, they are identified in committee reports accompanying the
legislation. These projects are all designated for specific geographic
locations within states and for specific purposes, and funds made
available for them generally remain available for them until expended.
This report includes information we provided your staff on July 14, 2004,
on unobligated funds no longer needed that could be rescinded from highway
demonstration projects and also includes a recommendation to the Secretary
of Transportation.
Results in Brief
As of April 30, 2004, there were 80 highway demonstration projects with
unobligated balances that were no longer needed by the states constructing
the projects. These projects accounted for about $16.4 million in
unobligated funds. These funds were provided in authorization or
appropriations acts enacted from 1982 through 2000. Table 1 in the
enclosure specifies the following for each of the 39 projects with
unobligated balances over $100 as of April 30, 2004:
o the state in which the project is located;
o a brief project description;
o the public law and, where appropriate, committee reports identifying
the projects;
o the budget authority made available;
o the obligated amounts; and
o unobligated amounts available for rescission.
We also found that 41 of the 80 projects have very small unobligated
balances of less than $20 each, and we have provided that information
separately to your staff.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is not routinely identifying
highway demonstration projects with unobligated balances that could be
rescinded. Rather, according to an agency official, FHWA receives regular
requests from GAO, the Department of Transportation's Inspector General
(DOT IG), and other parties to identify unobligated balances. Although the
review excluded demonstration projects, the DOT IG reported in March 2004
that a significant amount of unneeded obligations exists for highway- and
transportation-related grants.1 As a result, the DOT IG recommended, among
other things, that FHWA routinely work with states to identify unneeded
obligations.
Scope and Methodology
To identify highway demonstration projects with unneeded unobligated
balances, we requested that FHWA analyze reports from its Fiscal
Management Information System (FMIS) to identify highway demonstration
projects with unobligated balances and then to verify the information with
state officials to identify those with remaining unobligated balances that
were unneeded. We verified the statutory sources of the projects by
reviewing the relevant statutes and associated reports. We relied on FMIS
to identify the amount of budget authority, as well as obligated and
unobligated amounts for each project, and did not independently verify
this information. To ensure the data in table 1 are correct, FHWA, at our
request, verified the unobligated balances and the status of the
demonstration projects with state departments of transportation;
therefore, we determined the information was sufficiently reliable for our
purposes. We conducted our review from March through June 2004 in
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.
1Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, Inactive
Obligations-Federal Highway Administration, Fl-2004-039 (Washington, D.C.,
March 31, 2004).
Conclusion
FHWA is not taking action on a regular basis to identify projects with
unobligated balances that could be rescinded; rather, it responds to
requests from outside parties to identify such information. Regularly
tracking this information, sharing it with FHWA division offices and state
transportation officials to identify unneeded unobligated balances, and
submitting it to Congress could result in more timely rescissions of
unobligated balances that the states no longer need, freeing funds for
other purposes.
Recommendation for Executive Action
We recommend that the Secretary of Transportation direct the
Administrator, Federal Highway Administration, to regularly compile a list
of highway demonstration projects that have unneeded, unobligated balances
available for rescission.
Agency Comments
We provided DOT, including officials from the Office of Infrastructure,
Federal Highway Administration, with a draft of this report for review and
comment. DOT officials generally agreed with the findings and
recommendation in this report and provided technical comments, which we
incorporated, as appropriate.
We are sending copies of this report to the Secretary of Transportation;
the
Administrator, Federal Highway Administration; the Senate Committee on
Environment and Public Works; and the House Committee on Transportation
and
Infrastructure. The report will also be available on GAO's Web site at
http://www.gao.gov.
If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact me at (202)
512-2834 or
Catherine Colwell at (312) 220-7655. Other key contributors to this report
were Ray
Sendejas, Kimberly Berry, and Stacey Thompson.
JayEtta Z. Hecker
Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues
Enclosure
Enclosure
Table 1: Summary of 39 Demonstration Projects with Unobligated Balances
over $100 Available for Rescission as of April 30, 2004
State Public law Budget Obligations Unobligated
Project description authority balance
TEA-21a
Extend Highway 41 (PL $5,638,047.00 $5,159,942.00 $478,105.00
in Madera County 105-178)
Upgrade access road TEA-21 (PL 500,000.00 497,966.60 2,033.40
to Mare Island 105-178)
California Conduct planning,
preliminary
engineering, and TEA-21 (PL
design for Etiwanda 105-178) 1,537,649.00 0.00 1,537,649.00
Avenue/Interstate
10 interchange, San
Bernardino County
Construct TEA-21 (PL
Colorado alternative truck 105-178) 4,305,417.00 4,199,999.00 105,418.00
route in Montrose
Implement Trinity
College Area road TEA-21 (PL 5,235,694.00 4,791,708.00 443,986.00
improvements, 105-178)
Hartford
Construct overlook TEA-21 (PL
Connecticut and access to 105-178) 2,367,980.00 2,167,176.00 200,804.00
Niantic Bay
Pedestrian/disabled
access improvements TEA-21 (PL 512,550.00 469,086.00 43,464.00
at Mark Twain House 105-178)
Historic Site
State Route STURAAb
46A/Interstate 4 (PL 6,980,748.00 6,682,377.00 298,371.00
interchange, 100-17)
Sanford
Highway Capacity PL 101-516
Improvement Demo (1990) 2,599,978.00 2,593,013.00 6,965.00
U.S. 231
Florida Interchange at U.S. ISTEAc (PL
301 and University 102-240) 2,341,029.00 1,903,013.00 438,016.00
Parkway, Sarasota
Engineering of
improvements for
State Route 3 ISTEA (PL 156,069.00 19,095.00 136,974.00
between State Route 102-240)
520 and State Route
528, Brevard County
Railroad relocation
demonstration
project, overpass ISTEA (PL 7,430,028.00 0.00 7,430,028.00
at 15th Street and 102-240)
Greene Street,
Augusta
Peachtree
Georgia Industrial STURAA (PL 19,944,994.00 19,201,053.78 743,940.22
Boulevard, Atlanta 100-17)
Transportation
improvements for
1996 Olympics and ISTEA (PL
ITS traffic 102-240) 56,672,402.00 56,668,432.80 3,969.20
management system,
Atlanta (See PL
10459 Sect 335)
PL 102-143
Improvements to (1991),
Iowa Fifth and Sixth House 7,900,000.00 7,718,006.48 181,993.52
Streets, Waterloo Conference
Report
102243
PL 103-331
Interstate 70/110th (1994),
Kansas Street interchange, House 3,846,400.00 3,535,457.10 310,942.90
Kansas City Conference
Report
103752
Conduct
feasibility study
Kentucky for Northern TEA-21 (PL 512,551.00 383,061.61 129,489.39
Kentucky High 105-178)
Priority Corridor
(Interstate 74)
Maine Brunswick-Topsham ISTEA (PL 10,242,001.00 10,148,004.87 93,996.13
Bypass 102-240)
Upgrade TEA-21 (PL
Mississippi Alva-Stage Road, 105-178) 1,153,237.00 0.00 1,153,237.00
Montgomery County
Route 17/4 ISTEA (PL
New Jersey Interchange 102-240) 9,559,943.00 9,508,099.06 51,843.94
Project, Paramus
PL 102-388
Route 21 viaduct (1992),
New Jersey "NJ Transit Br" House 2,700,000.00 2,695,000.00 5,000.00
Acquisition, Conference
Newark Report
102924
Perth Amboy and
Woodbridge
Township: Study ISTEA (PL
whether 102-240) 2,438,571.00 2,401,071.36 37,499.64
additional river
crossings
required
Construct road
from the Military TEA-21 (PL
New Jersey Ocean Terminal to 105-178) 3,075,299.00 3,061,663.00 13,636.00
the Port Jersey
Pier, Bayonne
Improvements to
County Route 605
in Delaware PL
Township and West 106-346, 1,197,360.00 1,163,977.57 33,382.43
Amwell Township, Sec. 378
Hunterdon County,
New Jersey
Upgrade one
warning device on TEA-21 (PL
Ohio the rail line 105-178) 76,882.00 74,800.00 2,082.00
from Marion to
Ridgeway
Design,
right-of-way
acquisition, and
construction of
the Ferry Street
Bridge, including
pedestrian,
bicycle, and
vehicle approach
roadways, STURAA (PL
intersections, 100-17) 1,994,499.00 1,985,630.32 8,868.68
signalization,
and structural
bridge changes,
and related
structures
between East
Oregon Broadway and
Oakway Road,
Eugene. (See PL
10459 Sect 330)
Upgrade
Interstate 5, ISTEA (PL 13,851,086.00 13,825,580.60 25,505.40
Salem 102-240)
Upgrade access
road and related TEA-21 (PL
facilities to 105-178) 1,537,648.00 0.00 1,537,648.00
port of Port
Orford
Construct bike
path between Main
Street/Highway 99 TEA-21 (PL
in Cottage Grove 105-178) 235,773.00 0.00 235,773.00
to Row River
Trail, Cottage
Grove
Widen and extend
Chestnut Avenue ISTEA (PL 6,945,051.00 6,940,000.00 5,051.00
from Altoona to 102-240)
Juniata.
Pennsylvania Construct State
Route 3019 over TEA-21 (PL
Great Trough 105-178) 384,413.00 375,000.00 9,413.00
Creek in
Huntingdon County
Upgrade two
sections of U.S. TEA-21 (PL 1,153,237.00 1,148,676.57 4,560.43
6 in Tioga 105-178)
County
Install traffic
signal upgrade TEA-21
in Clearfield (PL 384,413.00 375,000.00 9,413.00
Borough in 105-178)
Clearfield
County
Reconstruct the
Interstate 81 TEA-21
Davis Street (PL 7,175,696.00 7,175,595.00 101.00
interchange in 105-178)
Lackawanna
Historic rehab
of Albion ISTEA
Rhode Bridge and (PL 1,950,857.00 1,838,962.20 111,894.80
Island Albion Trench 102-240)
Bridge, Lincoln
and Cumberland
Access road in STURAA
Clarksville and (PL 3,988,999.00 3,885,812.75 103,186.25
Fort Campbell 100-17)
Study and
construct a
bicycle system
to serve as an
alternative
Tennessee form of
commuter ISTEA
transportation, (PL 390,172.00 36,000.00 354,172.00
reduce air 102-240)
pollution, and
enhance
recreation,
Murfreesboro
(see PL 102-338
Section 378)
Minimum
allocation for
any eligible
title 23
project: AK,
AZ, CO, CT, DC,
DE, HI, MT, NE,
NH, OK, OR, PQ,
RI, UT, VT, WA,
WI, WY. Note STURAA
Utah UT001 took (PL 4,760,508.85 4,755,210.50 5,298.35
$1,447,909 from 100-17)
these funds.
[Rescinded $154
($96 of 308
funds and $58
of 309 funds)
on 1/10/2000 as
part of PL
103-211
rescission]
Preliminary
engineering,
West design and TEA-21
Virginia construction of (PL 2,050,199.00 1,936,000.00 114,199.00
the Orgas to 105-178)
Chelayn Road,
Boone County
Total $16,407,908.88
Source: GAO analysis of FHWA data. aTransportation Equity Act for the 21st
Century.
bSurface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987.
cIntermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991.
(544086)
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