December 8, 2003

• Mayors and other local elected officials are directly responsible for most of the nation's transportation infrastructure, including 90 percent of the nation's transit systems, own approximately more than 75 percent of the nearly 4 million mile highway and roadway network, and over half of all the nation's bridges.
• Metropolitan areas account for over 85.6 percent of national output, driving the economic performance of the nation as a whole.
• Yet, current federal law directly suballocates less than 7 percent of transportation program funds to metropolitan areas through Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), and even then, only to MPOs serving populations of over 200,000.

This is an inadequate allocation of transportation resources to areas that represent more than majority of the nation's population and 80 percent of the nation's employment, income, and production of goods and services.

The Metropolitan Congestion Relief Act supports the foundation of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) that devolution and suballocation to metropolitan areas will result in better decision making by empowering metropolitan areas.