Among the thousands of funded goals included in $286.4 billion transportation bill signed by President Bush are projects that range from being simply historical to ones that aim to solve long-standing traffic snarls.
For instance, the small Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse, N.Y., will get $400,000. The museum includes the last remaining weigh lock building on the historically important canal.
Also, $22 million will go toward building a six-mile road in Georgia to connect the town of Rome to Interstate 75. The move would replace a dangerous and confusing jumble of routes and ramps, which create both traffic problems and a safety hazard.
And in Ketchikan, Alaska, a structure that some are already calling a "bridge to nowhere" will be built, in an effort to help economic growth.
To discuss the projects, Michele Norris talks with Nancy Hall of the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse, N.Y.; Mohamed Arafa of the Georgia Department of Transportation; and Mary Kaufmann of the Ketchikan, Alaska website, sitnews-dot-com.
In all, the bill contains a record 6,371 targeted projects, which lawmakers often tout during election season in their home districts.
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