TRANSPORTATION REAUTHORIZATION: A SUMMARY OF THE TRANSPORTATION EQUITY ACT (TEA-21) FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

On May 22, 1998, the U.S. House and Senate enacted a six-year surface transportation funding reauthorization bill to succeed the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA), which expired at the end of fiscal year 1997. The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century or TEA-21, Pub.L. No. 105-178 was signed into law on June 9, 1998. TEA-21 is a massive piece of legislation dealing with all aspects of surface transportation from highways to bicycle paths. In addition to broad program authorizations, TEA-21 continues previous surface transportation practices of specifically authorizing (earmarking) literally hundreds of local transportation projects. The fact that within a month of its passage Congress felt compelled to adopt a technical corrections bill illustrates this bill's complexity. This article highlights significant programs initiated or continued in TEA-21 and describes the new approach to funding surface transportation programs adopted in the Act. For additional information, the U.S. DOT website (http://www.dot.gov>) contains a comprehensive summary of the Act and a full text version.