Box 6, Folder 10, Document 69

Box 6, Folder 10, Document 69

Sunde ’ seetene eevee Mae POEM
Aid on Transit
Seen by Volpe

Atlanta in ‘Excellent Position’
For Federal Funds, He Says

By BILL COLLINS

The U.S. secretary of transportation says Atlanta will be i
an excellent position” to get two-thirds of the money for a rapi
ransit system from the federal government.

| John Volpe, former governor
| of Massachusetts and one of the |
front-runners for the vice presi-
| dential nod at ean
the 1968 Repub-
lican pyesiden-
| tial convention |
was in Atlanta

Saturday night

to address the

lth annual
| meeting of the.
| National Con-_
| ference of State
Legislative

Leaders.

The secretary, at a news con-|
ference before his speech, ex: |
plained the Nixon administra- |
tion’s $10 billion, 12-year public |
transportation bill and said At- |
lanta ‘may get the jump ae
other cities’ for funds under the |
bill, if the measure is approved
by Congress.

He said the bill would author-

ize him to make $3.1 billion
available immediately upon its
being signed into law. The fed-
eral money would be spent over
HOP Gates ee eae eae
“He also said Atlanta would be
| “in an excellent position”’ to get
|a federal grant totaling two-|
thirds of the cost of a rapid |
transit system because of the
planning it has done and also be-

[28]























ae leaders
our-day conference, Vol
talked about the need for feder.
al-state-local government coop-


























cause it is one of five ‘‘center
cities.” eee
ee ee

VOLPE POINTED OUT, how-
ever, that under the proposed
bill no one state could get more
than 12% per cent of the total
appropriation,

He also told newsmen the
Vietnam war is not draining |
funds he has requested for his
department and added, ‘The ad-
ministration and the director of
the Bureau of the Budget have
approved the two transportation
bills I have requested.”

Volpe says the two measures
he would like to see enacted in-
clude the $10.1-billion public
transportation bill and the air-
port-airways bill which would
provide $2.5 billion for air-traffic
control and $2.5 billion for con-
struction of new airports and ex-
plansion of existing facilities.

He said the administration is
eoneerned about in-flight
erashes and feels the airport-
airways bill would help diminish
he possibility of future colli-
sions,

With $2.5 billion of the air-
port-airways bill, Volpe ex-
slained, the federal government |
would work towards develop- |
ment of a fully automated sys-
m G—<'r-traffie control sys-

em






eration in solving the
problems. ——,

“Much of the glamour, power
and prestige that once sur-
rounded state Capitols shifted to
Washington in the past 25
years,”’ he said.

“And when the power went to
Washington, many of the tal-
ented young men went also.
Washington has been the mecea
for} young Americans who

ted to dedicate their lives to
fulfillment of the American
dréam,” he added.

VOLPE SAID there has been
a trend towards reversing the
rowing dependence on the fed-
eral government in the past few
years

“This new trend first became
strongly evident under Presi-
dent son,” he added.

“But President Nixon has
gone a Step further. He has pro-
posed a program of revenue
sharing between the states and
Washington. And, although it is
a modest beginning, it will be
stepped up,’ Volpe said.

nation’s