Congress Passes Funding Increase For National Park Roadways

National park roadways are slated to receive an 18% increase in funding from the recently passed Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), a non-profit advocacy group, praised Congress for including the increase, which will help fund the repair and maintenance of roads, bridges, and transportation systems within America’s national parks.

“Yellowstone, Great Smoky Mountains and so many national parks need substantial funding to maintain and improve their roadways. This bill takes a major step forward toward repairing important roads, bridges, and transit systems to ensure visitors can enjoy national parks with their families for years to come,” said Laura Loomis, NPCA’s Deputy Vice President of Government Affairs. “Congress is heading in the right direction toward addressing the costly backlog of road projects.”

The FAST Act authorizes federal highway programs for five years and during the life of this law ramps up the annual funding guarantee to the National Park Service from $268 million to $300 million through the Federal Lands Transportation Program. Overall, the National Park Service will receive an additional $220 million over the span of the five-year bill. Under the previous law, the National Park Service received an annual funding guarantee of $240 million.

Additionally, the new legislation authorizes up to $100 million annually for the Nationally Significant Federal Lands and Tribal Projects Program designed to address exceptionally large repair projects such as replacement of the Grand Loop Road in Yellowstone National Park.

In total, the National Park Service manages roughly 10,000 miles of roadways, which is a greater distance than a roundtrip drive between Washington, DC and Anchorage, Alaska.



Jeff
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