Transportation For America » Dodd: We need better transit to get our economy moving and address the challenges ahead

Dodd: We need better transit to get our economy moving and address the challenges ahead

April 10, 2009
By Andrew Bielak

U.S. Senator Chris Dodd came out in favor in Transportation for America’s agenda in a big way today with an op-ed in the New Haven Register on the potential for transit investment to help repair our national economy and revitalize our towns and cities.

Dodd, who serves as Chair of Senate Banking Committee — which has jurisdiction over the transit portion of the transportation bill — described transit as the “glue that holds our transportation system and our communities together,” and offered a few pointed critiques of the federal government’s structural bias against public transportation:

Despite obvious benefits, too often transit has taken a back seat to funding for roads. While the federal government is prepared to pick up 80 percent of the costs of new highway capacity, it generally pays less than half for new transit projects.

Roads will continue to be essential to the nation’s economic growth and competitiveness — as will the states’ role in building them. But America will never meet the challenges of this century with 50 states carrying out 50 different plans.

With Congress preparing to renew the nation’s surface transportation law, my goal as chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which will write the transit provisions of that law, is to lay the groundwork for an integrated transportation system that meets today’s challenges.

By pointing to specific examples of transit projects that he is supporting in his home state of Connecticut, Dodd showed that a 21st Century transportation system shouldn’t just be policy recommendations or a broad idea of how things should be; it’s a tangible set of investments — guided by a coherent set of nationals goals — that will help revitalize our economy for the long-haul while giving all Americans safe, affordable, and efficient options.

Let’s make sure Dodd and others in Washington put some bold action behind their words. Tell Congress to chart a new course and craft a transportation bill that will put America on the path towards a stronger future.

Filed under: Campaign Blog
Tags: Chris Dodd, connecticut, senate, transit, transoprtation bill

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Groups: Federal Transit Aid Right for Connecticut, Nation « Mobilizing the Region

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