From the VRS/Rutland list, note almost $6 million to turn the LVRC into a snowmobile trail:Bush signs $286b transportation bill'Long-overdue' law expected to create jobsBy Alan Wirzbicki, Globe Correspondent | July 31, 2005WASHINGTON -- After more than two years of delay, President Bushyesterday signed into law a giant transportation bill that will funnelbillions of dollars into public works in New England and allow regionalofficials to resume long-term planning for road and rail projects thathad been held up while Congress bickered over how to divide up themoney.About 80 percent of the $286.4 billion transportation bill approvedFriday by the House and Senate will pay for highway projects, with mostof the rest reserved for mass transit. Every New England state will seean increase in federal funding, although the region will receive aslightly smaller portion of the total national transportation budgetthan in the past.The bill also pays for thousands of special projects -- specificallydesignated construction items inserted into the bill by lawmakers tobenefit their home districts. New England is due to receive $1.5 billionfor special projects, ranging from $6 million to replace a coveredbridge in Maine to millions to upgrade railroad lines in Vermont.Citing the construction jobs that the spending is expected to create inthe region, Representative Michael Michaud, Democrat of Maine, a memberof the House transportation committee that wrote the bill, said itspassage was ''long overdue."Proposed in 2003, the highway spending bill repeatedly stalled overdisagreements about how to distribute revenue from the 18.4cents-per-gallon federal gas tax collected at the pump. Many Southerncongressmen and senators pushed for their states to receive more, sincethey have historically paid more in gas taxes than they received forbuilding roads.Gary Roux, principal planner for the Pioneer Valley Planning Commissionin Western Massachusetts, one of dozens of state agencies in the regionthat receive federal transportation funding, said that the wait had been''frustrating" because it was difficult to make plans without knowinghow much federal money to expect.Under the bill that passed in both houses on Friday, Maine gets about$950 million for roads while Massachusetts is set to receive $3.7billion.Grants for mass transit will increase by 71 percent in Rhode Island andby 47 percent in Massachusetts.In special projects, Vermont finished second only to Alaska, winning$331 million in spending for construction projects that amounts to $544for every resident of the state, according to an analysis of the bill byTaxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group critical of what it calls''pork" spending.Vermont's haul includes $5.8 million for a snowmobile trail, a $1million grant to the University of Vermont for hydrogen fuel cellresearch, and $30 million for upgrading a rail line in Western Vermont.In contrast, New Hampshire, with about twice the population of Vermont,is set to receive just $69 million for special projects, less than anyother state in the country. US Senator Judd Gregg, Republican of NewHampshire, was one of only four senators to vote against the bill. Thestate's other Republican senator, John E. Sununu, did not vote.The bill also established a grant program available for states that havehigh rates of seat belt use or that pass a ''primary" seat belt lawallowing police officers to pull over drivers for not wearing seatbelts.According to the American Automobile Association, only one New Englandstate, Connecticut, has a primary seat belt law. The grants in thefederal bill are intended to encourage other states to pass similarlegislation.In the two years Congress spent debating the legislation, many Southernlegislators, led by House majority leader Tom DeLay, Republican ofTexas, sought to change the formula by which aid is distributed toguarantee that each state got back from Washington at least 95 percentof the money it paid in gas taxes. Under the old law, each state wasguaranteed 90.5 percent.In the final legislation, lawmakers compromised on a 92 percentguaranteed rate of return, which will be phased in over the next fiveyears. The change will mean a slightly larger share of the federaltransportation budget for the so-called ''donor" states in the South andWest.US Representative Marty Meehan, a Lowell Democrat, voted for the billFriday but criticized the new funding formula, which he said wouldunfairly direct more federal spending away from the region.''The Southern and Western states, in most aspects of federal spending,depend on the Northern states to pick up the tab," Meehan said in astatement. ''Transportation funding helps balance that out and shouldnot have been changed."

Someone was telling me recently that New Bedford Mass. is going to get a new railroad station even though the MBTA has no funding to restore train service on the line.

"$30 million for upgrading a rail line in Western Vermont."Which rail line in western Vermont is this???

I think it is to upgrade the former Rutland Railway line between Arlington and Rutland. The line south of there, to North Bennington and the Guilford connection in NY received some work a couple of years ago, for proposed Amtrak service, which never materialized. Track is operated about once per week by Vermont Rail Systems.

Incidentally, for those who are interested, the Surface Transportation "Enhancement" program was continued in the new highway bill. The definition of "enhancement" was amended slightly, but the categories for preservation of historic railroad facilities and establishment of transportation museums were unchanged. The definition is at Sec. 1122 of the new bill. Competition for these handouts will only increase, however.

Not in that crummy state of Connecticut. They don't even bother to chase after these fundsThey just keep spending money on roads, roads and more roads...-which will prove to be of little value when gasoline eventually levels off at 3 bucks/gallon. How about the stocks and pillory for those mopes :-) Dave