Save Our Heritage Organisation
Reflections Quarterly Newsletter
Historic Preservation and Transportation Agencies Find Common Ground to Safeguard America's Heritage
Washington, DC (February 5, 2004) - Capping a long battle to save Section 4(f), the strongest legislative protection for historic places, Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, today announced that an agreement had been reached between the Trust and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. With the help of Senator George V. Voinovich (R-OH) and the Ohio Department of Transportation, an amendment has been developed that would streamline preservation reviews of transportation projects while continuing to protect historic places.
The 1966 Department of Transportation Act included Section 4(f) to require transportation officials to give paramount consideration to the protection of historic properties in planning their projects. This amendment would ensure that Section 4(f) works effectively to avoid potential harm to historic properties, while encouraging transportation officials and historic preservation agencies to work together to reduce bureaucratic paperwork for projects with truly minimal impacts on historic places. The amendment would not apply to transportation projects that adversely affect historic places and would leave fully intact the strong standards of protection for historic places that transportation law presently provides. The foundation for this agreement was laid in during a major transportation and historic preservation conference in Lexington, Kentucky in June of 2002.
Since becoming law in 1966 Section 4(f) has stopped plans for highways that would have severed the Mississippi riverfront from the historic French Quarter of New Orleans, devastated Overton Park in Memphis, Tennessee, and protected countless other historic places and neighborhoods from being bulldozed. The law enabled citizens in Baltimore to persuade officials to build a tunnel under Baltimore harbor instead of a massive bridge that would have loomed above Fort McHenry, birthplace of our national anthem, and destroyed thousands of homes in neighborhoods throughout the area.
More from this issue
- Coronado Railroad Appeal of Designation, Lawsuit Goes Forward
- President's Message: Old Enough
By David Marshall- Message from the Executive Director
By Bruce Coons- Historic Preservation and Transportation Agencies Find Common Ground to Safeguard America's Heritage
- Coastal Commission Rejects Extension of Border Triple Fence
By William Doyle- Heritage Architecture & Planning
- Milford Wayne Donaldson Appointed as State Historic Preservation Officer
- Tecate Depot Mystery Solved
- Did you know?
Donate to Soho with PayPal!- Whaley House Period Clothing Program
By David Swarens- Grants & Donations to the Whaley House
- Volunteer Today at the Whaley House
- Gifts of Real Estate to SOHO
By Barry Hager- Spanish Revival Addition Enlivens Annual Craftsman Weekend
- Hillcrest Medical Center
By Keith York- INCENTIVES! Cliffs Notes for Tax Credits
- Join Us for the James Hubbell Homes Tour! Saturday, June 19th
- ModCom Update
By Bill Lawrence- Seven Key Benefits That Historic Preservation Offers
- Letter to the Editor
- The Joys of Being a Docent at SOHO Home Tours
By Linda Canada- Mission Hills Walking Tour
By Allen Hazard- Free "Arch in the Park" Family Event
- Historic Landscape Concern
- Congratulations to the Winners of "History Day in California" Students!!
By Sandé Lollis- A Search for San Diego Courtyards
- The Mission Hills Garden Club
- Old House Fair 2004
- The Repair of Historic Wooden Windows
By John H. Myers- Lost San Diego ~ The Florence Hotel
Copyright ©2008, Save Our Heritage Organisation. Copyright Warning