The FY 2003 budget resolution was passed by the Senate Budget Committee on a party-line vote on March 14 (AASHTO Journal, March 15). The Senate version proposes $65.8 billion in budget and obligational authority for transportation, $2.4 billion more than the sum provided by the House and administration. The Senate proposal includes $65.1 billion in outlays -- $4.5 billion more than the House and $2.6 billion more than the administration.

The Senate budget resolution calls for a $5.7 billion hike in highway funding over the administration's proposed $23.3 billion level, equal to an additional $1.54 billion in outlays in FY 2003. That would allow appropriators to set the highway obligation limitation at $28.9 billion, $1.2 billion above the $27.7 billion TEA-21-authorized level.

The Senate resolution also increases funding for Amtrak to $1.2 billion in FY 2003. For the past three years, Amtrak has been funded at $521 million, and the Bush Administration and House both propose to fund Amtrak at that lower level in FY 2003.

"EPA now has a clear path to move forward to ensure that all Americans can breathe cleaner air," EPA Administrator Christie Whitman said following the ruling. The standards require tougher controls on microscopic soot and smog-causing chemicals EPA considers harmful to young children, the elderly and people who have respiratory problems.

They were fought from their inception during the Clinton Administration by a range of business groups, utilities, the trucking industry and several states. Opponents included the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Trucking Associations.

The Court of Appeals turned away the final industry challenges to the regulations, first issued in 1997, that require state and local governments to meet the more stringent air-quality standards. The standards had remained in limbo during the court action; a year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the new EPA standards, but opponents had raised yet another challenge, saying EPA had acted arbitrarily in setting them. It was that latter argument that was unanimously rejected by the appeals court on Tuesday, the AP reported.

Several states face being found in noncompliance with the more stringent standards, according to the Washington Post, particularly states where locally used fuels may create the soot particulate that the standards address. Whitman said the EPA will work with state and local governments to develop pollution-control programs that can meet the new requirements.

The Federal Highway Administration has estimated that the new standards will increase the number of counties in non-attainment from 414 to 656.

The American Lung Association estimates that up to 15,000 premature deaths and 350,000 cases of aggravated asthma will be avoided by the enforcement of the regulations; further, the group says up to a million children can avoid suffering from decreased lung function because of the more stringent standards, AP reported.

However, some industry opponents of the new regulations say such estimates will be revised as new scientific findings are made. "This is just phony," said Myron Ebell, director of international environmental policy for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a group that has opposed the new standards. "Clearly, there needs to be some improvement in air quality. But this is just way too draconian," he told the Washington Post.

Organizers of AASHTO's TRAC program and AGC's Construction Futures program are working together to share elements of their successful outreach programs, while maintaining the individual qualities that define the programs.

TRAC will offer AGC's "Build Up!" and "On Site!" toolkits to its members for use in middle schools, as the lead-in for the TRAC program in high schools. AGC also will develop construction-oriented modules for TRAC.

Key goals of the pact include increasing education, technology transfer, cooperation, and collaboration and promotion of the transportation profession. AASHTO and NACE will assist both county and state transportation professionals in promoting safety and security, enhancing mobility, advancing communities, economic growth and development, and protecting communities and the environment affected by transportation.

In the pact, signed by AASHTO Executive Director John Horsley and NACE President Gary Rowe, AASHTO and NACE have agreed:

• To cooperate in efforts to understand the needs and limitations of local county transportation and state department of transportation professionals and work together in creating a seamless transportation network;
• To educate Americans about the significance of infrastructure investment and its role in sustaining our quality of life;
• To provide mutual assistance in areas of education and training;
• To carry out programs and practices that are cost-effective, safe, and environmentally sustainable;
• To develop cross-membership in pertinent AASHTO and NACE conferences and committees;
• To explore cooperative marketing of publications, software products and other technical services.

One system will profile airline passengers - tapping information about past travel patterns and any criminal activity from a large database to be created by a major data-management corporation - while an existing screening system also will be updated, according to National Journal's Technology Daily. Jackson made the innovations public in remarks before the Heritage Foundation at a luncheon on Tuesday, the Daily reported.

U.S. DOT also is working with advisers from several major corporations to build a roadmap for its new Transportation Security Administration, created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and is building a special data clearinghouse to help the U.S. Coast Guard protect the nation's waterways, Jackson said.

The profiling system will not be race-based, Jackson noted. "The president ran on a campaign that said racial profiling is unacceptable, but we have to have tools of analysis on who is getting on planes," he said. "There will be some technology innovations (made public) in coming months" to accomplish the increased security, he said.

In response to parental concerns that young, inexperienced drivers will drive recklessly in the family car, services have sprung up to let parents pay to be reached toll-free by other observers on the road. The number is pasted on the bumper of the family sedan or van, similar to the "How's my driving? Call 1-800 ..." stickers found on many commercial trucks, according to the Los Angeles Times.

There's just one problem: many of the teens with trouble in mind simply cover up the bumper sticker a few blocks from home. At least one service went out of business, the Times reported, because parents realized their kids were defeating the invitation to snitch. However, four or five such services are operating and monitor anywhere from a few dozen to up to 2,000 vehicles, for fees of $19 - $55 a year.

Auto accidents are the leading cause of death in the United States for people ages 15-20. In 2000, the most recent full year for which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has statistics, 3,594 drivers in that age group were killed, the Times reported. Experts say teenagers are the age group most likely to be involved in crashes due to a combination of inexperience behind the wheel and a tendency to take more risks while driving than drivers in other age groups. Further, teens' likelihood of being in crashes increases when other teenagers are in the same vehicle.

Asked her opinion of the reporting program concept, McKenzie Miller, 15, of Pasadena, California replied "I think it's horrible" as she waited to take a driver's licensing test. Having such a bumper sticker on her car would make other teens tease her, she said.

The event will be held Tuesday, April 9 at a work zone - an unfinished on-ramp - on the northeast approach to Interstate 95 at Ritchie Marlboro Road in Prince George's County, Maryland.

The event will witness the unveiling of the new National Work Zone Memorial, a traveling set of "walls" etched with the names of Americans who have lost their lives in work-zone accidents. The memorial will travel across the nation this year.

"Work zones are proof that America takes care of its infrastructure," said Codell, Secretary of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. "But our motorists must remember to take care of themselves, their passengers, and construction and maintenance people who keep us moving by being fully focused while driving through work zones. Be alert -- your life is as much at stake as the lives of the people behind the cones."

AASHTO, with the Federal Highway Administration and the American Traffic Safety Services Association, is sponsoring the annual consciousness-raising event for the third consecutive year. In addition to the national event, many AASHTO member state transportation departments are holding special events on a state-by-state basis.

Gene Mullins terms the practice "proximate commuting," and after years trying to sell the concept to various employers, has succeeded in interesting the Boeing Corp. in the idea.

"It's a way to reduce congestion while still letting most people do what they want to do," Mullins told the Seattle Times, "which is, keep driving their cars."

He convinced the Washington DOT to cover costs of a trial in 1994. A local bank allowed employees to try it, and at the end of a 15-month trial, the average commuting distance for employees at the bank's 30 branches had dropped by 17 percent.

The concept didn't immediately catch on, however, and at least one observer - air-pollution specialist Wayne Elson of the Environmental Protection Agency - believes it's because employers "are not in the business of reducing their employees' commute distances."

However, Boeing Vice President Bob Watt said it's a worthwhile idea for business because keeping good workers happy may help a firm keep those people.

The Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce endorsed the program in December, sending letters to 20 large employers, urging them to consider it.