INSIDE WASHINGTON/Transportation bill commands attention
Lawmakers on both sides of Capitol Hill have launched preliminary hearings on how to shape a massive transportation bill that is expected to shower billions of dollars on cities and counties in 2004. The legislation is intended to help local and state governments create, maintain and upgrade their transportation infrastructure.
The bill is a favorite of senators and representatives who get a political boost from sending cash back home. Local governments like it because the federal funding allows them to make infrastructure improvements and to create jobs.
“There is little doubt that [past highway bills] have contributed to the overall economic growth that our nation experienced in the last decade,” says Hillsborough County (Fla.) Commissioner Chris Hart, who also serves as chairman of the National Association of Counties’ Transportation Steering Committee.
The transportation bill is reauthorized every six years, and in 1998 Congress approved nearly $220 billion for what it called “the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA 21).” (TEA 21 was the reauthorized version of the original legislation, which was called the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act.)
“This will be a year-long dialogue with the many stakeholders in the transportation community,” says Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee Chairman Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.). “We will seek the best ideas from the brightest minds.”
Already, the EPW panel and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee have held hearings that have featured either federal transportation officials or local leaders who have outlined their visions for the new bill. The hearings are expected to continue throughout the year.
Since Sept. 11, local leaders and federal officials agree that national security and the safe and efficient movement of Americans needs to be a main component of the new transportation legislation. “The events of that day demonstrated how critical the nation’s transportation system is to the security of every American and to the nation’s economic well-being,” says Transportation Secretary Norman Miñeta. “In shaping this surface transportation reauthorization bill, we must maximize the safety and security of all Americans, even as we enhance their mobility, reduce congestion and grow the economy.”
For local officials, finding a solution for congestion is high on the priority list. A recent survey conducted by Public Technology Inc. indicated that 62 percent of local officials say congestion is a major political issue in their communities. Additionally, a recent survey of mayors who sit on the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Transportation Committee showed congestion relief ranked second behind “system preservation” as the single most important local government surface transportation priority.
However, while congestion is a top concern for local leaders, flexibility in how cities and counties can use the federal money provided under the legislation is even more important. The two prior transportation bills required state and federal officials to allow local leaders input into how the funding was used in their states.
“No one-size-fits-all surface transportation program will be able to meet the needs of the traveling public in the diverse regions of the country,” Burlington, Vt., Mayor Peter Clavelle says. “Local officials are on the front lines and therefore better able to develop strategies to deal with transportation challenges in their communities.”
The Bush Administration appears to agree. Miñeta has assured local officials that one of the administration’s goals is to “preserve funding flexibility to allow the broadest application of funds to transportation solutions, as identified by state and local governments.”
The author is Washington correspondent for American City & County.