Reusing Contaminated Sites for Transportation Projects

[Career/Pro <cpro@igc.apc.org>]

Wednesday April 22, 11:23 am Eastern Time

Transportation Secretary Slater Heralds Policy Change, Enabling Reuse Of
Contaminated Sites for Transportation Projects

LOWELL, Mass. -- Following through on President Clinton's commitment to
preserve and protect the environment, U.S. Transportation Secretary
Rodney E. Slater today announced a new department policy that provides
states and communities flexibility to use and redevelop contaminated
``brownfields'' in transportation projects. He announced the new policy
on Earth Day in Lowell, site of a Riverwalk partially funded by the
department's Federal Highway Administration.

The new DOT policy changes a long-standing department policy that called
for avoiding contaminated sites wherever possible. The change provides
states, localities and transit agencies the choice to locate
transportation projects on brownfield sites and to configure
transportation systems to assure that sites slated for redevelopment are
well served by transportation.

Approximately $9.2 million have been provided to Lowell by the
department's Federal Highway Administration through its Public Lands
Highway Program and the Transportation Enhancement Program of the
Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA).

As proposed by the Clinton Administration, ISTEA reauthorization,
currently under consideration by the U.S. Congress, would continue to
support efforts to protect and preserve the environment. Fiscal Year
1999 transportation infrastructure investment proposed by the department
is 42 percent over 1990-1993 average levels.

The Lowell projects will improve public and handicapped access along a
Canalway and re-establish the historic landscape of the park. The
projects will reclaim unused open space, improve canal walkways, and
enhance historical and archeological sites.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation