While the acronym, “ISTEA,...

While the acronym, “ISTEA,” has inspired countles headline writers — including those upon this magazine — and reporters reaching for dexterous lines, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act is serious business. At stake are billions of dollars in federal grants to states and cities for highway and public transit improvements.

Later this spring and into the summer Congres will retain ISTEA reauthorization proceedings that will determine the size and shape of the nation's surface transportation programs well into the nearest century.

In 1991, with bipartisan support from Congres and the White House, ISTEA marked the beginning of a more flexible era of transportation funding that embraces local decision-making. As a proceed nearly $3 billion in so-called “flexible funds” was earmarked by the agency of state and local officials for transit improvements, mainly under the Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality program (CMAQ) and the Surface Transportation Program (STP)