By Ron Thaniel
May 12, 2003

Testifying before the House Highways, Transit and Pipelines Subcommittee May 7, Conference Past President Knoxville Mayor Victor H. Ashe was joined by Laredo Mayor Elizabeth G. Flores, Long Beach Mayor Beverly O'Neill and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels in urging Congress to shift transportation priorities from building state highways to addressing urgent metropolitan transportation infrastructure needs.

Also testifying were Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell, Michigan's Governor Jennifer Granholm and Kentucky Governor Paul E. Patton.

All of the witnesses provided a state and local perspective on reauthorizing the federal highway and transit funding programs. The current authorization, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), expires September 30th this year.

The bipartisan leadership of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is working on a six-year $375 billion reauthorization proposal.

While the governors told the Subcommittee that they require more money to deal with transportation needs in their states, the mayors testified that, given the strategic role of metropolitan transportation infrastructure, it is imperative that the Federal investment in transportation be continued. The mayors also stated that it is time for Congress to ensure that additional attention be focus on these metropolitan areas, and it must act to give metropolitan areas greater decision making powers, including control over resources.

Suballocation

Addressing the centerpiece of the U.S. Conference of Mayors reauthorization platform, Ashe noted, "our reauthorization package addresses the fundamental issue — this is about what level of decision makers should be furthered empowered. Current law over empowers state transportation bureaucracies, diminishing the importance of local decision makers and the public."

"A better balance must be struck in the new bill. Six cents on the dollar must be corrected."

Currently, TEA-21 provides funding certainty only to metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000 or more. The process is known as "suballocation" of funding to these areas. This allocation directly to local areas represents about 6 cents of every federal highway dollar. As a whole, U.S. metropolitan areas get to make decisions only on about ten cents on every transportation dollar they generate.

Flores said the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program is an "excellent example" of why suballocation is warranted, citing the state's underfunding of the program, which has left $2.2 billion in federal spending in the bank."

"Mr. Chairman, my administration and I are held accountable for increasing the mobility for our constituents, for reducing congestion, and for making our transportation system safer. Under the current law, local officials are only allowed to make decisions on approximately six cents of every federal transportation dollar. This is a woefully modest allocation of resources to metropolitan areas that represent more than one-half of the nation's population and 80 percent of the nation's employment, income, and production of goods and services. This is an insult to mayor's on the front line," said Flores.

On behalf of the National League of Cities, Belle Isle (FL) Mayor William Brooks noted that more money for the program will not ease the congestion plaguing his tourist spot, "without fundamental changes in how the money is spent. He went on to say that it is local officials like him who receives the calls from constituents and who are closest to their needs. "We know what needs to be fixed in our areas better than anyone and should have a larger seat at the table," he said.

Transportation Projects Of National Significance/Mega Projects

Addressing the issue of metropolitan transportation investment and its critical needs, O'Neill and Nickels called on Congress to include in the reauthorization significant funding for projects that are critical to the nation's economy as well as transportation and infrastructure projects that are massive and unavoidable.

"Since its inception in 1958, the Federal-aid highway program has undergone eight major reauthorizations. Each one has addressed issues which, I believe, represent a natural evolution of the program. In the 1960's it was construction; in the 70's maintenance; in the 80's mass transit; and in the 90's intermodalism and guaranteed funding. Now, with the current reauthorization, the Congress once again faces new evolutionary programmatic challenges, one of which is projects of national economic significance," said O'Neill.

"The fact is for over 20 years now the Federal-aid highway system has basically been defined, constructed, maintained and funded. Given that, it is only natural, I submit, that we are now seeing the emergence of significant critical chokepoints in the system."

Nickels stated that "the consequences of inaction on these critical projects can be very serious for our economy and the safety of the traveling public as aging infrastructure continues to crumble and congestion grows. If we do not create a mechanism to address mega-projects, our economy will suffer, our roads will become more congested, and public safety will be compromised."

O'Neill's testimony calling for transportation funding for projects of national economic significance followed her participation in a news conference with Representatives Juanita Millender-McDonald (CA) and Lincoln Diaz-Balart (FL) who formed a "Goods Movement Caucus" to address freight issues as part of the TEA-21 reauthorization on May 1.

Taken together, O'Neill said that "the two southern California ports comprise the third largest seaport in the world, and $196 billion in international trade flowed through them last year."

Separating Borders From Corridors

Highlighting the city of Laredo integral role as the primary trade route connecting Canada, the United States and Mexico, and the significant investment the city of Laredo has made to the local infrastructure supporting international trade, Flores noted "we are proud of the investment the city of Laredo has made towards the economic well being of the United States. But we cannot continue by ourselves."

During the TEA-21, 86 percent of the money in the Borders and Corridors program went to the corridors. Flores, endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors reauthorization platform, is lobbying to separate the borders from the corridors and money allocated to it increased significantly.

She said that 2.9 million trucks crossed through the Port of Laredo in 2000. This amount increased by 100 percent from 1.3 million truck crossings in 1993.

Protect and Increase Transit Investment

Nickels said he believes Congress should enhance its commitment to transit as an effective congestion reduction and economic development tool. "In Seattle, Communities are accommodating housing and employment growth consistent with our State's Growth Management Act. To do so effectively, they must have the transit resources to meet the needs of their growing residential and employee population," said Nickels.

Nickels also stated that he strongly opposes proposals that would increase highway funding by taking money away from transit. "It is crucial that the current law funding split of 80 percent for highways and 20 percent for transit be preserved. Tilting the balance any further in favor of highway spending will bias local and regional decisions against transit," said Nickels. "I believe we should maintain current matching shares for the transit program as authorized under ISTEA and TEA-21.

Three governors cited a number of statistics to tie transportation investment to the economy, and all three said the investment represents the best economic stimulus that Congress could pass.