The Enhancements program has provided a big boost to bicycle and pedestrian transportation projects -- the GAO shows that 36% of Enhancement dollars allocated between 1991 and Feb., 1996 went to bike or pedestrian projects, while another 15% went to rail-trail conversions. The Washington-based Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has documented that federal funding for cycling and foot transportation via the Enhancements program in 1995 alone was nine times that spent from 1973 to 1989 (in NY and NJ, and some other states, significant amounts of ISTEA's Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality funds have also been devoted to cycling and walking).

Recent proposals by several highway-oriented coalitions would maintain the Enhancements program but eliminate its 10% share of ISTEA's Surface Transportation Program. State highway officials interviewed by GAO said the Enhancements set-aside "restricts their state's ability to spend surface transportation funds on...higher priority infrastructure or highway projects, and they stressed the need to spend...scare resources on projects for improving highway capacity or mobility." State transportation officials who support the Enhancements funding share also said that "if the set-aside were eliminated, the funding for transportation enhancements would be reduced."

The report tracks increasing spending on Enhancements projects since the passage of ISTEA and also spotlights abysmal tracking and record-keeping practices regarding Enhancements expenditures by FHWA.

For the GAO report, call 202.512.6000 and ask for report GAO/RCED-96-156, or look at the August section of www.gao.gov. For state-by-state info on Transportation Enhancements projects, call the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, 202-797-5416.