For example, the recently completed corridor partnership plan for the Minnesota River Valley Scenic Byway supported the successful programming of roadway improvements to a segment of the byway using Natural Preservation Route standards. The Edge of the Wilderness byway group completed a multi-year capital improvement plan that incorporates byway projects and highway projects to identify possible joint projects and funding sources. A National Scenic Byways Program is funded through FY 2003 by TEA-21. Allocated funds are available for eight eligible activities connected with state and nationally designated scenic byways. Applications for scenic byway funds are solicited annually by the National Scenic Byways Program of the Federal Highway Administration in January of the year preceding the fiscal year for which the funds will be available.
Applications are due in early spring.
We expect that scenic byways will continue to prosper as the marketing phase begins and as byways implement their projects. Minnesota's recreational travel experience should be strengthened if the byway groups can successfully use their byway designation as a vehicle to promote themselves and make progress in their byway corridors. We believe that the successful byways will be the ones that develop broad community support. They need to reach a position where promotion and route improvement generate tangible benefits for residents and local businesses so that the route's economic importance is understood at the local level. The availability of federal dollars should not be the only criteria for activism on a route.