The Bush administration's 2002 budget for the U.S. Department of Transportation submitted to Congress last week maintains the federal highway and mass transit funding commitments made in 1998's TEA-21 legislation. Despite some media accounts warning of mass transit cuts, federal funding for transit increases by 7.8% to $13 billion; highway funding by 6% to 31.6 billion. Many line items and proposals in the budget specifically impact the NYC metro region.
 

Although the Bush budget does away with most earmarks for specific projects, the spending plan proposed $151 million in New Starts funding for continuing work on the first section of the Hudson Bergen Light Rail to Hoboken and $20 million for the Newark-Elizabeth Light Rail. The Port of New York & New Jersey receives $44 million for dredging the Kill Van Kull channel leading to Port Elizabeth and Newark and $15 million for dredging the Arthur Kill channel to Howland Hook Terminal. Amid the overall Amtrak appropriation of $521 million is $20 million earmarked for construction of the new Farley Penn Station. However, according to Newsday, there is no specific line-item for the LIRR East Side Access Project or any other NYC project.     One statutory change the White House proposes is more smoke than substance. The plan would reduce the federal matching rate for mass transit "New Starts" aid for projects that expand mass transit systems from 80% to 50%. While this would theoretically disadvantage transit against highways, since FHWA funds would generally retain an 80% match rate, steep competition for the New Starts funds around the country has already reduced the average New Start share of transit projects to less than 50%. More importantly, the change would not take effect until 2004, well after extended debate over federal transportation policy will begin for the omnibus transportation authorization in 2003.

President Bush's 2002 US DOT budget would fund continued work on the Hudson Bergen Light Rail's first phase.