The transportation system of the future, if House Republicans get their way.

How bad is the US House Republicans' garbage bill to kill federal funding for transit, biking, and walking and dump all the nation's transportation dollars into highways?

Really bad, says the New York Times. So bad, in fact, that it "defies belief." Take it away, Gray Lady:

The list of outrages coming out of the House is long, but the way the Republicans are trying to hijack the $260 billion transportation billdefies belief. This bill is so uniquely terrible that it might not command a majority when it comes to a floor vote, possibly next week, despite Speaker John Boehner’s imprimatur. But betting on rationality with this crew is always a long shot.

The Times enumerates some of the many problems with the bill, among them:

• The fact that it will eliminate a guarantee, enacted with the blessing of then-President Reagan, that 20 percent of proceeds from t

he highway trust fund go to transit;

• The fact that it will open nearly all of the United States' coastal waters, including environmentally protected areas, to oil and gas drilling (an idea the Times calls "delusional");

•And the fact that it will impose arbitrary deadlines on mandatory environmental review for road and highway projects, and give states the authority to decide whether the reviews should be done in the first place .

Additionally, the bill would eliminate all federal funding for bike and pedestrian projects; repeal the Safe Routes to School Act; eliminate the requirement that new bridges be safe for cyclists; and allow much heavier trucks on highways than is currently permitted.

It is, in other words, a garbage bill, and---to paraphrase the Times' editorial---if it passes the House, the Senate should reject it.

For a good fact check on Republicans' claims about the bill, check out Streetsblog DC.