By Ron Thaniel
May 16, 2011

The U.S. Conference of Mayors released on May 3 a 176-city survey focusing on local transportation infrastructure investments at the National Press Club in Washington (DC).

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Conference of Mayors Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair, delivered the survey findings. Given the economic problems facing the nation, mayors believe it is more important than ever that federal transportation priorities be targeted to metropolitan areas - home to two-thirds of U.S. residents.

"As the federal government sets priorities for long-term spending and deficit reduction, future transportation infrastructure investments should focus spending on pressing metropolitan transportation infrastructure needs as opposed to low-priority highway expansion projects such as the infamous Bridge to Nowhere," said Reed.

"The long-term productivity of transportation infrastructure spending is greater when it is invested where economic growth will occur, which is in the metropolitan areas," said Reed.

Among the major findings of the United States Conference of Mayors Metropolitan Transportation Infrastructure survey:

• Ninety-eight percent of the mayors point to investment in affordable, reliable transportation as an important part of their cities’ economic recovery and growth.

• Ninety-three percent urge reforms in federal transportation programs to allow cities and their metropolitan areas to receive a greater share of federal funds directly.

• Absent a greater share of funding directly to cities and metropolitan areas, only seven percent indicate support to increase the federal gas tax.

• Ninety'six percent believe that the federal government should increase spending on transportation infrastructure to reverse decades of underinvestment in cities, with strong majorities indicating support to increase the federal gas tax to improve transportation infrastructure, if a greater share of the funding were invested in local road and bridge infrastructure (89 percent), and public transit (65 percent).

• Seventy-five percent indicate support to increase the federal gas tax if a greater share of the funding were invested in bicycle and pedestrian projects. "These aren’t gimmicks anymore," said Reed. "They’re part of a having a high quality of life in the cities where we live."

• Eighty percent indicate that highway expansion should be a low priority.

• Seventy-five percent say a national infrastructure bank or expanded availability of federal financing tools such as Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) or Build America Bonds would accelerate or increase the number of transportation projects that could be implemented.

In the United States, metropolitan areas account for 86 percent of employment, 90 percent of wage income, and over the next 20 years, 94 percent of the nation’s economic growth, but they are burdened with the nation’s worst traffic jams, its oldest roads and bridges, and transit systems at capacity. Simply put, these areas are receiving significantly less in federal transportation investments than would reflect their role and importance to the nation’s economy.

Reed said the disconnect between state and local governments is essentially a tension between the needs of rural and urban areas. "There is a dominance of the rural parts of the state that I think creates a bit of imbalance from the economic reality," he said. He called it "old-school politics."

"I spent 11 years in the Georgia general assembly," said Reed. "Anytime I needed to get an important bill I knew I would be in the car for a couple of hours going to see some chairman of a committee who was in Tallapoosa or Houston County or some other part of the state because there was a dominance there."

"Now I like rural folks as much as anybody," said Reed. "But the fact of the matter is when you look at how our dollars are deployed at the state level they’re deployed in a fashion that is inconsistent with where jobs are and where the economy is created." That was fine when the U.S. was the world’s incomparable economic superpower, but we need to be more thoughtful with our spending these days, he said.

"Mayors are on the front lines of building livable and sustainable communities," said Reed. "We are where hope meets the street."

Conference of Mayors CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran underscored this point. "The largest metropolitan areas account for 87 percent of the nation’s traffic. The three most congested areas - Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago - account for 27 percent of that traffic. Our metropolitan areas rank high among world economies, but they are saddled with bus and rail systems at capacity and aging roads and bridges that will undermine their ability to meet the nation’s future economic output. Given these factors, metropolitan areas should be at the center of federal transportation infrastructure investment. They are the drivers of the 21st century United States economy."

Cochran went on to say, "This survey confirms what mayors have been saying for years: through a new direct partnership with mayors, the federal government should make tomorrow’s transportation infrastructure more metropolitan-focused, more energy-efficient, and more environmentally sustainable."

Parsons Brinckerhoff President and CEO George J. Pierson, whose company sponsored the survey, spoke to the global benefit of increased infrastructure investments in this country.

"While the United States has been disinvesting in transportation infrastructure, we see other countries taking a cue from our history by making significant investments in transportation," said Pierson.

"Today, we are investing approximately two percent of our GDP on infrastructure; Europe and China are investing approximately five percent and nine percent, respectively. Growth in India, China, Brazil and other surging economies is being fueled in part by investment in transit systems, roads, airports and other infrastructure. Thousands of miles of high'speed rail systems are being built in Europe and Asia, connecting population and economic centers."

"When mayors in the United States speak to their need to improve the quality of roads and transit systems in their cities, they are responding to a public need in a way that will arm their cities for success in global competition," concluded Pierson.

Following the release of the survey, Reed met with House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John L. Mica to discuss the findings. Reed urged Mica to use the findings as a marker as he drafts his version of the surface transportation reauthorization bill. "There’s never been a better time to invest in infrastructure," said Reed. "Infrastructure investment as a catalyst for growth."

To view the survey online, go to usmayors.org/transportationsurvey.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors thanks Parsons Brinckerhoff for sponsoring the Metropolitan Transportation Infrastructure Survey. Parsons Brinckerhoff is a leader in the development and operation of infrastructure to meet the needs of cities around the world and is a strong supporter of The U.S. Conference of Mayors.