Transportation For America » Sec. LaHood: Any new money will come with reform

Sec. LaHood: Any new money will come with reform

June 4, 2009
By Andrew Bielak

National Bike Summit – Day two-5 Originally uploaded by BikePortland.org

Sec. LaHood at the National Bike Summit this year in Washington, DC.

Just yesterday, we noted that our transportation system is facing a severe financial crisis. The main source of funding for our federal transportation investments, the Highway Trust Fund, is desperately short on cash, and will need as much as $7 billion from the general fund by September to continue paying for our infrastructure.

While we recognize the need to find new sources of revenue to pay for our roads, bridges, public transportation systems, and walking and biking paths, we believe strongly that we can’t afford to just pour more money into a broken system and must tie any increased funding to strong, measurable reforms.

Or as we said yesterday, we need a federal transportation system that works, not the same broken thing at twice the price.

It appears that the U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and the administration agrees pretty strongly with that sentiment. During a hearing today in front of the transportation panel of U.S. House Appropriations Committee, LaHood made a clear, concise point on linking more funding to accountability and performance measures.

“We believe very strongly that any trust fund fix must be paid for. We also believe that any trust fund fix must be tied to reform of the current highway program to make it more performance-based and accountable, such as improving safety or improving the livability of our communities — two priorities for me.”

Check out this post from Elana Schor and our friends at Streetsblog for the whole scoop.

There’s still the sizable challenge of figuring out how to pay for the transportation infrastructure that will keep our country economically competitive and give Americans better options. But it’s incredibly encouraging to see that Sec. LaHood is broadcasting our message on Capitol Hill loud and clear — no new money without reforming the broken system.

Filed under: Campaign Blog
Tags: finance, highway trust fund, lahood, reform, u.s. dot

http://downtownnewhaven.blogspot.com/ Design New Haven

Fantastic quote! It’s about time that transportation investments were linked to requirements for increased urban health, walkability, and economic vibrancy.