|
Info from LIB on Hennepin Canal closing
|
Ed Barsotti
|
Sep 03, 2008 21:45 PDT
|
Dear ILcyclist members and others,
I found out about the proposed Hennepin Canal Trail closing just before
leaving to Seattle for a conference, but I've been able to find out some
things. For those who were not aware, the trail - and some canal
reclamation - had received significant federal dollars ($15.4 M) with a
($3.9M) state match, to make it what is it today.
It appears that the State (the Governor's administration, including top IDNR
brass) looked only at staff numbers (and political districts?) when deciding
which state parks to close, and they were not aware of the other legal
implications involving the Hennepin.
Today at the conference, I asked Christopher Douwes (Federal Highway
Administration, top expert on fed funding for bikeways) to confirm that it
is illegal for the state to close a project that the feds had invested in.
The answer was definitely YES. According to federal law (23 USC 116), the
state DOT is responsible for insuring that such projects are being
maintained (open), and they can delegate this authority to another agency
(in this case, IDNR).
At first I thought violating this law would force the state to return all of
the federal dollars, but that is not the case. However, the law does say
that the Federal Highway Administration may serve notice to the state DOT
about a violation, and if it is not corrected, the feds could actually
choose to withhold ALL federal transportation dollars from the state - a
huge sum!
I have remotely been in discussions with IDNR, IDOT, and the Federal Highway
Administration about this option, and when we return from the conference,
LIB will be able to pursue this much more strongly. Look for action alerts
or updates later.
Thanks for all respondents' interest in this.
Ed Barsotti, LIB
(PS to Chuck or Al - please forward to LIBnews, as I cannot do this from
Seattle)
|
|
 |
|
