By Ron Thaniel
December 9, 2002

Speaking before a special meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Transportation Committee in Fort Worth on November 15, Fort Worth Mayor Kenneth L. Barr told the mayors and other TEA-21 reauthorization stakeholders that, "the continued growth of the metropolitan and the national economy is in jeopardy from increasing congestion without a greater suballocation of federal transportation funds to local government where mayors can direct those funds to the most appropriate congestion mitigation solutions."

Barr, Chair of the Conference's Transportation and Communications Committee, further told the mayors that, "the current program (TEA-21) structure delivers only a modest amount of transportation resources to local areas.

"Under the current law, metropolitan economies get to make decisions on about ten cents on every transportation dollar they generate, a woefully modest allocation of resources to 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," said Barr.

Identifying with the growing congestion concerns assessed by Mayor Barr was Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe, Laredo Mayor Elizabeth G. Flores, Freemont (CA) Mayor Gus Morrison, Albuquerque Mayor Martin J. Chavez, Cerritos (CA) Mayor Bruce Barrows, Everett (WA) Mayor Frank Anderson, Bellingham Mayor Mark Asmundson, Arlington, Mayor Elzie Odom, Edinburg Mayor Joe Ochoa, Kingsville Mayor Filemon Esquivel, Jr., and North Richard Hills Mayor Oscar Trevino, Denton Mayor Euline Brock and Pharr Mayor Leo Palacious.

Conference Executive Director J. Thomas Cochran noted that "federal transportation investment in metropolitan areas yields strong returns for the national economy."

As Congress prepares to renew TEA-21, mayors are drawing a strong correlation between the strength of the nation's economy and metropolitan transportation investment. The U.S. Metro Economies 2002 Annual Report prepared by DRI-WEFA for the U.S. Conference of Mayors assesses the relationship between the metro economy, transportation investment and the national economy.

Barr stated that the report "makes it clear that metro areas must continue to be the object of national and state infrastructure investment to sustain U.S. global competitiveness."

Cochran noted, "The nation's metropolitan areas are transportation hubs. Cities serve as the primary points of exit for goods headed for international markets and the concentration of transportation infrastructure in metropolitan areas lowers transportation costs, lowering the final costs of production inputs, and ultimately providing goods and services at a lower price."

Addressing the Growing Congestion Threat

A number of key national transportation policy experts joined in the discussion with the mayors and talked about the threat posed by increasing metropolitan congestion. Jeff Boothe, Partner with Washington, D.C. law firm of Holland & Knight and Chair of the New Starts Working Group, identified increased transit investment as a congestion mitigation tool. Boothe noted the success of ISTEA and TEA-21 stating "the availability of flexible highway funds and the increased investment in public transit this past decade has provided the opportunity for communities to develop a more balanced transportation system.

"Finding new resources, expanding flexibility of federal highway funds and creating new innovative financing options will be crucial to responding to increasing congestion,"said Boothe.

Hank Dittmar, President of the Great American Station Foundation and past Executive Director of the Surface Transportation Policy Project, identified increased intercity rail investment as an effective congestion mitigation tool. Hank Dittmar said, "Despite the lessons of September 11 regarding the vital role that intercity rail can play in the country's strategic security, and despite the congested condition of our highways and airport runways, passenger rail still lacks a stable funding source, and its critics are still intent on dismantling Amtrak."

Steve Heminger, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Oakland, California, and a recognized expert on the benefits of suballocation, told the mayors that "increasing suballocation provides more resources to metropolitan areas to tackle congestion and pursue projects that more directly impact congestion than those that have been funded by state departments of transportation."

Understanding that Amtrak's authorization expired at the end of fiscal year 2002, and at the same time as the TEA-21 reauthorization, Barr invited Amtrak's Senior Director of Government Affairs, Marcus Mason, to discuss how Amtrak may fit in the reauthorization of TEA-21.

Mason stated that "a number of rail provisions in TEA-21 could be expanded to help pay for intercity passenger and commuter rail infrastructure needs."

The Conference is currently working with Amtrak and key congressional Amtrak supporters on a comprehensive Amtrak Reauthorization package.

TEA-21 Reauthorization Goals

The Conference's TEA-21 reauthorization legislative agenda, Strengthen Metropolitan Economies Through Transportation Investment, strategic reauthorization goals are:

• Preserve and grow the transit program from $7.5 billion to $14 billion and highway program from $34 billion to $41 billion by 2009;
• Suballocate surface transportation funds to metropolitan areas for repair and maintenance of existing urban highways while giving equal weight to expanding public transit, congestion mitigation, safety programs, intermodal projects, land use, and streamlined federal and state transportation regulations;
• Require accountability and performance based measures of state transportation agencies and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs); and
• Retain the basic principles of TEA-21.

TEA-21 Reauthorization Recommendations

Through an extensive policy development process of special meetings of the Transportation Committee, the Conference has identified the following necessary recommendations to reach the Conference's reauthorization goals, including the overarching goal of congestion mitigation:

Suballocation, Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality

• Substantially increase and suballocate the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program due to the number of metropolitan areas and new areas that are in non-attainment for PM-10 under the Clean Air Act preventing communities from experiencing a significant erosion of funding under the program;
• Require states to suballocate National Highway System (NHS) funding to metropolitan areas no less than a ratio of number of NHS lane miles in metropolitan areas for congestion relief;
• Increase the overall Surface Transportation Program (STP) funding; and
• Increase dedicated resources to combat metropolitan congestion through expanded use of ITS technology.
• Revise the Borders and Corridors Program to separate the border program from corridor program and to further suballocate funding to metropolitan areas for transportation, infrastructure, and technology advancing secure and efficient international trade and travel.

Increased Rail Investment By Integrating Intermodal Connections

• Seamless transportation system for all modal elements, including airports, highway, passenger and freight rail;
• TEA-21 reauthorization, which comes up at the same time as the reauthorization of the aviation and Amtrak programs, offers a key opportunity to move forward on increasing the strategic and economic security of our intercity transportation system while providing an alternative to congested highways and crowded runways;
• End diversion of railroad diesel tax revenues to the general fund and address the need to improve rail infrastructure (freight, commuter, passenger, and Maglev technology) through a commitment of the railroad fuel tax and other potential federal resources for this purpose; and
• Provide a stable funding source for intercity rail, increasing state and MPO flexibility for using highway and airport funds to provide intermodal connections at airports and in congested NHS corridors, and identify resources to improve high-speed corridors in a way that links rail to aviation.

Increased Transit Investment & Smart Growth

• Maintain current matching shares for the transit program as authorized under ISTEA and TEA-21;
• Continue the growth of the transit program to reflect current and future needs;
• Strongly support efforts to coordinate transportation policies of the nation's human and social service programs with federal transportation policy and funding programs; and
• Support transit linkages related to land use development emphasizing strong consideration of projects with transit supportive land use patterns.

Mega Projects

• Identify and advance funding of major transportation projects that reduce congestion, are intermodal in nature and don-t fit neatly into existing funding categories and have complicated financial plans by developing and implementing a federal program that addresses needs of "mega projects" that eliminate bottlenecks in the transportation system caused by aging infrastructure, inadequate capacity and lack of a choice among transportation modes; and
• Reduce congestion as a primary goal of all such projects.

Context-sensitive Roadway Design

• Promote more explicit definition of context sensitive roadway design standards to minimize delays in implementing federally funded projects in constrained urban areas; and
• Revise the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Green Book to more explicitly identify the range of options to balance traffic safety and community values.

Substandard Bridges

• Increase both formula and discretionary funds to continue to reduce the backlog of substandard bridges with the suballocation of funds to local government.

Securing The Nation's Transportation Infrastructure

• Continue the development of a comprehensive security improvement program that secures the nation's transportation network without utilizing limited TEA-21 reauthorization funding.

108th Congress Reauthorization Analysis

Looking forward to our TEA-21 reauthorization efforts in 2003, substantial changes in the U.S. Senate will affect our efforts.

With the change in majority party in the Senate, committee control will shift to the Republicans. While a final action on new committee chairs will not take place until the new 108th Congress is organized in January 2003, likely outcomes in the committees most important to transportation are as follows:

Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee has jurisdiction over the transit portion of TEA-21 reauthorization in the Senate.

Senator Richard C. Shelby (AL) has been a strong proponent that federal transit funds be reapportioned by placing a cap on the total federal transit funds that can be allocated to any single state, which under past proposals would have redirected funding meant for New York and California to other states. Senator Shelby is expected to succeed Senator Paul S. Sarbanes (MD) as committee chairman.

Environment and Public Works committee oversight extends to programs in five cabinet level departments and seven independent agencies, including the Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration. The committee's jurisdiction also includes the Clean Air Act and its transportation conformity provisions. Senator James M. Inhofe (OK) will likely take over from Senator James M. Jeffords (VT).

In the big picture, the Republican controlled Senate may be less generous in funding favored by urban and environmental interests; however, whether Republican controlled or controlled by Democrats the key issues will be the perennial "donor-donee" issue and the challenge of increasing the overall size of the surface transportation program.