Washington, D.C. -  Announcing Funding for New Buses 
  
US Rep. David Price (NC-04) has secured key federal support for five Triangle initiatives in the Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (TEA-LU), which the House passed this afternoon.

“I’m pleased that so many Triangle constituents will directly benefit from the funding included in TEA-LU,” said Price. “This is an important step forward in our efforts to meet the transportation needs of our rapidly-expanding communities.”

Price, a long-time advocate of funding for our highways and mass transit, has secured $18M in funding for projects in the 4th Congressional district in TEA-LU, including:

-- $11 million for construction of I-540 from NC 55 South near Holly Springs to NC 55 North near Morrisville.

-- $2 million for the American Tobacco Trail in Durham and Chatham counties

-- $2 million for the purchase of two rail corridors in Durham for future use as bicycle and pedestrian paths

-- $1.5 million for continued development of Cary pedestrian bike paths

-- $1.5 million for construction of a park and ride lot in Chapel Hill

TEA-LU also would reauthorize the Triangle Transit Authority's regional rail project, allowing Price to continue his strong support for additional federal funding though his position on the House Appropriations Committee.

TEA-LU is the follow up to the Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21), which expired in 2003, and has been extended while Congress has continued to debate new funding levels. Because of TEA-LU’s larger funding level, our state stands to gain an additional billion dollars more under TEA-LU than it would have received under TEA-21.

Highway and transit programs are financed through the Highway Trust Fund, which comes from gasoline taxes. North Carolina gets back a smaller percentage of the funds being distributed to states than the percentage it contributes to the Highway Trust funds. However, TEA-LU does not fully address the “donor state” problem. Price has been working with a coalition of these “donor states” to improve our rate of return.