Transportation Secretary affirms smart principles for US transportation system
April 29, 2009By Stephen Lee Davis
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| National Bike Summit – Day two-8 Originally uploaded by BikePortland.org |
| DOT Secretary Ray LaHood speaks at the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC |
“Livable and Sustainable Communities.”
Those four words might not be at the top of the list of what one would expect to hear from the person in charge of how the federal government spends our tax dollars on all forms of transportation — ports, railroads, highways, interstates, sidewalks, bike lanes and more — but that’s exactly what U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood named as a primary goal for DOT while testifying before a Senate Committee yesterday (ahead of T4 America.)
In his remarks, he made it clear that DOT and the Obama administration see the deep connections between where and how we spend transportation dollars and the quality of life for everyday Americans.
One of the clear issues with our national transportation program since 1991 is that it’s been like a huge ship without a rudder — spending billions each year without any clear goals or vision for exactly what those billions should accomplish for us. Economic development? More travel options for everyone? Making transportation affordable and safe for all Americans?
After talking at length about the many challenges facing America, Secretary LaHood made it clear that DOT will be governed by some very clear principles in the future, including better quality of life as a goal for transportation spending:
With these great challenges it is essential that our transportation policies be framed so that we can meet these demands and at the same time be consistent with the major goals I have established for guiding the actions of the Department of Transportation: economic recovery; safety; and livable and sustainable communities will be the key organizing themes as we in the Department reformulate existing policies and develop new policy directions for the future.
You can download his full remarks from the committee web site here, (.pdf) but continue reading for a few select quotes:
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Full testimony from today’s Commerce Committee hearing
April 28, 2009By Transportation for America
As we mentioned earlier this morning, T4 America campaign director James Corless was on Capitol Hill to testify before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. He was joined by T4 America member Anne Canby of the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership and a founding member of the One Rail Coalition. The full testimony is quite detailed, but if you want to read it in full or download it, you can do so below.
Continue reading to see the full prepared remarks of T4’s James Corless.
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T4 America to testify on Capitol Hill this afternoon
April 28, 2009By Stephen Lee Davis
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| PlatformLaunch3 Originally uploaded by Transportation for America |
| T4 America Campaign Director James Corless at our platform launch back in February. |
Transportation for America will be on Capitol Hill today testifying before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation about “The Future of National Surface Transportation Policy.” You can stream it live on the Committee’s website.
Campaign director James Corless, along with Anne Canby of the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership and a founding member of T4 America, will be testifying this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. EDT.
We’ll post the full testimony from each speaker later this afternoon following the hearing. James will be discussing how our current transportation policy lacks a unified, coherent purpose — hampering our national prosperity and preventing us from addressing critical national issues like congestion relief, energy security, reducing emissions, and making transportation affordable for all Americans.
Transportation investments are our nation’s best tool to improve our economic competitiveness; reduce energy usage and curb greenhouse gas emissions; provide good paying green jobs; increase economic opportunity; and improve quality of life for all Americans. 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 legacy for our children and grandchildren.
Unfortunately, our nation lacks a cohesive national surface transportation policy, and consequently, cannot adequately address many of our transportation challenges — let alone address other pressing national issues.
Check back later this afternoon for their full testimony if you’d like to read it, or watch it live.
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