August 6, 2008

Top U.S. transportation official calls federal funding approach “broken”

Highway and transit infrastructure funding needs a different and better approach, Peters says

SMYRNA, Ga.

The top transportation official in the U.S. said the federal approach to funding is “broken” and presented a plan last week that seeks to cut the time it takes to carry out new highway and transit projects.

Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said the plan would reduce the 13-year average it now takes to build. It also promises a renewed focus on maintaining and expanding federal highways instead of diverting funds to other projects.

She also called for Congress to revamp the “antiquated” gas tax, which she said results in less revenue for transit because it relies on volatile fuel prices.

“Without a doubt, our federal approach to transportation is broken. And no amount of tweaking, adjusting or adding new layers on top will make things better,” she said at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. “It is time for a new, a different and a better approach.”

Environmental activists quickly raised a red flag, saying the plan would eliminate the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program, a key air pollution project.

“It’s a little bit surprising that they would go so far as wanting to abolish a critical part of the Clean Air Act,” said Frank O’Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch. “The message they are sending is they want money going for asphalt rather than clean air.”

Peters said the funding that would go to the program would instead be funnelled into a pool that cities could use as they wish. Cities struggling to meet clean air guidelines could use their share to reduce pollution, while others could expand transportation.

“Planners would no longer have to slice and dice every federal dollar into niche programs,” she said.

The plan also calls for consolidating 102 federal transportation programs into eight umbrella projects, which Peters said would cut waste.

She said she hopes it would ultimately help restore confidence among frustrated citizens who have lost faith in America’s transportation network.

“If we can show commuters there’s a better way to fund transportation projects ... then they’ll believe again,” she said.

The proposal, launched just months before the November election, would have to be adopted by a Democratic Congress. Peters said she and other Bush administration officials will immediately start lobbying.

The reaction from congressional Democrats was chilly.

“Mostly, it is a collection of the same uninspired and uninspiring policies that this administration has offered over the past five years: toll it, privatize it, lease it, sell it, or congestion-price it,” House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar, D-Minn., said in a statement. “The administration’s plan, presented during its waning months, calls to mind the concept of mortmain — the dead hand, reaching out from the past to affect the future.”

Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents independent truckers, said, “The administration is on its way out and is simply hanging a ‘for sale’ sign on our highways as a last ditch effort to reward their friends on Wall Street.”

James Ray, the Bush administration’s top highway official echoed Peters’ calls, saying funding through the gas tax is obsolete.

Associated Press

Print | Email | Comment