State 10% Transportation Enhancement Requirement NEG

Case claims that states are burdened in their transportation funding by allocating 10% of their
funding to "Transportation Enhancement" projects. Their authors are awfully eager to write
these projects off as "flower beds and museums," when they actually have very worthwhile and
practical programs.

Here are the 12 areas that are considered Transportation Enhancements:

http://www.defenders.org/resources/publications/programs_and_policy/habitat_conservation/habitat_and_highways/how_can_
transportation_enhancements_benefit_wildlife.pdf
12 Transportation Enhancement Activities
1. Pedestrians and bicycle facilities: New or reconstructed sidewalks, walkways, curb
ramps, bike lane striping, paved shoulders, bike parking, bus racks, off-road trails, bike and
pedestrian bridges and underpasses.
2. Safety and educational activities for pedestrians and bicyclists: Programs designed to
encourage walking and bicycling by providing potential users with education and safety
instruction through classes, pamphlets, and signs.
3. Acquisition of scenic easements and scenic or historic sites, including historic
battlefields: Acquisition of scenic land easements, vistas, and landscapes, including historic
battlefields; purchase of building in historic districts or historic properties.
4. Scenic or historic highway programs including tourist and welcome center facilities:
Construction of turnouts, overlooks, visitor centers, and viewing areas, designation signs,
and markers.
5. Landscaping and other scenic beautification: Street furniture, lighting, public art, and
landscaping along street, highways, trails, waterfronts, and gateways.
6. Historic preservation: Preservation of buildings and façades in historic districts;
restoration and reuse of historic building for transportation-related purposes; access
improvements to historic sites and buildings.
7. Rehabilitation and operation of historic transportation buildings, structures, or
facilities: Restoration of historic railroad depots, bus stations, canals, canal towpaths,
historic canal bridges, and lighthouses; rehabilitation of rail trestles, tunnels and bridges.
8. Preservation of abandoned railway corridors and the conversion and use of the
corridors for pedestrian or bicycle trails: Acquiring railroad rights-of-way; planning,
designing and constructing multi-use trails; developing rail-with-trail projects; purchasing
unused railroad property for reuse as trails.
9. Inventory, control, and removal of outdoor advertising: Billboard inventories or
removal of nonconforming billboards.
10. Archaeological planning and research: Research, preservation planning and
interpretation; developing interpretive signs, exhibits, guides, inventories, and surveys.
11. Environmental mitigation to address water pollution due to highway runoff or to
reduce vehicle-caused wildlife mortality while maintaining habitat connectivity:
Runoff pollution mitigation, soil erosion controls, detention and sediment basins, river
cleanups, and wildlife crossings.
12. Establishment of transportation museums: Construction of transportation museums,
including the conversion of railroad stations or historic properties to museums with
transportation themes and exhibits, or the purchase of transportation related artifacts.

1. NO SOLVENCY- No card says 10% more funds would mean 10% more repairs.
2. SOLVENCY IS NON-INTRINSIC, THERE'S NO NET INCREASE IN TRANSPORTATION FUNDS-
Currently, states get 10% MORE funding for enhancement projects. If projects are not longer
funded federal appropriations would just deem them in need of 10% less funds.

3. TURN- COLLISIONS-

TRANSPORTATION ENHANCEMENT FUNDING IS CRUCIAL TO SAVING HUMAN LIVES, ANIMAL

LIVES, PREVENTING EXTINCTION, AND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN DAMAGES
Patricia A. White and Jesse Feinberg, Defenders of Wildlife. [Patricia A. White is an expert on transportation
policy, wildlife-vehicle collisions, and conservation planning. She is a steering commite member on the International
Conference for Ecology an dTransportation, founding member of TRB Committee on Ecology and Transportation, and a board
member of Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project. She previously worked for the World Resources Institute's Biological
Resources program and as an environmental policy consultant to USAID's Global Environment Center.] [Jesse Feinberg is with
the Habitat and Highways Prgram with the Defenders of Wildlife.]
"The $61 Million Question: How Can Transportation Enhancements Benefit Wildlife?"
http://www.defenders.org/resources/publications/programs_and_policy/habitat_conservation/h
abitat_and_highways/how_can_transportation_enhancements_benefit_wildlife.pdf

As part of the 1998 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21),
Defenders of Wildlife and other conservationists worked with Congress to include a new TE
activity for “Environmental Mitigation to address water pollution due to highway runoff or
reduce vehicle-caused wildlife mortality while maintaining habitat connectivity.” Activity 11
allows communities to use TE funding to decrease the negative impacts of roads on the natural
environment, such as wildlife habitat fragmentation and wildlife-vehicle collisions.
We have all witnessed the carnage, but how many animals are killed on our roadways? We may
never know. Some victims are too small to see, some crawl off the road and die elsewhere and
others are either eaten by scavengers or taken by motorists. Recent estimates indicate
between 725,000 and 1,500,000 animals are struck on our roads annually. Wildlife-vehicle
collisions can take a toll on species at the population level and in some cases, push some rare
species closer to extinction. Statistics for human victims are grim as well — 200 fatalities,
29,000 injuries and more than $1 billion in property damage every year as a result of
wildlife-vehicle collisions.
Effective wildlife mitigation techniques should result in a reduction in wildlife-vehicle collisions,
hence they are as important to human safety as they are to habitat connectivity. Human
deaths and injuries are common when vehicles collide with larger species such as deer, elk and
moose. In many rural regions, wildlife-vehicle collisions are the most common cause of
highway collisions.

4. TURN- STORMWATER RUNOFF-

A. TRANSPORTATION ENHANCEMENT MONEY FUNDS STORMWATER RUNOFF MITIGATION

PROGRAMS
Maryland State Highway Administration's posted guidelines on Transportation Enhancement,
still posted as of March 13, 2010. "Transportation Enhancement Program (TEP) Eligibility."
http://www.sha.state.md.us/OPPEN/tep_chap2.pdf
11) Environmental mitigation to address water pollution due to highway runoff or to reduce
vehicle-caused wildlife mortality while maintaining habitat connectivity – Eligible projects in this
category must be environmental mitigation projects that minimize, correct, or collect
stormwater runoff from roadways, as well as projects that reduce wildlife mortality caused by
vehicle incidents on roadways without disconnecting wildlife habitat.
Eligible mitigation activities include wetland creation, stream channel improvements, erosion
control measures, drainage facility restoration, and permanent filtering systems such as the
addition of vegetated ditches or detention basins.
 Projects must rectify current or prior impacts from transportation facilities.
 Projects cannot be a compulsory mitigation, avoidance, or minimization requirement of an
existing or planned roadway project.
 Projects intended to reduce wildlife mortality resulting from vehicles must be at documented
wildlife mortality sites or documented wildlife crossing sites near new roads.
 Projects could include the installation of fencing in wildlife crossing locations; the
construction of wildlife overpasses, underpasses, or culverts; native vegetation plantings as
sight buffers or grazing deterrents; or monitoring and data collection on habitat fragmentation
and vehicle-related wildlife mortality.
 This category is not limited to rare, threatened, or endangered (RTE) species, but includes
any wildlife mortality directly caused by vehicles. Funding preference will be given for species
that are identified as RTE by the federal or state government.
 Restoration and creation of wetlands; improvements to stream channels; installation of
erosion control measures; and other methods to address water pollution linked to highway
runoff
Typical Activities Eligible for TEP Funding
 Creation of vegetative ditches, detention basins, or other filtering system for highway runoff
 Installation of or improvements to drainage facilities degraded by highway construction
 Installation and/or construction costs of fencing, overpasses, culverts, underpasses for
wildlife passage
 Monitoring and data collection on habitat fragmentation and vehicle-caused wildlife mortality

B. CONTINUED INVESTMENT INTO THE MAINTENANCE OF STORMWATER RUNOFF

INFRASTRUCTURE IS NEEDED TO PREVENT CONDITIONS FOR MOSQUITO BREEDING AND
DISEASE VECTOR PRODUCTION

Marco E. Metzger, Dean F. Messer, Catherine L. Beitia, Charles M. Myers, Vicki L. Kramer. "The
Dark Side of Stormwater Runoff Management: Disease Vectors Associated with Structural
BMPs." Stormwater: The Journal for Surface Water Quality. March/April 2002.
[Dean F. Messer, Ph.D., is a project scientist specializing in watershed hydrology and
stormwater management with Larry Walker Associates Inc. in Davis, CA]
http://www.stormh2o.com/march-april-2002/runoff-management-stormwater.aspx

Unfortunately, without proper maintenance, even the most "perfect" stormwater BMP designs
will eventually degrade and witness a deterioration in pollutant-removal efficiency. Stagnant
water that might accumulate in these structures will likely have high concentrations of organic
material and be attractive to egg-laying female mosquitoes. These habitats are also usually
free of predators. Structural damage over time can reduce BMP performance and create
standing water. In addition, the accumulation of vegetation, silt, and debris within structures is
inevitable and is the primary reason why they must be maintained to prevent the occurrence of
standing water. Emergent vegetation can completely overrun and clog retention ponds that are
not deeper than 3-4 ft., and even concrete-lined structures will fill with sediment, providing a
matrix for roots of opportunistic plants to grow, which might lead to further clogging. In
addition, BMPs built in urban areas usually receive large quantities of nonstormwater runoff
(e.g., from landscape irrigation, residential pool cleaning, washing vehicles), which can
contribute to vector production by prolonging the occurrence of water within these structures.
In general, it is recommended to plan for routine inspections of all BMP structures to prevent
the unexpected.
C. MOSQUITOS ARE THE MOST SIGNIFICANT URBAN VECTORS IN THE US. THEY KILL
MILLIONS, COST MILLIONS, AND DECREASE THE QUALITY OF LIFE. PLAN MAKES THEM
ABUNDANT!

Marco E. Metzger, Dean F. Messer, Catherine L. Beitia, Charles M. Myers, Vicki L. Kramer. "The
Dark Side of Stormwater Runoff Management: Disease Vectors Associated with Structural
BMPs." Stormwater: The Journal for Surface Water Quality. March/April 2002.
[Dean F. Messer, Ph.D., is a project scientist specializing in watershed hydrology and
stormwater management with Larry Walker Associates Inc. in Davis, CA]
http://www.stormh2o.com/march-april-2002/runoff-management-stormwater.aspx

Mosquitoes are the world's most significant vectors. Diseases transmitted by mosquitoes are
responsible for the deaths of millions of people every year. Nonfatal infections can cause severe
and debilitating illness that, if widespread, can affect local economies by reducing the number
of available people in the work force and increasing the cost of health care. Based on global
estimates by the World Health Organization, each year 50 million cases of dengue are
diagnosed (24,000 deaths), as are 200,000 cases of yellow fever (30,000 deaths) and 300
million to 500 million cases of malaria (more than 1 million deaths). Fortunately, not all
mosquitoes transmit disease; however, some species can become so abundant that they might
impact tourism, make residents miserable, and even kill small animals by literally sucking all
their blood.
Mosquitoes form a group of extremely successful insects. Approximately 3,000 mosquito
species have been described from around the world; the US is home to about 200 of these.
Mosquitoes have adapted to practically every conceivable ecological niche, from the tropics to
both the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, because of the tremendous variation in the biology and
ecology of individual species. One unifying feature of this group is that they all have obligate
aquatic larvae and pupae (immature stages); thus, they absolutely must have water to
complete their life cycle. We humans also need water for survival (although we don't raise our
children in it), and our cities always provide abundant natural and artificial sources of water. As
a result, mosquitoes thrive in our communities and surrounding habitats as unwelcome guests.
In the US, mosquitoes are undoubtedly the most important urban vectors.
As shown in Figure 2, mosquitoes undergo a complete metamorphosis from aquatic larvae to
winged adults. Eggs are laid in or near water, and larvae and pupae are completely aquatic.
Larvae feed on microscopic items, such as bacteria, and grow rapidly–eventually becoming
pupae. Winged adults emerge from pupae, mate, and begin the cycle again. Only female
mosquitoes feed on blood, which is used to provide the nutrients needed for the development
of eggs. Males are more short-lived and feed on plant juices. It is because of their need for
blood that mosquitoes have caused discomfort, suffering, and death throughout history.
The Unpleasant Relationship Between Mosquitoes and Humans
Mosquitoes have played a prominent role in the history of the US, both as pests and carriers of
disease. Historically, many coastal regions of the US with salt marshes, swamps, or wetlands
were uninhabitable during certain times of the year as a result of the presence of millions of
mosquitoes. In addition, outbreaks of such diseases as malaria and yellow fever took a
tremendous toll in human suffering and death and occasionally decimated developing cities and
local economies. Interestingly, it was not until the very end of the 1800s that the role of
mosquitoes, ticks, and other vectors as carriers of infectious diseases was discovered.

EXT #3 Wildlife Collisions

THERE IS A FUNDING CRISIS FOR CONSERVATION AND WILDLIFE PROGRAMS-

TRANSPORTATION ENHANCEMENT FUNDS ARE CRUCIAL TO THEIR EXISTENCE
Patricia A. White and Jesse Feinberg, Defenders of Wildlife. [Patricia A. White is an expert on
transportation policy, wildlife-vehicle collisions, and conservation planning. She is a steering commite member on the
International Conference for Ecology an dTransportation, founding member of TRB Committee on Ecology and Transportation,
and a board member of Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project. She previously worked for the World Resources Institute's
Biological Resources program and as an environmental policy consultant to USAID's Global Environment Center.] [Jesse
Feinberg is with the Habitat and Highways Prgram with the Defenders of Wildlife.]
"The $61 Million Question: How Can Transportation Enhancements Benefit Wildlife?"
http://www.defenders.org/resources/publications/programs_and_policy/habitat_conservation/h
abitat_and_highways/how_can_transportation_enhancements_benefit_wildlife.pdf

Conservation efforts are in a perpetual funding crisis. We cannot afford to leave any
stone unturned, especially one with $61 million beneath it. The $61 Million Question
is your guide to the Transportation Enhancements program and Activity 11.
Armed with the right information, conservationists and natural resource
managers will be well equipped to apply for TE wildlife habitat connectivity funding and
make a difference for wildlife.

EXT #4 Stormwater Runoff

URBAN STORMWATER RUNOFF PROVIDES CONDITIONS FOR MOSQUITOS TO THRIVE,

PROVIDING SIGNIFICANT DISEASE VECTORS
Marco E. Metzger, Dean F. Messer, Catherine L. Beitia, Charles M. Myers, Vicki L. Kramer. "The
Dark Side of Stormwater Runoff Management: Disease Vectors Associated with Structural
BMPs." Stormwater: The Journal for Surface Water Quality. March/April 2002.
[Dean F. Messer, Ph.D., is a project scientist specializing in watershed hydrology and
stormwater management with Larry Walker Associates Inc. in Davis, CA]
http://www.stormh2o.com/march-april-2002/runoff-management-stormwater.aspx
The urban environment is filled with sources of standing water suitable for mosquito
development. Even in arid areas of the Southwest that would normally not support many
mosquitoes, humans have created urban oases using imported water and exotic plants. Urban
environments provide mosquitoes with a vast array of new habitats: humid and arid, above and
below ground, small water-holding containers and large ponds, polluted and clean water.
Aquatic habitats are found around people's homes (birdbaths, jars, flower pots, neglected pools
and Jacuzzis and clogged rain gutters), in unregulated waste dumps (used tires, barrels,
bottles, and cans), in parks (ponds, lakes, and streams), and in the city's own infrastructure
(storm drains, sewer systems, catch basins, and culverts). Many of these sources are
replenished frequently by stormwater and urban runoff (e.g., irrigation, washing cars). Adding
to this, increasingly stringent urban stormwater runoff regulations have recently mandated the
construction of structural BMPs for both volume reduction and pollution management, many of
which have created additional sources of standing water. This abundance of habitats has
favored mosquitoes and allowed many species to greatly expand their range and increase in
number.
Aquatic habitats are chosen and utilized by different mosquito species based on many factors,
including nutritional requirements of the larvae, egg-laying behavior of adult females, and
location. Any source of standing water, however, will usually provide suitable habitat for at
least some mosquito species. Unfortunately, opportunistic mosquito species likely to breed in
urban sources are often important vectors of human and animal diseases. Many mosquito
larvae can develop in extremely shallow water and might even survive short periods of time
without water as long as the environment remains moist. Complete development from egg to
adult can occur in less than one week, allowing mosquito populations to increase at alarming
rates under optimal conditions.
STORMWATER STRUCTURES WILL ERODE AND FAIL OVER TIME- THEY NEED REGULAR
MANAGEMENT

Marco E. Metzger, Dean F. Messer, Catherine L. Beitia, Charles M. Myers, Vicki L. Kramer. "The
Dark Side of Stormwater Runoff Management: Disease Vectors Associated with Structural
BMPs." Stormwater: The Journal for Surface Water Quality. March/April 2002.
[Dean F. Messer, Ph.D., is a project scientist specializing in watershed hydrology and
stormwater management with Larry Walker Associates Inc. in Davis, CA]
http://www.stormh2o.com/march-april-2002/runoff-management-stormwater.aspx

One of the primary concerns of vector-control personnel is the potential for the progressive
decline or maintenance failure of BMP structures over time. Stormwater BMP structures are
subject to myriad physical and environmental factors that can contribute to reduced
performance or complete failure. Poor performance and failure not only defy the purpose of
building these structures, but they also frequently result in sources of standing water that can
harbor vectors, particularly mosquitoes. Agencies that contributed to the nationwide
BMP/vector study discussed earlier provided information on structures that had been in service
for years, sometimes decades. Not surprisingly, one of the primary concerns from engineers
and vector-control personnel was irregular maintenance or complete lack of maintenance.
Regardless of the reasons for this (public works agencies being understaffed, underfunded, and
so on), the lack of emphasis on maintenance resulted in a breakdown in constituent and trash
removal efficacy and was a main factor contributing to vector production.

***IMPACT EXTENSION!!!***

MOSQUITO BORN ILLNESSES COULD PLAGUE THE US IN A RESURGENCE RIVALING THE

MILLIONS OF DEATHS SEEN WORLDWIDE IF MOSQUITO HABITATS RE-EMERGE

Marco E. Metzger, Dean F. Messer, Catherine L. Beitia, Charles M. Myers, Vicki L. Kramer. "The
Dark Side of Stormwater Runoff Management: Disease Vectors Associated with Structural
BMPs." Stormwater: The Journal for Surface Water Quality. March/April 2002.
[Dean F. Messer, Ph.D., is a project scientist specializing in watershed hydrology and
stormwater management with Larry Walker Associates Inc. in Davis, CA]
http://www.stormh2o.com/march-april-2002/runoff-management-stormwater.aspx

We hope this article provides those working to improve our nation's water quality with an
understanding of the potential public health risks associated with aquatic habitats in the US.
The benefits of improving water quality cannot be contested; however, in the process of
achieving these goals, we should not compromise our own health and safety. The fact remains
that certain aquatic habitats support blood-sucking mosquitoes and other vector species that
have caused the death of countless millions of people worldwide from the many diseases they
transmit. The diseases that we have subdued and eliminated from our country have the
potential to become reestablished if we are not cautious with our approach to water and habitat
restoration. The addition of thousands of new stormwater management structures could
eventually result in vector populations that equal or exceed historical levels.