AMTRAK GETS

STIMULUS FUNDS

FOR LONG-DELAYED

ADA UPGRADES

Damascus Elementary and other Montgomery County buildings and roadways aren't the only Americans with Disabilities Act compliance projects still to be completed 19 years later.

Poorly-funded and mismanaged Amtrak has a backlog of projects, some of which are now getting the green light thanks to a rare positive use of Federal funny money stimulus funds.

These include:

Edge strips for 40 stations
Concrete platforms for 23 stations
Wheelchair lifts for 173 stations

This took $40 million in funds.

Unfortunately, Amtrak still needs $1.56 billion to fully comply with the ADA by 2015. That is too long to wait!

What an embarrassment it is to witness Congress wasting hundreds of billions on pork, instead of providing equal access for the disabled in our national rail network.

Source: Trains magazine