State lags in distributing federal funds for paths

By Katheleen Conti, Globe Staff  |  August 1, 2010

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Massachusetts ranks last in the nation in allocating federal funds for alternative transportation projects, according to a recent study that tracks how states have spent billions of federal dollars for projects such as bike and pedestrian paths.

The study, released in May by the National Transportation Enhancements Clearinghouse, indicates that from fiscal years 1992 through 2009, Massachusetts cleared $62 million in Federal Highway Administration transportation enhancement funds out of an approved $151 million.

The results don’t reflect the numerous statewide initiatives by different administrations since the early 1990s to encourage the growth of bicycling and other commuting alternatives, mainly spurred on by concerns over air quality and traffic congestion.

They do, however, reflect the state’s main priority at the time, which was highway transit projects, not trails or bike paths, according to officials at the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that offers assistance to rail trail advocates nationwide. In cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration, Rails-to-Trails also operates the clearinghouse.

“Some states are not used to trail projects, but highways,’’ said Carl Knoch, manager of trail development at the Rails-to-Trails Northeast regional office in Pennsylvania. “Some states use the procedure they would use for a highway project for a trail project.’’

This has been the case in Massachusetts, and it’s a practice transportation officials are working to change, said Ned Codd, director of program development in the Office of Transportation Planning at the state Department of Transportation.

Sponsors of local alternative transportation projects, in many instances municipalities, have to complete a two-step process through the department to qualify for federal transportation enhancement funds, Codd said. In addition to submitting an application, sponsors must go through a lengthy development process with the department’s highway division.

“We have been working with the highway division,’’ Codd said, “to essentially integrate the transportation enhancements eligibility application with the highway division project process. So we cut an additional hurdle that we really felt was not benefitting anyone and making it more difficult for projects to get into the process.’’

Codd said more attention has been placed in recent years on recreational path projects.

“Since 2007, Massachusetts Department of Transportation has completed almost 44 miles of shared-use paths over 20 individual projects and spent about $38 million on those projects,’’ Codd said. “Not all that has been [transportation] enhancements funding; we’ve used a number of other funding [sources].’’

Even with improvements in the allocation of federal funds, rail trail projects could still take years to complete, particularly those that involve multiple communities, property owners, and residential abutters, Codd said.

Still, he said, “We hope that by simplifying the process we’ll be able to get a lot more projects ready in the pipeline, funded through the enhancement pipeline.’’

Katheleen Conti can be reached at kconti@globe.com.