Taking the Transportation Revolution to the States

This morning, I met with top policy, transportation, and finance advisors from 38 different states.  They were in Washington for a two-day seminar on transportation funding and financing that the Department of Transportation organized in conjunction with the National Governors’ Association Center for Best Practices.   

Most people haven’t yet fully grasped the unprecedented innovation taking place in transportation today.  Our states have been leading a quiet revolution in transportation financing and the way we build, maintain, and operate our infrastructure.  Instead of raising taxes or waiting for the federal ship to bring boatloads of new funding, innovative Governors are finding willing partners in the private sector.

Some are leasing existing facilities or “brownfield assets” like the Indiana Toll Road.  Governor Mitch Daniels bold move brought in $3.85 billion to fund the capital projects in the state’s Major Moves program.  Moreover, the private concern, Cintra, now has responsibility for upkeep of the 157-mile road, which was in need of costly maintenance and repairs.   

In Pennsylvania, Governor Ed Rendell recently received the largest bid for transportation infrastructure development investment in history – a $12.8 billion dollar offer to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike and invest the proceeds in the state’s transportation system.   To put this amount into perspective, the turnpike bid represents over one-fourth of the federal government’s entire annual budget for highway construction.

Others have partnered with the private sector to finance, build, and operate new projects.  Virginia Governor Tim Kaine’s agreement with Transurban and Flour Enterprises for adding new HOT lanes to the Capital Beltway – one of the most congested highways in the nation – is a good example.

As we prepare for the follow-on legislation for SAFETEA-LU, some are talking about turning back the clock and clamping down on the flexibility states have to use tolling and take advantage of this kind of private-sector financing. 

I believe we should be moving in the opposite direction.  What I would like to see – and what the Bush Administration will propose – is a federal program designed to turn up the volume on the quiet revolution already taking place in so many states.

It will be a program that removes federal restrictions preventing tolling of Interstates and other major highways, encourages the expanded use of public-private partnerships, broadens the availability of TIFIA and credit assistance and private activity bonds, and allows greater flexibility to create and use state infrastructure banks. 

Federal programs should focus on real national transportation interests,   rather than trying to be all things to all people.  We don’t need 108 different programs and thousands of earmarks second-guessing state priorities.    

We will instead propose giving Governors more direct control of federal resources, with flexibility to decide the best way to use them to improve the condition of their Interstates and major highways, relieve congestion, and improve safety.      

Much as we did with welfare reform in the 1990s, it is time for transportation reform that encourages innovation, rather than stifling it.  We must move the federal focus away from process oversight and instead demand accountability – defining success in terms of increased travel-time reliability,   decreased delay hours, and improved condition of bridges and pavement. 

America’s transportation system can be better, and my goal is to clear federal obstacles to innovation and investment so innovative states can continue to make that happen.   

-Secretary Peters

Comments

[Steve]

I find it interesting that every instance of "innovation" you mention involves automobile based transportation which doesn't seem to be the best thing to concentrate on in these days of $4/gallon (and climbing) gasoline. In fact, everything in this post seems to be automotive related, with no mention at all of any form of alternative transportation.

I have followed your actions since you became Secretary of Transportation and I find it ironic that you seem to be championing "flexibility" and "more state control" and "clearing Federal obstacles" since the Department of Transportation under your leadership seems to be singularly focused on creating Federal obstacles to any form of non-road based transportation.

I look forward with interest to seeing if you post this comment.

[SalineVance]

Secretary Peters,

I applaud the efforts at returning power over local transportation decisions back to the State and local levels. What concerns me, though, is that many State and local authorities will take a short-term view of their decision making.

For example, if the proceeds of the sale of a brownfield development is spent on anything other than a long-term infrastructure investment that will provide a return to the citizenry, then the sale will have been wasted.

Anything that you can do to guide some restrictions on the spending of sale proceeds ONLY for transportation improvements will be much appreciated here in the field.

[Kirston Henderson]

It seems to me that in view of the apparently increasing costs of motor fuels, we should be making a concentrated effort to solve the critical transportation problems in a manner that (1) reduces rather than increases the cost of driving and movement of cargo and (2) increases the speed of travel for both people and cargo.

Adding tolls to interstate highways, building new privately-owned toll roads, and increasing fuel taxes is clearly counter-productive in that it increases the cost burden on citizens and an adds an increased burden on the economy of the nation.

It is interesting that the above described steps never address the possibility of applying improved transport technology currently under development and now becoming ready for wide-scale deployment to ultimately provide nation-wide, non-stop 120-mph transport for people, cars and cargo. One such a system is described in several versions at: http://www.megarail.com. This system has now reached the full-scale, workng prototype stage and is expected to start full outside testing within the next few days.

[Website Design]

I just want to see Hydrogen Fuel Cell cars on the roads by next year. It is because of this that I disagree with Steve. The debate is over that automotive transportation is not the problem, the fact is that our addiction to oil (thank you exxon-mobil for not trickling your multi-billion dollar profits to the consumer, FORBID THAT!) which is in part caused by greedy oil companies, the middle east tension, and a general shortage (this stuff is limited, ya know?... America?). We need to get away from it completely, Hybrids are not the answer, they still use gas. It's all about battery, hydrogen combustion, or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. That is the real answer to todays transportation/energy problems. People argue that the gas is more expensive in europe... yeah? well the countries are smaller in europe. People dont travel 50 miles each way to work in europe, they never have because they never had the ability to... everything is closer, and because of that they drive less miles. DYK that in Japan it is almost impossible to find a car that has over 60,000 miles on it? This country needs a fuel answer, we need to take a hint from the locomotive industry and replace the steam with coal and the coal with diesel, and the diesel with magnets, etc... New fuel source, maybe even something renewable would alleviate an astronomical economic burden in this country. We need to stop dragging our feet about it and do something. Its not hard, but the big pockets of big companies keep us in big debt with their big prices at the pump. As consumers we catch it twice, we pay at the pump and everywhere else too because every business has to raise their prices to accomodate for their own extra expenses related to fuel costs... its incredible.. isn't this how Rome fell?

[m]

While this "revolution" is absolutely needed, the approach seems to neglect the other issues facing our society. As one of the previous commenters mentioned, it completely avoids public transportation and the advantages toward reduction of automobile accident injuries, harmful emissions, and foreign oil dependency. This approach also relies heavily on toll based funding, which is based on technology that is not robust or fair. Modern toll roads use transponders meant to be placed inside vehicles to charge based on distance driven. These transponders do not work well with the vehicles driven by the most environmentally and socially conscious motorists on the road, motorcyclists. Motorcyclists like me go so far as to give up the luxuries of protection from the elements, heating and air conditioning, conversations while driving, and even radio all for the sake of using less fuel and damaging the environment less. Motorcycles also reduce congestion by lane sharing and ease parking requirements. While doing all this, they also cause far less wear on the roads they travel than other vehicles. Instead of being thanked for this, motorcycles are punished by being forced to pay the same toll as vehicles that weigh 20 times as much and having to stop at toll stations to take their transponders out of their pockets and wave them around until the station reads them. The tolls reduce the monetary benefit of fuel savings for motorcyclists compared to drivers of cars. This is the opposite of what we want to do. We should be encouraging people to move to smaller, lighter vehicles, and we should pass the savings in maintenance costs on to those that make the move.

Rather than spending large amounts of money on toll booth stations and transponders and toll booth staff, we could instead reform the fuel tax. That's a taxing system based on fuel burnt, which has direct ties to oil dependence, gaseous emissions, congestion, road wear, and driving style. Yes there are political hurdles to making this happen. It will probably be very very difficult. Doing the right thing isn't always easy. Doing this the right way will encourage rather than discourage better vehicle selection and driving habits, benefiting our entire society in the long term.

[Bill Brown]

Consider placing transponders in license plates, or placing a bar code on the face of license plates. Every highway on-ramp and most principal arterials can become toll roads capable of congestion pricing. Then post the current toll on an electronic message sign, visible before the driver enters the facility. This could replace fuel taxes as the source of revenue for the highway trust fund.

[hassan]

great thanks for the post