Transportation For America Issues National Blueprint For Transportation Reform
May 11, 2009By Stephen Lee Davis
Nation’s largest transportation coalition pledges support for a near-doubling of program, in return for major reform
Governor Edward Rendell (PA) provides keynote address
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| The Route to Reform: Blueprint for a 21st Century Federal Transportation Program |
WASHINGTON - Today, as Congress prepares to rewrite the federal transportation law, Transportation for America released a detailed plan to restructure the nation’s transportation program in order to build a smart, safe and clean transportation system that provides real choices to all Americans.
Developed in consultation with teams of transportation professionals, public officials and stakeholders, The Route to Reform outlines a renewed vision for the federal program as well as ways to pay for it, coupled with a restructuring that can produce results. To highlight key features of the proposal, the coalition convened transportation industry experts from across the country for a panel discussion in the House Transportation Committee Room on Capitol Hill.
To highlight key features of this proposal, T4 America convened policymakers and experts from across the country. Governor of Pennsylvania Edward Rendell gave the keynote address and panelists included James Corless, Director, Transportation for America Campaign; Elaine Clegg: Special Projects Manager, Idaho Smart Growth; City Council Member (Boise, ID); Astrid Glynn, former Commissioner, New York State Department of Transportation, Andrew Cotugno, Director of Planning, Metro (Portland, OR); and Ronald Kilcoyne, General Manager/CEO, Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority (CT).
A copy of The Route to Reform can be found at http://t4america.org/blueprint.
“As the existing program has lost focus and energy, we find ourselves with an aging, yet incomplete transportation system that is not prepared to serve the changing America of the 21st century,” said James Corless, Director of Transportation for America. “Our coalition is prepared to lend considerable support for a much larger investment in transportation, but we believe that only a reinvigorated, redirected federal program will win buy-in from our coalition and American taxpayers in general.”
In the blueprint, Transportation for America recommends Congress include four critical reforms in the upcoming transportation authorization bill:
- Articulate a National Vision, Objectives, and Performance Targets for the national transportation program and hold state and local transportation agencies accountable for demonstrable progress toward goals including safety, efficiency, environment, health and equity.
- Restructure and consolidate federal programs for greater modal integration, with a focus on completing the second half of the national transportation system, providing more transportation options for all Americans and creating seamless transportation systems that meet the unique needs and connect metropolitan regions, small towns, and rural areas.
- Empower states, regions, and cities with direct transportation funding and greater flexibility to select projects, using carrots and sticks to incentivize wise transportation investments and in return require demonstrated performance on meeting national objectives.
- Reform how we pay for the transportation system and create a Unified Transportation Trust Fund that would achieve balanced allocations of federal funds in a portfolio of rail, freight, highway, public transportation, and non-motorized transportation investments
The Route to Reform breaks with convention by calling on Congress not to increase taxes to provide additional funding to the federal transportation program unless it also institutes critical reforms. In the summer of 2008 Congress had to patch the highway trust fund with an $8 billion infusion from the general fund. A similar fix may be needed again this summer and long term projections show that the current funding mechanisms will not meet future needs.
“Increased revenues for transportation are needed to pay for necessary upgrades to the federal program, but we can only support more money if it’s accompanied by a bold new vision for a 21st century transportation system,” said Corless. “As a nation, we want people to use less oil and gasoline, not more, so we are sunk in the long run if we rely only on the gas tax. We should look at a variety of potential revenue strategies, but that must go hand-in-hand with reforms to help spend these funds more wisely.”
The T4 America analysts concluded that in the short run, it may be necessary to raise the federal gas tax, or to move to a sales tax on fuels or a surcharge on oil, in preparation for a transition to a tax based on vehicle miles traveled.
“Our nation’s transportation program has not been significantly upgraded since the 1950’s when President Eisenhower created our federal highway system,” concluded Corless. “Economic competitiveness in the 21st Century relies upon innovative solutions that give Americans options and connect our cities, regions, and rural areas. The upcoming rewrite of our federal transportation law represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to develop a new national transportation vision and leave behind a new legacy for our children and grandchildren. The Route to Reform will help policy makers ensure that legacy is one they can be proud of.”
Read the report at http://t4america.org/blueprint.
Transportation For America officially launches campaign platform
February 26, 2009By Stephen Lee Davis
Today in Washington, D.C., Transportation for America held an event on Capitol Hill to formally announce our new coalition of more than 225 organizations and 17,000 individual members and to release the platform drafted with input from dozens of practitioners and stakeholders. In opening remarks, Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) called the coalition perhaps the “most formidable” such coalition assembled on behalf of transportation reform.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer addressed the guests and VIP’s gathered in the Capitol Caucus Room of the Cannon House Office Building
With events last night and this morning on Capitol Hill, we brought together leaders in the worlds of transportation, public health, business and social justice to launch the platform.
Our campaign platform calls on President Obama and Congress to launch a new federal transportation mission that breaks with the worn out ways of the status quo, helps put an end to America’s oil dependency, brings opportunity to all Americans and allows our country’s businesses to compete and thrive in the 21st Century.
Other panelists, including Dr. Georges Benjamin of the American Public Health Association, Judith Bell of PolicyLink, Richard Baron of McCormack Baron Salazar and Transportation for America campaign director James Corless, spoke on behalf of the public health benefits, implications for real estate development and the need for local areas to have greater latitude to address their mobility issues.
Mayor John Robert Smith of Meridian, Mississippi — a city that has worked hard to turn their rail connections into downtown reinvestment and vice versa — spoke at length about the need for the next phase of our transportation system to unite our country in the same way that Eisenhower envisioned the interstate system would help a collection of States be unified as a truly “United” States of America:
Few national issues offer a greater opportunity for imaginative change. And we need a Congress that will reach across the aisle that separates their parties, and reach across the geography that separate their states. These issues are complex and daunting, but we must act and act now. Our children and children’s children will hold us accountable. To fail would be to leave this nation as Eisenhower said, “As many separate parts.”
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| Dr. Georges Benjamin of the American Public Health Association shows off his copy of the Platform. |
The Platform is now available for you to download and read.
Also today, the National Association of Realtors released a poll done in conjunction with Transportation for America that shows strong support for investment in public transportation, walking and biking and a better-managed and maintained highway system. Read the details about the NAR/T4 poll.
Transportation for America also announced that the coalition will launch a series of town hall meetings and provide materials for self-organized house parties where engaged citizens can talk about what a renewed national vision for transportation investment could mean for their communities. Watch here for more to come on that over the next several days and weeks.
Mayor John Robert Smith of Meridian, Mississippi, left, and Rep. Earl Blumenauer take their respective turns at the mic this morning on Capitol Hill.
Photos licensed with Creative Commons by Steve Davis/Transportation for America
Transportation for America issues call to President Obama and Congress to launch a new federal transportation mission
February 26, 2009By Transportation for America
| CONTACT: Cosabeth Bullock 202-478-6128 cbullock@mrss.com Download this release (.PDF) (.DOC) |
Download our PlatformWASHINGTON — With the federal transportation program set to expire later this year, the Transportation for America coalition brought together leaders in the worlds of transportation, public health, business and social justice to release a groundbreaking national campaign platform. The platform calls on President Obama and Congress to launch a new federal transportation mission that breaks with the worn out ways of the status quo, helps put an end to America’s oil dependency, brings opportunity to all Americans and allows our country’s businesses to compete and thrive in the 21st Century.
As debate opens on the next transportation spending bill, a poll released today by the National Association of Realtors and Transportation for America found that the American people overwhelmingly favor a more diverse and smarter portfolio of investments in public transportation, walking and biking, and strongly prefer to repair and maintain our roads before we build more of them. Nearly a third support expansion and improvement of bus, rail, and other public transportation options as a top national priority, while 16 percent said the same for expanding highways.
The event featured a robust panel discussion on how the Obama-Biden administration and Congress can commit to robust and forward thinking change by replacing the expiring SAFETEA-LU — our current, 1950s-era federal transportation program — with an investment in the clean, smart and efficient transportation infrastructure critical to our future.
“Accessible, affordable transportation is essential to expanding economic opportunity for all people,” said Judith Bell, president of PolicyLink. “Targeted investments that expand public transit and create walkable, bikeable communities offer a triple bottom-line return — creating living-wage jobs, providing a vital link between low-income Americans and job centers, and improving health by reducing congestion and our carbon footprint. The nation must commit to bringing reliable, responsible transportation options to all communities.”
“The transportation system our society builds drives our economic and real estate growth,” said Chris Leinberger, president of Locus, an organization of forward-thinking real estate developers. “The development of the Interstate highway network over the past half century was appropriate for the time. A more balanced approach today, including far more transit, biking and pedestrian systems, along with repairing our existing highway network, is crucial for the real estate industry and the markets we serve.”
“Our transportation policy must solve our nation’s energy and climate threats, not exacerbate them,” said NRDC Federal Transportation Policy Director Deron Lovaas. “Transportation for America’s roadmap will launch a visionary national infrastructure project for the first time in fifty years, creating jobs while also protecting the environment.”
Functional, safe, and efficient transportation is one of the cornerstones upon which this country was built. America’s economic strength and the health of its people depend on our ability to connect people with opportunity and the ability to move products to market quickly, safely, and efficiently.
A change in direction is needed to help the nation meet its growing demand for transportation while addressing challenges of energy security, global warming, shifting demographics, healthcare costs, and global economic competition. As Congress works on the new national transportation program, Transportation for America urges policymakers to commit to:
- Responsible investing that holds recipients of federal funds accountable for progress toward national objectives.
- A new strategy for creating a 21st Century transportation system that enhances economic opportunity for all, creates jobs, and elevates our position in a competitive global economy.
- A program that improves essential connections within and between metropolitan areas while reducing dependence on petroleum and meeting national objectives for curbing climate change.
- A more strategic approach to managing land use and transportation to improve efficiency, access, health, and safety, while reducing per capita vehicular travel.
- A serious and concerted effort to address the impacts that transportation systems have on the health and safety of Americans.
Attend our platform launch this Thursday at the U.S. Capitol
February 23, 2009By Transportation for America
Come and join us!
This Thursday on Capitol Hill, we will be releasing our full campaign platform for the upcoming transportation bill, with some very special guests in attendance. If you are in the DC area, (or can make it here by Thursday!), please join us for an entertaining, informative discussion on the future of transportation in America as we officially launch Transportation For America’s platform.
Be sure to keep tabs here on the campaign blog throughout this week. We’ll have the full platform posted later this week after the launch.
Hope to see you Thursday.
Attend our platform launch this Thursday at the U.S. Capitol
February 23, 2009By Stephen Lee Davis
Come and join us!
This Thursday on Capitol Hill, we will be releasing our full campaign platform for the upcoming transportation bill, with some very special guests in attendance. If you are in the DC area, (or can make it here by Thursday!), please join us for an entertaining, informative discussion on the future of transportation in America as we officially launch Transportation For America’s platform.
Be sure to keep tabs here on the campaign blog throughout this week. We’ll have the full platform posted later this week after the launch.
Hope to see you Thursday.
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- Transit grants out the federal door, but what about the cuts?
March 8, 2010 - Transit riders in Atlanta face massive cuts, “wholesale restructuring” of service
March 5, 2010 - Opposition to Senate extension results in looming shutdown of federal transportation programs
February 26, 2010 - T4 jobs proposal would create nearly half a million jobs, according to Economic Policy Institute
February 17, 2010 - Obama’s 2011 budget gives a lift to livability and transportation
February 2, 2010
- Transit grants out the federal door, but what about the cuts?
The United States of Transit Cutbacks
Driving is down and transit ridership is at record highs. Yet transit agencies across the country are considering layoffs, service cuts and fare hikes. Find out more and learn what you can do to help at t4america.org/transitcuts
Transportation: In your eyes
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