Groups want beautification aid put back

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Faced with the prospect of footing the entire bill for landscaping highways, cities and environmental groups are gearing up for a congressional battle this fall. "Representatives will be hearing from a variety of cities on this," said Norm Gollub, urban design manager for Greenville.

In the past decade, Greenville, Mauldin, Simpsonville and Travelers Rest have spent $3.5 million in federal money for two dozen projects.

Thursday night, the House Appropriations Committee changed the way the $620 million for landscaping and improvement projects can be spent. Instead of being reserved for "enhancement" projects, the money could be used for regular road construction — individual states will be given the option on how the money can be spent. But at the same time the enhancement money changed, the bill also increased highway construction spending to a level $4.5 billion more than President Bush's request, according to committee documents.

The enhancement funding also is used for trails, bike paths and even restoring historic buildings or building visitor centers.

A spokesman for Rep. Jim DeMint, R-Greenville, said DeMint supports the enhancement funding, but congressional spending needs priorities.

"Sometimes it comes down to crumbling roads or crumbling bike paths," said spokesman John Hart. "(DeMint) supports increasing funding overall, but targeting funding to priorities. The first priority is safety."

Ken Rosenfeld, advocacy manager for the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in Washington, said other congressmen have used the priority argument, but his group is not convinced.

"Clearly times are not tough for highway construction," he said, referring to the $4.5 billion construction increase.

Officials with the state Department of Transportation would not comment.

The proposal must now go to the full House of Representatives after it returns from its August recess. Any cuts would also have to be approved by the Senate, where supporters said there is much more support for the funding.

Upstate cities have used $5.5 million in federal money for $10.5 million worth of beautification, education and tourism improvements since 1992. The state has used the money to plant wildflowers along intestates and to build a visitor center for the Jocassee Gorges. Greenville used the money for 18 projects, including landscaping on Court Street, restoring Stone Avenue, and renovations to Main Street's bridge over the Reedy River.

"This money is well-spent," Greenville City Councilwoman Chandra Dillard said. "If you're going to expand your highway program without giving some aid to soften the effect of concrete, there will be a lot of side effects."

Apart from the aesthetic side effects, Dillard said, greenways and road landscaping are needed to lessen the effects of air pollution, a serious problem facing the Upstate. In addition, city officials and environmentalists said attractive cities are better for economic development.

"We're going to be left with barren land, which is not a pretty sight," she said.

Some of the money for the city's "Max Heller Gateway" along I-385 is already in the bank, Gollub said. But, Dillard said the landscaping plan is a multiyear proposal, so cutting future funds means the city will have to find money elsewhere.

"This is unquestionably the most popular program that the (federal Department of Transportation) has," Rosenfeld said. "It's what communities want to see and what local elected officials like to see. It's part of a balanced transportation system and economic development."