A recent federal report says the D.C. government has left more than $25 million in federal transportation grant money untouched since 1992 even as analysts rank the area’s roadways among the most congested in the nation.
The finding is among a dozen or more examples of states and cities across the country that are failing to spend millions of dollars in federal transportation grants, the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General’s Office has reported.
“We found transportation projects that had been cancelled or completed, but their obligated funds were allowed to sit idle for years,” Alexis M. Stefani, assistant inspector general, wrote in a March 31 memo to the Federal Highway Administration.
One such project involved making more parking available at the Anacostia Metro station, a project for which the District received federal transportation funds in 1992. Officials have yet to spend the $25.5 million that was allocated, the federal report said.
The report recommends thatthe District spend the money allocated for the Anacostia project on other transportation needs, rather than letting the funds sit idle. The proposed parking facility was never built.
In 2001, Metro extended its Green Line service to the Branch Avenue station in Prince George’s County. Previously, the Anacostia station was the last stop on the rail line.
“My understanding was that there had been some soil and environmental concerns,” Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel said of the proposed 360-space parking facility. “By the time they were moving along [with the plans], the Branch Avenue project came along.”
Transportation industry analysts say D.C. roadways need the funding, pointing out that the District ranked fourth on a list of the nation’s most congested cities as compiled by the Texas-based Transportation Institute in a report issued last year.
Transportation officials “want to make sure we spend all of the federal funds we get,” said Bill Rice, a spokesman for the D.C. Transportation Department.
Mr. Rice declined to say why the transportation department has failed to spend the federal funds since 1992, but he said the agency’s director, Dan Tangherlini, has been working to fix the problem.
“Since he came in as director [in 2002], he’s been making a concerted effort to make sure that these funds that were not spent become obligated and get spent. We’re on our way to doing that,” Mr. Rice said.
The federal report states that D.C. officials agreed to apply the idle federal transportation funds to other projects as a result of the inspector general’s inquiry.
The District does not stand to lose the funds, although the report does criticize states and cities that failed to spend federal grants.
“In today’s tight budget environment, when highway investment needs exceed available resources, allowing unneeded obligations to sit idle on highway projects leaves fewer funds available,” the report states.
“Allowing funds to sit idle also affects state resources, because states generally have to contribute a certain percentage of their own funds to secure federal grants for transportation and safety projects.”
Mr. Rice said the D.C. transportation department has decided to spend the federal money within the next year on two projects.
The first project will fund construction of new signals, lighting and a pedestrian underpass along South Capitol Street at various points from E Street to the Anacostia Metro station, including improvements to the South Capitol Street and Suitland Parkway interchange, Mr. Rice said.
The other project will fund the design of a new South Capitol Street bridge across the Anacostia River, he said.
Federal transportation officials scrutinized the Anacostia Metro grant funds as part of a 10-state survey of inactive transportation projects financed by federal grant money.
The same report also faulted Baltimore officials, saying the federal government had allocated $506,000 to pay for bridge inspections that was never spent.
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