Today marks the expiration of our nation's surface transportation law. The five-year law spent nearly $300 billion in taxpayer funds to build and maintain the nation's roads and public transportation. Looking at the results, it's hard to consider the money well spent.
Americans spend more time than ever stuck in traffic. We are
increasingly concerned about our sluggish economy, our dependence on foreign
oil, and our aging bridges and overpasses.
Thankfully, a number of lawmakers have recognized that
transforming America’s
transportation policies can address these challenges. Sadly, Congress has so
far only managed to pass a temporary
extension of the same old same spending rules that keep our broken system limping along.
With healthcare and climate legislation dominating so much
of the debate this fall, it’s understandable that Congress has delayed action on
the transportation bill. But another year should not go by without a concrete plan
to maximize taxpayer investment and jumpstart real change. America
needs a new transportation plan which spends money more wisely, focuses on
repairing our crumbling roads and bridges before building new ones, and rewards
local strategies that make it easier to drive less.
Our transportation
system has gone adrift. It has become an obstacle to economic efficiency and improved
quality of life. Consider that each
year commuters waste the equivalent of almost an entire work week stuck in
traffic. Transportation costs have grown to almost 20 percent of average
household spending. Cars and trucks account for two-thirds of America’s
dependence on oil and are the fastest-growing source of global warming
pollution. Over seventy thousand federal bridges remain rated as “structurally
deficient.”
To answer these
growing concerns, the goal of the next transportation bill should be to build and
support more energy-efficient ways to travel. The system should be innovative, with a high
speed rail line spanning California.
It should also be practical, with emphasis placed on returning our aging roads
and bridges to a state of good repair.
Californians are ready
for a change. Record numbers ride public transportation, like light rail,
commuter rail and rapid buses. A majority of Americans say they’d take public
transportation if it were easily available where they live and work. Seventy-five percent of Americans believe
that improving public transit and building communities that require less
driving are the best solutions for reducing traffic, while only 21 percent still
believe that building new roads is the best solution.
Americans and their local governments show
similar enthusiasm for
high-speed intercity rail. The first batch of applications for $8 billion in
stimulus funds for high-speed rail drew 272 local government applications for
$102 billion across 40 states.
When Congress finally turns its attention to the next transportation
bill, it should take the lead from bills in the U.S. House and Senate that
would establish “National Transportation Objectives” and target future spending
to develop a cleaner, more efficient system. The House bill would seek to
reduce the number of miles American’s drive, while tripling trips on public
transit, bicycles, or walking. It contains achievable goals on air pollution
and consumer transportation costs, and repairing roads and bridges.
A deep change in the way we fund transportation can happen. First,
we must to commit to visionary goals on the change needed.
