Nation isn’t keeping up with transportation challenges

With the passage of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU) in 2005, Congress enacted the largest public works bill in the nation’s history. Despite the historic investment levels included in that legislation, the nation continues to fall further behind in meeting our surface transportation challenges.

This is seen most clearly in the worsening congestion problem facing an increasing number of communities. The Texas Transportation Institute’s “2005 Urban Mobility Report” found that congestion in the largest 85 urban areas cost an estimated $63.1 billion in 2003. This compares to $61.5 billion a year earlier and $39.4 billion in 1993. This cost represents 3.5 billion hours of wasted time and 5.7 billion gallons of wasted fuel per year due to traffic delays.

Transportation infrastructure provides the backbone of our economy by moving people and goods. Failure to address the programmatic and resource needs of the surface transportation network has caused the system to be overwhelmed by increasing freight and passenger traffic that, if left unaddressed, could lead to the collapse of the transportation system.

Over the last 25 years roadway capacity has increased by only six percent while total vehicle miles traveled increased by 103 percent. Last year, over 10 billion passengers used public transportation, the highest level since 1957. It is expected that traffic demand on the surface transportation network will more than double over the next 50 years.

The Subcommittee on Highways and Transit has been conducting hearings to assess the needs of our surface transportation system, and to determine the programmatic structure and appropriate investment level necessary to support a 21st-century transportation infrastructure network.

In the lead up to SAFETEA-LU, the Department of Transportation estimated that to improve the nation’s surface transportation system would require a federal investment level of $375 billion over six years. Members of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on a bipartisan basis supported a legislative package — based on the administration’s estimates — that would have provided the resources necessary to begin to improve the nation’s highway, bridge and public transportation network. Ignoring the data from the DOT, the Bush administration dug in on $256 billion as the number they would not exceed during the negotiations. Only under pressure from Congress did the administration finally back off this artificial number and agree to sign legislation providing $286 billion in federal investment. The shortsighted insistence on holding down the level of investment has continued the deterioration of the nation’s transportation infrastructure.

The failure to make difficult decisions during consideration of SAFETEA–LU has also raised questions about the viability of the source of surface transportation investments — the Highway Trust Fund. Since the federal motor fuel tax rates were last raised, tax revenue has lost more than one-quarter of its purchasing power. Today, one dollar in the Highway Trust Fund is equal to about 46 cents in 1980, and about 21 cents in 1970. In addition, the cost of construction materials has also increased dramatically in recent years, further diminishing what Highway Trust Fund revenues can buy. There is no short-term solution for robust federal investment, and we will continue to look for ways to enhance revenues as we confront challenges facing the nation’s multimodal surface transportation network.

Despite the continued deterioration in the condition and performance of the nation’s surface transportation system, the Bush administration has continued its ideologically driven efforts to hold down federal infrastructure investment. They have instead pursued a course of trying to address our transportation challenges entirely through public-private partnerships (PPPs). This one-sided endeavor to encourage states to privatize their assets can never meet our diverse transportation needs but can fundamentally undermine the nationwide integrated surface transportation system that has served the nation well for the last 50 years.

The Subcommittee on Highways and Transit has held a series of hearings on this issue, and it is clear that — under the right circumstances — PPPs can be used to address a small portion of the nation’s transportation infrastructure needs. PPPs, however, will in no way be able to offset the need to provide the resources necessary to deal with our transportation problems in a comprehensive manner.

The debate over the next surface transportation reauthorization is not just about money. The next bill must also examine the structural changes needed to meet 21st-century freight and passenger mobility requirements. As the nation continues to undergo fundamental transformation to an information-based service economy, the needs of the nation’s surface transportation network are changing too. The subcommittee has begun a series of hearings to focus on the future needs of the system.

One thing that is very clear is that there are no silver bullets to solve the challenges facing our roadway network. We must consider every available option to develop a comprehensive, multimodal approach that will be required to meet the future transportation needs of our nation.

DeFazio is the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.

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