The chair of the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, John Mica, believes his compendious HR7 bill is the right way forward for transportation, in spite of an outcry from mass transit advocates.
Mica says he’s still confident his constituents will support his transportation bill, in spite of the controversy.
Opponents of the bill don’t like measures which strip out requirements for part of the federal gas tax to be spent on public transportation.
Under the proposal, it will also no longer be mandatory to spend a portion of gas tax dollars on cycling and pedestrian enhancements.
There also appears to be some pushback from members of the US House, but Mica says the bill should be seen as a means of removing unnecessary bureaucracy from transportation decisions.
“I don’t think that bureaucrats in ivory towers in Washington know what’s best for Florida, or for our communities, so we’re trying to cut out some of the overheads and the coming on bended knees to Washington to plead for transportation dollars and send it directly back to the states," he said.
The bill was to be considered in the house this week, but Mica acknowledges it faces a very rough road going forward.
While Mica says his constituents should support efforts to put transportation dollars back in the hands of states to spend as they please, it appears people in his own district are largely unaware of the bill and its potential impact on transportation in their city.
Click here to listen to 90.7's Matthew Peddie speaking to John Mica about the transportation bill.