GAO-02-721R Highway Projects

June 5, 2002

The Honorable Harold Rogers

Chairman

The Honorable Martin Olav Sabo

Ranking Minority Member

Subcommittee on Transportation

 and Related Agencies

Committee on Appropriations

House of Representatives

Subject: Highway Projects: Extent of Unobligated Balances for Demonstration Projects

as of March 31, 2002

Congress has provided funding for numerous highway demonstration projects in

legislation authorizing surface transportation programs as well as in annual

appropriations acts for the Department of Transportation (DOT). In some cases, the

projects are identified in the legislation itself. In others, they are identified in committee

reports accompanying the legislation. These projects are all designated for specific

locations within states and for specific purposes, and funds made available for them

generally remain available until expended. In order to identify funds that could be

rescinded, you asked us to identify highway demonstration projects with unobligated

balances that are no longer needed, and the amount of these balances.

Results

As of March 31, 2002, there were 30 highway demonstration projects with unobligated

balances that were no longer needed by the states.1 These projects accounted for about

$5.6 million in unobligated funds. These funds were provided in authorization or

appropriations acts enacted from 1978 through 1994. Table 1 in the enclosure specifies

the budget authority made available and the obligated and unobligated amounts for each

of the projects with unobligated balances as of March 31, 2002; lists the statute(s) and,

where appropriate, committee report(s) identifying the projects, beginning with the most

recent, and describes briefly the location and nature of the projects. We also found that

8 of the 30 projects have very small unobligated balances of less that $1.50 each, and we

have provided that information to your staff.

 1

 We identified another set of demonstration projects with unobligated balances in 2001. See Highway

Projects: Extent of Unobligated Balances for Demonstration Projects (GAO-01-985R, Aug. 17, 2001.)

United States General Accounting Office

Washington, DC 20548
2 GAO-02-721R Highway Projects

Scope and Methodology

To identify highway demonstration projects with unobligated balances, we requested

that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) analyze reports from DOT’s fiscal

management information system (FMIS) and verify the information with state officials.

We verified the statutory sources of the projects and their descriptions by reviewing the

statutes and associated reports. We relied on FMIS to identify the amount of budget

authority and obligated and unobligated amounts for each project and did not

independently verify this information. We conducted our review in April and May 2002 in

accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.

Agency Comments

We provided DOT with a draft of this letter for review and comment. DOT agreed with

the information in the draft letter and provided technical comments, which we

incorporated as appropriate.

- - - - -

As agreed with your office, unless you publicly announce its contents earlier, we plan no

further distribution of this letter until 30 days after the draft of the report. At that time,

we will send copies of this letter to the Secretary of Transportation, the Administrator of

the Federal Highway Administration, the Senate Committee on Appropriations, the

Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and the House Committee on

Transportation and Infrastructure. The letter will also be available on GAO’s Web site at

http://www.gao.gov.

If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact me or Katherine Siggerud at

(202) 512-2834. Other key contributors to this letter were Alex Lawrence and Bonnie

Pignatiello Leer.

JayEtta Hecker

Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues

Enclosure
Enclosure

3 GAO-02-721R Highway Projects

Table 1: Summary of Demonstration Projects with Unobligated Balances (as of March 31, 2002)

State

Public law, section,

and related report Project description

Budget

authority Obligations

Unobligated

balance

Ohio Public Law 103-331

(1994)

Surface

Transportation

Projects

House Conference

Report 103-752

Intermodal terminal,

Fearing Boulevard,

Toledo, Ohio

$668,000.00 $0.00 $668,000.00

Virginia Public Law 103-331

(1994)

Surface

Transportation

Projects

House Conference

Report 103-752

14th Street bridge lane

addition, Virginia

1,000,000.00 829,849.00 170,151.00

Florida Public Law 102-388

(1992)

Highway Projects

(Highway Trust

Fund)

House Conference

Report 102-924

Biscayne Boulevard/U.S.

1, connect Port/Miami to

Interstate 395

2,400,000.00 1,808,927.00 591,073.00

Washington,

D.C.

Public Law 102-240

(1991)

(§1107(b)(201))

Advanced composite

bridge deck

demonstration at

Catholic University

195,085.00 0.00 195,085.00

Illinois Public Law 102-240

(1991)

(§1106(b)(2)(13))

Joliet, Illinois: for

rehabilitation of Houbolt

Road from Jefferson

Street to Joliet Junior

College and construction

and interchange at

Houbolt Road and

Interstate 80

975,428.00 818,828.60 156,599.40

Illinois Public Law 102-240

(1991)

(§1107 (b)(105))

U.S. 24 road

replacement: Crescent

City to Illinois 1 in

Watseka; 6.3 miles

2,438,571.00 2,193,619.54 244,951.46

Illinois Public Law 102-240

(1991)

(§1106(a)(2)(9))

East St. Louis, Illinois:

feasibility study for 4-

lane Access Road to

Jefferson Memorial Park

234,103.00 0.00 234,103.00

Minnesota Public Law 102-240

(1991)

(§1107(b)(160))

St. Cloud, Minnesota:

Trunk Highway15 bridge

across Mississippi River

and interchange with

Trunk Highway 10

3,160,388.00 3,079,685.88 80,702.12

Ohio Public Law 102-240

(1991)

(§1106(a)(2)(86))

Route 18 Bypass study,

Medina, Ohio

390,172.00 0.00 390,172.00

North Dakota Public Law 102-143

(1991)

Highway

Demonstration

Projects

House Conference

Report 102-243

Highway beautification,

Grand Forks, North

Dakota

800,000.00 785,010.31 14,989.69
Enclosure

4 GAO-02-721R Highway Projects

State

Public law, section,

and related report Project description

Budget

authority Obligations

Unobligated

balance

New Jersey Public Law 102-143

(1991)

Highway Studies,

Feasibility--

Design,

Environmental,

Engineering

House Conference

Report 102-243

Highway Study – Route

208/Route 4

interchange, New Jersey

$4,000,000.00 $1,308,726.22 $2,691,273.78

Oregon Public Law 102-143

(1991)

Highway

Demonstration

Projects

House Conference

Report 102-243

Highway 101 Tri-State

Feasibility Studya

270,000.00 217,309.88 52,690.12

Washington Public Law 102-143

(1991)

Highway

Demonstration

Projects

House Conference

Report 102-243

Public Law 102-240

(1991)

(§1107(b)(39))

Bryden Canyon Bridge

access, Clarkston,

Washington

Bryden, Washington:

construct 3 miles of new

and improved highways

connecting Clarkston,

Washington, with

Lewiston, Idaho

3,600,000.00

3,804,171.00

3,585,502.46

3,798,028.84

14,497.54

6,142.16

Illinois Public Law 101-516

(1990)

Highway

Demonstration

Projects

House Conference

Report 101-892

Public Law 102-143

(1991)

Highway

Demonstration

Projects

House Conference

Report 102-243

Bridge Construction –

Hillsboro, Illinois

1,280,000.00 1,212,660.05 67,339.95

Arkansas Public Law 101-516

(1990)

Highway

Demonstration

Projects--

Preliminary

Engineering

House Conference

Report 101-892

Interstate 66 Feasibility

Studyb

10,000.00 8,169.00 1,831.00
Enclosure

5 GAO-02-721R Highway Projects

State

Public law, section,

and related report Project description

Budget

authority Obligations

Unobligated

balance

Kentucky Public Law 101-516

(1990)

Highway

Demonstration

Projects--

Preliminary

Engineering

House Conference

Report 101-892

Interstate 66 Feasibility

Studyb

$10,000.00 $7,118.19 $2,881.81

Ohio Public Law 101-516

(1990)

Highway

Demonstration

Projects--

Preliminary

Engineering

House Conference

Report 101-892

Interstate 66 Feasibility

Studyb

2,500.00 0.00 2424.00

Texas Public Law 101-516

(1990)

Highway

Demonstration

Projects--

Preliminary

Engineering

House Conference

Report 101-892

Interstate 66 Feasibility

Studyb

2,500.00 92.87 2,407.13

Utah Public Law 101-516

(1990)

Highway

Demonstration

Projects--

Preliminary

Engineering

House Conference

Report 101-892

Interstate 66 Feasibility

Studyb

10,000.00 6,365.04 3,634.96

Virginia Public Law 101-516

(1990)

Highway

Demonstration

Projects--

Preliminary

Engineering

House Conference

Report 101-892

Interstate 66 Feasibility

Studyb

10,000.00 4,208.00 5,792.00

West Virginia Public Law 101-516

(1990)

Highway

Demonstration

Projects--

Preliminary

Engineering

House Conference

Report 101-892

Interstate 66 Feasibility

Studyb

10,000.00 0.00 10,000.00
Enclosure

6 GAO-02-721R Highway Projects

State

Public law, section,

and related report Project description

Budget

authority Obligations

Unobligated

balance

Illinois Public Law 97-424

(1983)

(§131(j)(1)c

)

A demonstration project

for the purpose of

showing the benefits of

constructing usable

segments of high-volume

facilities and developing

methods to achieve the

effective implementation

of massive capital

investments made under

federal programs that

are being discontinued.

97,663,821.08 97,661,227.33 2,593.75

Total $122,934,739.08 $117,325,328.21 $5,609,334.87

a

According to FHWA, The study included Oregon, California, and Washington.

b

According to FHWA, the study was originally authorized $1,275,000 and included 15 states: Arkansas, Arizona,

Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West

Virginia. This report includes unobligated balances for this project in seven of these states.

C

Public Law 97-424 originally authorized $100,000,000 for this project. FHWA officials told us that subsequently, in

accordance with Public Law 99-177 (1985), the project’s budget authority was reduced to $98,925,000. Public Law

104-59 (1995) rescinded $798,701 of the funds that had been made available for this project. We identified a

$462,478 unobligated balance for this project in Highway Projects: Extent of Unobligated Balances for Demonstration

Projects, (GAO-01-985R, August 17, 2001) and this was rescinded pursuant to Public Law 107-120 (2001).

Subsequently, Illinois identified an additional $2,593.75 unobligated balance.

Source: Adapted by GAO from information provided by the FHWA.

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