By Ron Thaniel
March 23, 2009

Testifying before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, U.S. Conference of Mayors Transportation and Communications Committee Chair Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper continued the Conference’s roll out of the mayors’ surface transportation authorization priorities in preparation for the next surface transportation bill. He stated, “This nation cannot deal with our energy and climate challenges, without confronting the transportation sector.”

“This means going forward, all federally-assisted transportation investments must address energy and climate concerns, through needed shifts and reforms in federal policies and programs that emphasize sustainable transportation investments, led by increased investment in public transit and intercity passenger rail,” said Hickenlooper.

To accelerate the achievements of more sustainable transportation solutions, Hickenlooper said, “Federal policy must increasingly empower local elected officials, especially in metropolitan areas, to make the decisions on how federal transportation resources are invested.”

The March 12 hearing entitled “Sustainable Transportation Solutions: Investing in Transit to Meet 21st Century Challenges” is intended to inform the Committee’s efforts to write the transit portion of the next surface transportation bill. The current law, SAFETEA-LU expires September 30.

The Report of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission states, “Federal transportation policy must more effectively support and encourage the use of public transportation as part of a balanced approach to a metropolitan mobility program.” Consistent with this need, Hickenlooper told the members of the Senate Committee that, “The foremost recommendation among the list of transportation authorization policy positions that the Conference of Mayors adopted calls for the creation of a metropolitan mobility program.”

In addition to the call for a metropolitan mobility program, seven areas of fundamental reform to underlying federal transportation statutes set the context for the Conference’s sustainable transportation focus in the next bill:

• Federal transportation investments need to reflect energy and climate priorities.

• Federal funding mechanisms must move past programmatic silos and eliminate the biases embedded in current law that favor some transportation modes over others.

• Rail transportation for both freight movement and passenger travel is a top priority going forward, and we seek a better approach to investment that can accelerate the deployment of infrastructure within and between our nation’s metropolitan areas.

• The disparity in planning requirements for transit versus highway projects promotes road investments, disadvantaging the urban core that most benefits from public transportation.

• Transportation planning processes in our metropolitan areas cannot be meaningful if there is little connection between those plans and control of resources to implement them.

• Federal transportation policy does not support or provide incentives for crosscutting functional relationships and planning collaboration. With major population growth projected in many metropolitan areas and congestion already prevalent, managing decisions about meeting mobility needs and quality of life will entail decisions about more than just building more transportation capacity.

• All of our key federal transportation programs are short of resources. This situation argues for consideration of creative, broader revenue and financing options that allow us to increase our national commitments to transportation infrastructure broadly, not just one mode at a time or in piecemeal fashion.

Hickenlooper, speaking before the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) 2009 Legislative Conference on March 9, introduced the Conference’s surface transportation priorities in the next bill to the nation’s transit general managers and operators. He also provided remarks on the recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), stating, “Mayors are pleased with the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – a historic bill that contains major victories for The U.S. Conference of Mayors and America’s cities.”

Recognizing the critical funding for cities to modernize their transportation systems including billions for bus and rail, roads, and bridges, Hickenlooper said, “These funds are needed to replace congested, aging, and outmoded systems. This is an opportunity to transform our nation, recognizing that the interstate highway system, now more than 50 years old, must be supplemented with alternative modes of travel including high'speed rail.”