GAO-04-935R Unobligated Balances for Highway Demonstration Projects 

United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, DC 20548 

August 18, 2004 

The Honorable Richard C. Shelby 

Chairman 

The Honorable Patty Murray 

Ranking Minority Member 

Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury and General Government 

Committee on Appropriations 

United States Senate 

The Honorable Ernest J. Istook 

Chairman 

The Honorable John W. Olver 

Ranking Minority Member 

Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, and Independent Agencies 

Committee on Appropriations 

House of Representatives 

Subject: Highway Projects—Extent of Unobligated Balances for Demonstration 

Projects as of April 30, 2004

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 geographic locations within states and for specific purposes, and funds 

made available for them generally remain available for them until expended. This 

report includes information we provided your staff on July 14, 2004, on unobligated 

funds no longer needed that could be rescinded from highway demonstration projects 

and also includes a recommendation to the Secretary of Transportation. 

Results in Brief 

As of April 30, 2004, there were 80 highway demonstration projects with unobligated 

balances that were no longer needed by the states constructing the projects. These 

projects accounted for about $16.4 million in unobligated funds. These funds were 

provided in authorization or appropriations acts enacted from 1982 through 2000. 

Table 1 in the enclosure specifies the following for each of the 39 projects with 

unobligated balances over $100 as of April 30, 2004: 
Page 2 GAO-04-935R Unobligated Balances for Highway Demonstration Projects

• the state in which the project is located; 

• a brief project description; 

• the public law and, where appropriate, committee reports identifying the 

projects; 

• the budget authority made available; 

• the obligated amounts; and 

• unobligated amounts available for rescission. 

We also found that 41 of the 80 projects have very small unobligated balances of less 

than $20 each, and we have provided that information separately to your staff. 

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is not routinely identifying highway 

demonstration projects with unobligated balances that could be rescinded. Rather, 

according to an agency official, FHWA receives regular requests from GAO, the 

Department of Transportation’s Inspector General (DOT IG), and other parties to 

identify unobligated balances. Although the review excluded demonstration projects, 

the DOT IG reported in March 2004 that a significant amount of unneeded obligations 

exists for highway- and transportation-related grants.1

 As a result, the DOT IG 

recommended, among other things, that FHWA routinely work with states to identify 

unneeded obligations. 

Scope and Methodology 

To identify highway demonstration projects with unneeded unobligated balances, we 

requested that FHWA analyze reports from its Fiscal Management Information 

System (FMIS) to identify highway demonstration projects with unobligated balances 

and then to verify the information with state officials to identify those with remaining 

unobligated balances that were unneeded. We verified the statutory sources of the 

projects by reviewing the relevant statutes and associated reports. We relied on 

FMIS to identify the amount of budget authority, as well as obligated and unobligated 

amounts for each project, and did not independently verify this information. To 

ensure the data in table 1 are correct, FHWA, at our request, verified the unobligated 

balances and the status of the demonstration projects with state departments of 

transportation; therefore, we determined the information was sufficiently reliable for 

our purposes. We conducted our review from March through June 2004 in 

accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 

 

1

Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, Inactive Obligations—Federal Highway 

Administration, Fl-2004-039 (Washington, D.C., March 31, 2004). 
Page 3 GAO-04-935R Unobligated Balances for Highway Demonstration Projects

Conclusion 

FHWA is not taking action on a regular basis to identify projects with unobligated 

balances that could be rescinded; rather, it responds to requests from outside parties 

to identify such information. Regularly tracking this information, sharing it with 

FHWA division offices and state transportation officials to identify unneeded 

unobligated balances, and submitting it to Congress could result in more timely 

rescissions of unobligated balances that the states no longer need, freeing funds for 

other purposes. 

Recommendation for Executive Action 

We recommend that the Secretary of Transportation direct the Administrator, Federal 

Highway Administration, to regularly compile a list of highway demonstration 

projects that have unneeded, unobligated balances available for rescission. 

Agency Comments 

We provided DOT, including officials from the Office of Infrastructure, Federal 

Highway Administration, with a draft of this report for review and comment. DOT 

officials generally agreed with the findings and recommendation in this report and 

provided technical comments, which we incorporated, as appropriate. 

- - - - - 

We are sending copies of this report to the Secretary of Transportation; the 

Administrator, Federal Highway Administration; the Senate Committee on 

Environment and Public Works; and the House Committee on Transportation and 

Infrastructure. The report 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 at (202) 512-2834 or 

Catherine Colwell at (312) 220-7655. Other key contributors to this report were Ray 

Sendejas, Kimberly Berry, and Stacey Thompson. 

JayEtta Z. Hecker 

Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues 

Enclosure 
Page 4 GAO-04-935R Unobligated Balances for Highway Demonstration Projects

Enclosure 

Table 1: Summary of 39 Demonstration Projects with Unobligated Balances over $100 

Available for Rescission as of April 30, 2004 

State Project 

description 

Public law Budget authority Obligations Unobligated 

balance 

California Extend Highway 41 in 

Madera County 

TEA-21a (PL 

105-178) 

$5,638,047.00 $5,159,942.00 $478,105.00 

 Upgrade access road 

to Mare Island 

TEA-21 (PL 

105-178) 

500,000.00 497,966.60 2,033.40 

 Conduct planning, 

preliminary 

engineering, and 

design for Etiwanda 

Avenue/Interstate 10 

interchange, San 

Bernardino County 

TEA-21 (PL 

105-178) 

1,537,649.00 0.00 1,537,649.00 

Colorado Construct alternative 

truck route in 

Montrose 

TEA-21 (PL 

105-178) 

4,305,417.00 4,199,999.00 105,418.00 

Connecticut Implement Trinity 

College Area road 

improvements, 

Hartford 

TEA-21 (PL 

105-178) 

5,235,694.00 4,791,708.00 443,986.00 

 Construct overlook 

and access to Niantic 

Bay 

TEA-21 (PL 

105-178) 

2,367,980.00 2,167,176.00 200,804.00 

 Pedestrian/disabled 

access improvements 

at Mark Twain House 

Historic Site 

TEA-21 (PL 

105-178) 

512,550.00 469,086.00 43,464.00 

Florida State Route 

46A/Interstate 4 

interchange, Sanford 

STURAAb

 (PL 

100-17) 

6,980,748.00 6,682,377.00 298,371.00 

 Highway Capacity 

Improvement Demo 

U.S. 231 

PL 101-516 

(1990) 

2,599,978.00 2,593,013.00 6,965.00 

 Interchange at U.S. 

301 and University 

Parkway, Sarasota 

ISTEAc

 (PL 

102-240) 

2,341,029.00 1,903,013.00 438,016.00 

 Engineering of 

improvements for 

State Route 3 

between State Route 

520 and State Route 

528, Brevard County 

ISTEA (PL 

102-240) 

156,069.00 19,095.00 136,974.00 

Georgia Railroad relocation 

demonstration project, 

overpass at 15th 

Street and Greene 

Street, Augusta 

ISTEA (PL 

102-240) 

7,430,028.00 0.00 7,430,028.00 

 Peachtree Industrial 

Boulevard, Atlanta 

STURAA (PL 

100-17) 

19,944,994.00 19,201,053.78 743,940.22 

 Transportation 

improvements for 

1996 Olympics and 

ITS traffic 

management system, 

Atlanta (See PL 104-

59 Sect 335) 

ISTEA (PL 

102-240) 

56,672,402.00 56,668,432.80 3,969.20 

Iowa Improvements to Fifth 

and Sixth Streets, 

Waterloo 

PL 102-143 

(1991), House 

Conference 

Report 102-

243 

7,900,000.00 7,718,006.48 181,993.52 

Kansas Interstate 70/110th 

Street interchange, 

Kansas City 

PL 103-331 

(1994), House 

Conference 

Report 103-

752 

3,846,400.00 3,535,457.10 310,942.90 
Page 5 GAO-04-935R Unobligated Balances for Highway Demonstration Projects

Kentucky Conduct feasibility 

study for Northern 

Kentucky High Priority 

Corridor (Interstate 74) 

TEA-21 (PL 

105-178) 

512,551.00 383,061.61 129,489.39 

Maine Brunswick-Topsham 

Bypass 

ISTEA (PL 

102-240) 

10,242,001.00 10,148,004.87 93,996.13 

Mississippi Upgrade Alva-Stage 

Road, Montgomery 

County 

TEA-21 (PL 

105-178) 

1,153,237.00 0.00 1,153,237.00 

New Jersey Route 17/4 

Interchange Project, 

Paramus 

ISTEA (PL 

102-240) 

9,559,943.00 9,508,099.06 51,843.94 

New Jersey Route 21 viaduct "NJ 

Transit Br" Acquisition, 

Newark 

PL 102-388 

(1992), House 

Conference 

Report 102-

924 

2,700,000.00 2,695,000.00 5,000.00 

New Jersey Perth Amboy and 

Woodbridge 

Township: Study 

whether additional 

river crossings 

required 

ISTEA (PL 

102-240) 

2,438,571.00 2,401,071.36 37,499.64 

 Construct road from 

the Military Ocean 

Terminal to the Port 

Jersey Pier, Bayonne 

TEA-21 (PL 

105-178) 

3,075,299.00 3,061,663.00 13,636.00 

 Improvements to 

County Route 605 in 

Delaware Township 

and West Amwell 

Township, Hunterdon 

County, New Jersey 

PL 106-346, 

Sec. 378 

1,197,360.00 1,163,977.57 33,382.43 

Ohio Upgrade one warning 

device on the rail line 

from Marion to 

Ridgeway 

TEA-21 (PL 

105-178) 

76,882.00 74,800.00 2,082.00 

Oregon Design, right-of-way 

acquisition, and 

construction of the 

Ferry Street Bridge, 

including pedestrian, 

bicycle, and vehicle 

approach roadways, 

intersections, 

signalization, and 

structural bridge 

changes, and related 

structures between 

East Broadway and 

Oakway Road, 

Eugene. (See PL 104-

59 Sect 330) 

STURAA (PL 

100-17) 

1,994,499.00 1,985,630.32 8,868.68 

 Upgrade Interstate 5, 

Salem 

ISTEA (PL 

102-240) 

13,851,086.00 13,825,580.60 25,505.40 

 Upgrade access road 

and related facilities to 

port of Port Orford 

TEA-21 (PL 

105-178) 

1,537,648.00 0.00 1,537,648.00 

 Construct bike path 

between Main 

Street/Highway 99 in 

Cottage Grove to Row 

River Trail, Cottage 

Grove 

TEA-21 (PL 

105-178) 

235,773.00 0.00 235,773.00 

Pennsylvania Widen and extend 

Chestnut Avenue from 

Altoona to Juniata. 

ISTEA (PL 

102-240) 

6,945,051.00 6,940,000.00 5,051.00 

 Construct State Route 

3019 over Great 

Trough Creek in 

Huntingdon County 

TEA-21 (PL 

105-178) 

384,413.00 375,000.00 9,413.00 

 Upgrade two sections 

of U.S. 6 in Tioga 

TEA-21 (PL 

105-178) 

1,153,237.00 1,148,676.57 4,560.43 
Page 6 GAO-04-935R Unobligated Balances for Highway Demonstration Projects

County 

 Install traffic signal 

upgrade in Clearfield 

Borough in Clearfield 

County 

TEA-21 (PL 

105-178) 

384,413.00 375,000.00 9,413.00 

 Reconstruct the 

Interstate 81 Davis 

Street interchange in 

Lackawanna 

TEA-21 (PL 

105-178) 

7,175,696.00 7,175,595.00 101.00 

Rhode Island Historic rehab of 

Albion Bridge and 

Albion Trench Bridge, 

Lincoln and 

Cumberland 

ISTEA (PL 

102-240) 

1,950,857.00 1,838,962.20 111,894.80 

Tennessee Access road in 

Clarksville and Fort 

Campbell 

STURAA (PL 

100-17) 

3,988,999.00 3,885,812.75 103,186.25 

 Study and construct a 

bicycle system to 

serve as an alternative 

form of commuter 

transportation, reduce 

air pollution, and 

enhance recreation, 

Murfreesboro (see PL 

102-338 Section 378) 

ISTEA (PL 

102-240) 

390,172.00 36,000.00 354,172.00 

Utah Minimum allocation for 

any eligible title 23 

project: AK, AZ, CO, 

CT, DC, DE, HI, MT, 

NE, NH, OK, OR, PQ, 

RI, UT, VT, WA, WI, 

WY. Note UT001 took 

$1,447,909 from these 

funds. [Rescinded 

$154 ($96 of 308 

funds and $58 of 309 

funds) on 1/10/2000 

as part of PL 103-211 

rescission] 

STURAA (PL 

100-17) 

4,760,508.85 4,755,210.50 5,298.35 

West Virginia Preliminary 

engineering, design 

and construction of the 

Orgas to Chelayn 

Road, Boone County 

TEA-21 (PL 

105-178) 

2,050,199.00 1,936,000.00 114,199.00 

Total $16,407,908.88 

Source: GAO analysis of FHWA data. 

a

Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. 

b

Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987. 

c

Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991. 

(544086) 
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