The relationship between transportation improvements and historic preservation has been a long and often rocky one. While connections between cities and communities have played a very significant role in the history of the western United States, the construction of roads and highways in the latter half of the 20th century has had a monumental, and oftentimes catastrophic impact on historic urban centers, small towns, and cultural landscapes.

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA-21), updated by the Transportation Equity Act of 1998 (TEA-21), provided funding to address damage wrought in the past. This act provided a major source of funding for public projects, including historic preservation activity, which was not available before.

Generally considered the first major highway act of the post interstate construction era, ISTEA-21 and TEA-21 integrated federal transportation policy within a broader policy structure to address social and environmental issues.

TEA-21 will expire in September 2003. Cuts in TEA-21 spending could adversely impact enhancement activities, which include historic preservation projects, environmental mitigation, and safety improvements.

A Change in Policy: Background

Historic preservationists have long been aware of the devastating impacts that large-scale public projects and developments have had on historic urban areas. The term "urban renewal" is now synonomous with the mass destruction of historic buildings, at least within the preservation community.

It wasn't until the 1960s that the public and policy makers began to question the presumption and bigger and newer projects were always better than old buildings. The impact of federal funding programs soon became clear. These top-down initiatives had a broad effect on society, including environmental and historic resources. These concerns lead to a host of new environmental and social programs, legislation, and federal oversight, including the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

In 1965, Congress passed the Highway Beautification Act, one of the first federal laws to address specifically the ramifications of transportation development. The Highway Beautification Act was intended to protect scenic and rural byways from visual intrusions such as billboard advertising and other roadside eyesores.

As the Interstate system became essentially complete and less funding was needed for highway construction, a shift in policy began to occur. In 1991, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA-21), a sweeping body of policies designed in part to provide more funding flexibility for state and local governmental agencies to address specific transportation needs.

Perhaps more important to historic preservationists, ISTEA-21 established the Transportation Enhancements (TE) program, which was designed to provide for non-traditional investments in transportation.

The act initially identified 10 categories of Transportation Enhancements (TEs) to which federal funding could be allocated, including historic preservation, acquisition of historic or scenic sites, archaeological planning and research, and rails-to-trails projects.

This legislation was updated by the 1998 passage of the Transportation Equity Act (TEA-21), which increased TE funding and refined or clarified some of the TE definitions.

Roads and Rails in Puget Sound

For Seattle and the Puget Sound region, transportation concerns are nothing new. Most recently, Seattle residents have had to consider what to do with the crumbling Alaskan Way Viaduct, whether to build a new expanded monorail, and how best to integrate its surface light rail system. Historically, transportation issues have a long legacy.

Seattle's physical form and its growth into a major West Coast city has been determined partly by the role of transportation, including historic coal railroads, the Interurban rail lines, the Mosquito Fleet and speculation over transcontinental railroad traffic.

From the 1920s on, increasing highway and arterial connections dedicated to the automobile provided fast, direct links between many local communities. By the 1930s, traffic congestion in Seattle was becoming a significant problem and city engineers looked for ways to relieve the pressure on the north-south routes through the commercial district. The resulting rapid expansion of roads and infrastructure began to threaten the fabric of neighborhoods and historic communities, both physically and indirectly.

The Alaskan Way Viaduct, which connected South and West Seattle with the communities to the north, was completed in 1954. The Viaduct, the dominating visual feature of the Seattle Waterfront, later came to be viewed by many as a barrier between the downtown and the city's historic waterfront. In 1965, Interstate 5 was completed, which ran through the center of Seattle. Although the new freeway greatly increased the regional north-south traffic capacity, it also severed Capitol Hill from the Downtown, Denny Triangle and Cascade neighborhoods, and cut the International District in half.

In addition, the investment in improved automobile connections, coupled with low land values, federal subsidies and policy, and an optimistic post-war economy triggered a dramatic change in development and land use patterns. In the Puget Sound region, this can be seen in the increasing settlement of rural areas, such as in south King County and the Sammamish Plateau, and the disinvestment in some inner city neighborhoods that has been taking place over the last 40 years.

TEA-21 Basics

Under ISTEA-21 and TEA-21, transportation planning has become both a local and state-level process. Each state and local government must enact a Transportation Improvement Program as a part of its long term planning to qualify for federal funding. Only projects that are included as a part of that program can be funded with federal money.

TEA-21 programs receive income from the federal Highway Trust Fund, which is funded primarily by the federal gas tax. Funding is then allocated to state and federal projects, such as the National Highway System, and local projects, such as TE projects under the Surface Transportation Program. 10% of Surface Transportation Program funds are set aside for TE projects.

TEA-21 set baseline spending at $27.5 billion annually, but by 2002, annual spending was nearly $32 billion. The act also authorized over $200 billion total to be spent to improve transportation infrastructure in the United States, while enhancing economic growth, protecting the environment, and enhancing and protecting special characteristics that define communities.

Closer To Home

The Washington State Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) administers the state allocation of TEA-21 funding. These monies are then divided between projects awarded on a statewide competitive application basis, and funding set aside for regional transportation priorities programs.

Local intergovernmental planning agencies determine the regional transportation priorities and make recommendations to TIB. These agencies are known as Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and Regional Transportation Planning Organizations (RTPOs).

The Puget Sound Regional Council (PRSC) is the local agency responsible for regional transportation planning, administering TEA-21 funds, and allocating those funds to TE projects in the Puget Sound area. PRSC submits all applications for projects within King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap counties, including projects seeking funding both under the regional funding or the statewide competitive funding pools.

The PRSC is a regional organization formed to provide comprehensive planning and growth management services to local governments. Through the interlocal agreements, PRSC provides funding and services to over 70 local public agencies.

So what is a transportation enhancement, exactly?

Under TEA-21, there are 12 categories of projects that qualify as TEs. They include

(1) facilities for pedestrians and bicycles,

(2) safety and educational activities for pedestrians and bicyclists,

(3) acquisition of scenic easements and scenic or historic sites,

(4) scenic or historic highway programs,

(5) landscaping and other scenic beautification,

(6) historic preservation,

(7) rehabilitation and operation of historic transportation buildings, structures or facilities,

(8) preservation of abandoned railway corridors,

(9) control and removal of outdoor advertising,

(10) archaeological planning and research,

(11) environmental mitigation to reduce water pollution associated with runoff and to reduce vehicle caused wildlife mortality, and

(12) the establishment of transportation museums.

For fiscal year 2002-2003, approximately $24 million has been earmarked for TE projects in Washington State. In Washington State, TEA-21 will provide an estimated $2.8 billion in transportation funding through 2003, with approximately $1.5 billion going to state-level WSDOT projects and approximately $1.3 billion awarded to local programs. Of this, $71 million is earmarked to local or regional Transportation Enhancement Projects.

Over 2002-2003, communities in the Puget Sound region are targeted to receive approximately $8.1 million in funding for regional enhancement programs. The submission deadline for funding proposals for the most recent round was in mid 2000.

For historic preservation projects to qualify for funding, they must be sponsored by a public agency and be related in some way to surface transportation.

The Impact on Historic Preservation

The availability of TE funding has had a very real impact on historic resources in Washington.

Since 1992, 69% of TE funding in Washington has been used for pedestrian and bicycle facilities. But approximately 22% has been allocated to history-related projects, including scenic and historic highway programs, rehabilitation of historic facilities, and transportation museums.

Over the past 4 years, over $10 million of TE funding has been allocated to historic rehabilitation projects alone in Washington State. Approximately $5.4 million has been allocated to scenic and historic highway projects, $2.2 million on transportation museums, and $1.5 million for archaeological projects and resource management planning, according to WSDOT figures.

There are many projects within the Seattle metropolitan area that have benefited. This year, King Street Station will receive $2.5 million. The Seattle Landmark Lightship Swiftsure, one of the oldest of its kind in the country, will receive approximately $580,000 in funding. The historic Point Robinson Lighthouse on Vashon Island will receive nearly $130,000 for design costs. Other local recipients of TE funding include the Virginia V steamer, the ferry Kalakala, and an archaeological project sponsored by the Stillaguamish Tribe.

There are many resources available online concerning TEA-21 and its implications that can be found through a search engine such as Google. Some suggested sites are listed below.

To find out more about the impacts of this policy in the Seattle metropolitan area, visit the Puget Sound Regional Council website at http://www.psrc.org, click on Projects and follow the links.

The Washington State Department of Transportation also maintains a page outlining TEA-21 in Washington at http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/TA/ProgMGt/Grants/Tea-21_in_Review.htm.

Federal transportation spending is currently under review in Congress. For information on this and other legislative issues that affect historic resources, visit the National Trust's Congressional Advocacy Center website at http://capwiz.com/nthp/home/.

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