A new vision for our nation’s transportation system

At the 1954 Governors’ Conference at Lake George, N.Y., Vice President Nixon unveiled for the first time President Eisenhower’s revolutionary vision for an interconnected network of roads to facilitate interstate travel and commerce and help ensure our national defense. This network of roads was to become today’s Interstate System.

In his speech, Nixon described the state of our nation’s transportation system as “inadequate locally, and obsolete as a national system,” and decried the many penalties the nation pays in return: an annual traffic death toll in the tens of thousands, the loss of billions of dollars in productivity and an inability to meet critical demand in the event of a natural or nuclear catastrophe. Nixon laid out a bold prescription, calling for a “grand plan for a properly articulated system that solves the problems of speedy, safe, transcontinental travel.” Such an enterprise would not be cheap, but Nixon declared that the current inadequacies “warrant the expenditures of billions to correct them.”

The situation today is no different. Every mode of our transportation system is woefully under-funded and unable to keep up with capacity demands.

The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that the United States needs to invest $1.6 trillion in federal, state, and local funds over the next five years to improve our transportation system so that it meets the needs of our current population.  
Aviation delays are expected to increase 62 percent by 2014. Railroad freight traffic demand will grow 55 percent by 2020.
Congestion on our highways costs Americans $65 billion a year and the average commuter spends 47 hours a year stuck in traffic. 26,000 buses and 5,500 rail vehicles must be purchased over the next 20 years just to maintain current levels of transit service. Based on 2001 volumes, the amount of cargo shipped by water is projected to double by 2020.

Unfortunately, planning for most modes of transportation over the last 50 years has been done in a vacuum. Intermodal connections to airports, highways, ports, rail yards and mass transit facilities were often an afterthought, resulting in the complicated and inefficient transfer of passengers and freight from one mode to another.

As we strive to find solutions to today’s transportation problems we must be as farsighted as President Eisenhower. The federal government must take a lead role in developing a national strategic transportation plan for the next 50 years that makes the most efficient use of every transportation mode and incorporates the expertise and resources of both the private and public sectors.

We need to stop thinking about transportation as a stove-piped system. Intermodal connections for all modes of transportation should be as seamless as possible. Public transportation systems should have direct connections to intercity bus and intercity rail service. Highway interfaces with ports and rail facilities should be at Interstate-ride quality to make the movement of freight more efficient. The nation needs a viable high-speed rail network that can provide an alternative to air travel. Capacity at our ports must be increased, we need to make better use of our inland waterways, and we should further explore opportunities in short sea shipping.

Government funding will always play a crucial role in infrastructure financing, and we must find better ways to leverage our existing federal investments in transportation. Very few people purchase their homes with cash on the date of settlement; most need to spread the payments out over time. If this type of financing for transportation makes sense, we should explore it.

We also need to better leverage the experience and resources of the private sector. Partnerships between the public and private sectors are commonplace across the globe. The private sector plays a major role in air traffic control and the management and ownership of airports in Europe. The Virgin Rail Group has successfully established a privately owned high-speed rail system in England. Private-sector companies in Europe and Australia have been building and operating highways for more than 30 years. Harnessing the full potential of the private sector will be an essential component of a first-rate integrated transportation system for the future.

Transportation is the backbone of our nation’s economy. The “just-in-time” delivery business model has been incorporated into almost every sector of the economy. Without a reliable and competitive transportation system, the United States will lose its competitive advantage to nations such as India and China, both of which are engaged in two of the largest infrastructure-building campaigns the world has ever seen. If we are to maintain our place as the global economic leader, we need to employ the same kind of vision as Eisenhower did 50 years ago.

Mica is the ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

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