U.S. Rep.

Jason Altmire, D-4th, this week spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives to urge Congress to pass legislation he introduced that would make roads safer for older drivers.The Older Driver and Pedestrian Safety and Road Enhancement Act of 2009, Altmire said, would invest $500 million annually in making improvements to roads to help older drivers."It is estimated that by 2025, one in four drivers will be 65 or older," he said. "Given this fact, we need to make sure we are taking older drivers' needs into account in our transportation planning."The funding would come from funds set aside for the Highway Trust Fund.Altmire noted studies have identified several improvements that could be made for older drivers' needs. These improvements include creating more left turn lanes with left turn signals, creating bike lanes, and improving road signs by ensuring they are not clustered together and that have larger size type.——-—U.S. Rep.

Kathy Dahlkemper, D-3rd, this week announced Pennsylvania will receive more than $22 million in Conservation Reserve Program rental payments from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.The payments, she said, are part of a $1.7 billion program nationwide, announced by USDA.In Pennsylvania, producers hold 11,951 contracts on 7,535 farms, encompassing 223,199 acres of farmland. USDA estimates these contracts will receive $22.4 million in CRP rental payments in fiscal year 2010.Nationally, producers holding about 758,000 contracts on 424,000 farms will receive an average of $51.52 per acre. The number of contracts is higher than the number of farms because producers might have multiple contracts on a single farm.Included in the totals are 391,000 contracts, about 4.4 million acres, for CRP's continuous sign-up and 369,000 contracts, about 29.4 million acres, for general sign-up.Under continuous sign-up, producers may enroll high priority conservation practices such as filter strips, riparian buffers and wetland restorations at any time.Currently, enrollment stands at about 31 million acres national wide, making CRP the largest public-private partnership for conservation and wildlife habitat in the United States.