The impending expiration of the nation's$157 billion transportation legislation has plunged lawmakers into one of the most contentious issues they will face this year.The current law - the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) - receives widespread praise for giving localities a prominent role in deciding how to allocate federal transportation dollars. The emerging debate over the proposed replacement legislation focuses on how much can be spent in a time of scarce federal dollars - and how it should be spent. Highway users, including automakers and truckers, want more money for road-building and maintenance. Environmentalists, transit operators and bicyclists want to preserve the current law's funding for alternative modes of transportation as a way to relieve traffic congestion and curb suburban sprawl.
