The United States federal Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) is a federal

transportation bill In the United States, the federal transportation bill refers to any of a number of multi-year funding bills for surface transportation programs. These have included: * Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act, 1987 * Intermoda ...

enacted June 9, 1998, as and . TEA-21 authorized federal surface transportation programs for

highways A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

highway safety Road traffic safety refers to the methods and measures used to prevent road users from being killed or seriously injured. Typical road users include pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, vehicle passengers, horse riders, and passengers of on-ro ...

, and

transit Transit may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film * ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world * ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...

for a 6-year period from 1998 to 2003. Because Congress could not agree on funding levels, the Act, which had continued past 2003 by means of temporary extensions, was allowed to lapse.

History

The bill was introduced in the House by

Bud Shuster Elmer Greinert "Bud" Shuster (; born January 23, 1932) is an American politician who represented Pennsylvania's 9th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from 1973 to 2001. He is best known for hi ...

( R– PA) on September 4, 1997. The transportation equity act requires that seven planning factors be included in regional transportation plans. The plans must: # support the economic vitality of the metropolitan planning area, especially by enabling global competitiveness, productivity and efficiency; # increase the safety and security of the

transportation system A transport network, or transportation network, is a network or graph in geographic space, describing an infrastructure that permits and constrains movement or flow. Examples include but are not limited to road networks, railways, air routes, ...

for motorized and non-motorized users ; # increase the accessibility and mobility options available to people and for freight; # protect and enhance the environment, especially by promoting

energy conservation Energy conservation is the effort to reduce wasteful energy consumption by using fewer energy services. This can be done by using energy more effectively (using less energy for continuous service) or changing one's behavior to use less service (f ...

and improving

quality of life Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...

; # enhance the integration and connectivity of the transportation system across and between

modes Mode ( la, modus meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' MO''D''E (magazine)'', a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine * ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is ...

, for people and freight; # promote efficient system management and operation; and # emphasize the efficient preservation of existing transportation systems. Factor 4 was amended by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act (SAFETEA-LU) in 2005 and reads: "protect and enhance the environment, promote energy conservation, improve the quality of life, and promote consistency between transportation improvements and State and local planned growth and economic development patterns". Section 1211(d) prevents the

United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...

(USDOT) from requiring state departments of transportation to use the

metric system The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the definition of the Intern ...

. This has had the effect of delaying

metrication in the United States Metrication (or metrification) is the process of introducing the International System of Units, also known as SI units or the metric system, to replace a jurisdiction's traditional measuring units. U.S. customary units have been defined in ...

with respect to road construction, though some states had already completely converted.

Funding programs

*JARC (Job Access Reverse Commute)

References

External links

TEA-21 official web site

Transportation Equity Act for the 21st CenturyPDFdetails
as amended in the GPObr>Statute Compilations collection
Equity Act Acts of the 105th United States Congress 1998 in American law {{US-fed-statute-stub

History

Funding programs

See also

References

External links