Nearly Quarter million Spent on Scenic Highway DVD

Tampa, Florida - Traffic is a major problem in the Bay Area. While there are many projects that area being constructed, more are needed. However U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says money is holding them back.   According to LaHood it is simply clear there is not enough money in the highway trust fund to do all the things that need to be done in America.  Despite what LaHood says, the feds did find enough money to allow the state to produce DVDs to show off Florida's Scenic Highways.  

Florida Department of Transportation's Rusty Ennemoser says the DVD has beautiful shots and great narration of the different highways around the state.    Ennemoser says the state is thrilled to get a federal grant to update the scenic highway video it already has and convert it to High Definition in English and Spanish. She says they will be distributed through the local scenic highway corridor programs as well as the welcome centers in the state. In addition she says anyone who wants to see them can go on YouTube as well.   And while almost everyone we talked to said even in these tight economic times it makes sense to spend federal transportation money on transportation, everyone we talked to said it made no sense to spend that money on a DVD to promote scenic highways. 

Linda Petrovich says it seems like there should be higher priorities than making videos of Florida's Highways.     And while we found plenty of people upset about the DVD, the state says it hasn't had any complaints   We asked Ennemoser if anyone has said we're in a tough economy and maybe this isn't the right time to be doing something like this, she told us no. Ennemoser says it's not stimulus money and it is a program that has been going on for years.  

 What's that costing you?  It cost $232,000 for the DVD, almost a quarter of a million dollars. But, like they say in the infomercial, wait there's more. The  state got 6  federal scenic byways grants for a total of $681,000 which is part of a close to 41 million dollars in grants given to 43 states.    If that's not enough, the Feds have handed out close to $400 million dollars of scenic grants since 1992.

Ronald Harrison says even though it is federal money it is taxpayer money and could be better spent. And whether you think it is a great idea and want to praise those who authorized the money or are sitting at home wondering what bonehead came up with this idea, just turn you eyes to Washington and thank your friends in Congress. They authorized the money when the government says it is being squeezed.