DOT 119-08
Contact:  Sarah Echols, Tel.:  (202) 366-4570
Tuesday,  August 19, 2008

Dallas/Fort Worth Traffic and Transit to Improve Under New Transportation Reform Plan, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation Barrett Says 

DENTON COUNTY– Texas officials will have greater resources and flexibility to cut metroplex traffic under a plan to reform the nation’s surface transportation programs, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation Thomas Barrett announced during a visit to the I-35E bridge in Highland Village today. 

“If adding lanes on the bridge and building a frontage road is as good a project as local sponsors say, it will be easier to fund under our proposal than under the current, broken federal system,” Deputy Secretary Barrett said.  “Under our approach, cities will have more flexibility to put their transportation dollars toward projects that benefit commuters and communities.” 

“I-35 is a main artery for this region's growth and quality of life. Keeping it healthy and moving must be a priority, and if that means fast tracking or innovative financing, that's exactly what we need to do,” said Congressman Burgess.   

The Deputy Secretary said central to the reform plan is a new Metropolitan Mobility Program for Dallas, Fort Worth and other major urban areas.  The program would give mayors and other local officials a direct payment of federal funds and unprecedented flexibility to invest federal dollars in meritorious transportation projects, including expanding transit systems or highways, he said. 

Deputy Secretary Barrett said metropolitan leaders would receive one lump federal funding allocation with one set of criteria – that the projects stand up to a benefit-cost analysis.  He said projects that can demonstrate positive results for commuters and good investments for taxpayers would be rewarded, instead of the current system that rewards rampant earmarks, political muscle and bridges to nowhere. 

As part of the focus on urban congestion, the reform plan also provides incentives for innovation in cities willing to try something new, Deputy Secretary Barrett noted.  The plan would create a Metropolitan Innovation Fund that rewards cities willing to combine a mix of effective transit investments, dynamic pricing of highways and new traffic technologies to improve commutes and cut congestion, he said. 

The Deputy Secretary said the plan lays out the Administrations’ reform framework, and is intended to spur local, state and federal debate about how best to incorporate the new reforms into surface reform legislation Congress will consider this fall.  Additional details on the reform plan are available at www.fightgridlocknow.gov.

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