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101 Number 15 |
April 13, 2001 |
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Executive Digest
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Congress
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Details
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Budget Details Sent to Congress
President George W. Bush
sent a budget to Congress on Monday that fully funds highway,
transit and aviation authorizations, but eliminates some $2
billion in earmarks added to the transportation appropriations
bill last year.
The Administration's $1.96 trillion budget
plan assumes strong economic growth for the remainder of FY 2001,
makes room for a proposed $1.6 trillion tax cut, and holds overall
growth in federal spending to roughly 4 percent, an increase of
some $660 billion.
Administration officials indicated in
television appearances that the President is determined to slow
the growth of federal spending and is "eager" to veto bills that
exceed the budget. For FY 2003 the budget calls for overall
spending increases of 3.7 percent, with the increase dropping
still further to 2.5 percent in FY 2004 and FY
2005.
Transportation Increases
While the
Administration's budget does not continue the $2 billion in
earmarks added to the DOT budget last year, the FY 2002 spending
proposal still increased by some $800 million, from the $58.706
billion enacted in FY 2001 to $59.505 billion in FY
2002.
Funding for the Federal Highway Administration drops
from $33.42 billion to $32.51 billion because of the elimination
of one-time earmarks, but the federal highway obligation ceiling
will increase by 7 percent from $29.6 billion to $31.56 billion.
That is fueled by an increase in the Revenue Aligned Budget
Authority, which will rise next year to $4.543 billion.
The
Administration proposes to set aside $201 million in RABA funding
for other purposes, including $56 million for border
infrastructure construction and $145 million for the "New Freedom
Initiative" to provide transportation assistance to the disabled.
The remaining $4.319 billion is distributed according to the
TEA-21 formula.
Regarding border programs, the DOT budget
requests an additional $97 million in FY 2002 for infrastructure
improvements and inspectors, which includes the $56 million in
border infrastructure improvement funding from RABA. The
Administration proposes to pay for an additional 80 border
inspectors at $14.7 million, along with an additional $10 million
to conduct safety audits of Mexican carriers. This funding would
be generated by increasing the administrative takedown for the
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration from 1/3 percent to
2/3 percent.
Some $955 million is provided for programs
exempt from the obligation limitation, including $100 million for
emergency relief, $648 in minimum guarantee funding, and $207
billion for demonstration projects.
A total of $203 million
is provided for construction of the Wilson Bridge between Maryland
and Virginia. Last year, federal funding for the $2.2 billion
project was boosted by an additional $600 million, bringing the
total federal share to $1.5 billion.
Transit Funding
Increased; Funding Distribution Changes
Proposed
Overall funding for the transit program is
boosted from $6.261 billion in FY 2001 to $6.747 billion in FY
2002, an increase of $486 million. The specific transit programs
are funded at the following levels:
Formula Grants = $3.592
billion ($3.287 in FY 2001)
Capital Investment Grants =
$2.841 billion ($2.695 in FY 2001)
Bus and Bus Facilities =
$.568 billion
Fixed Guideway Modernization =
$1.136
New Starts = $1.136 billion
Planning and
Research = $.116 billion
Job Access and Reverse Commute =
$.125 billion
The Administration proposes to make
significant changes to the distribution of federal funding for
certain transit programs. For the New Start program, DOT requests
that the traditional 80-20 federal/state share change to 50
percent federal participation, starting after TEA-21 has expired
in FY 2004. The budget states that "The Administration proposes to
target transit funding to communities with the greatest need. To
ensure that local governments play a major role in funding transit
'New Starts,' the budget recommends a cap on Federal participation
at 50 percent starting in 2004."
In recent testimony before
the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Secretary
of Transportation Norman Mineta noted that 29 new start projects
are now under construction, seven are pending, and 40 are in
preliminary engineering. He said that "not enough money" is
available to meet the strong demand for new transit projects
nationwide.
In another transit change, the Administration
is proposing to "formularize" funding for the Job Access and
Reverse Commute program, by basing grant distribution on the
population of eligible low-income persons in a given area. Under
the proposal, 60 percent of the funding under the program will be
distributed to communities with populations over 200,000, while
the remaining 40 percent will be eligible to communities with
populations less than 200,000. In the last two appropriations,
bills funding for the Job Access and Reverse Commute program have
been heavily earmarked.
Finally, the Administration hopes
to revise apportionment of funding for bus and bus facilities in
FY 2002 and FY 2003. The new apportionments would be based on
population and density, with 40 percent of the funding directed to
urban areas with more than 1 million residents, 30 percent to
urbanized areas with more than 200,000 residents, and the
remaining 30 percent to states for areas with less than 200,000
residents.
Aviation Funding Increased
The
Administration is requesting $13.288 billion for the aviation
program, an increase of $739 million over FY 2001. Federal
Aviation Administration operations would be funded at $6.88
billion, in increase of $356 million, while $2.9 billion is
proposed for FAA facilities and equipment and $188 million for
aviation research.
Funding for the Airport Improvement
Program (AIP) would increase $100 million to a record-high $3.3
billion in FY 2002. The substantial boost in funding can be
attributed to the Aviation Investment and Reform Act (AIR-21),
which provided that revenues into the Aviation Trust Fund from
ticket sales be directed only to FAA capital programs. These
include the FAA's AIP and facilities and equipment
programs.
The budget proposes to take $10 million of the
$50 million Essential Air Service program and additional money for
airport-related research from AIP. Changes also are proposed for
the Essential Air Service program to give DOT more authority to
target funding to certain communities. Specifically, in order to
receive EAS funding, communities must meet new conditions based on
driving distances to airports and the subsidy paid for passengers.
Such conditions do not apply to Alaska.
Other
Programs
A total of $707 million in requested for the
Federal Railroad Administration, a $48 million cut from FY 2001. A
new user fee is requested to help cover costs associated with
safety and operations and research, which according to DOT should
generate an additional $55 million.
Amtrak is funded at
$521 million, which is consistent with the plan to make the rail
company operationally self sufficient by FY 2003. The budget
assumes that all the funding will be spent in FY 2002.
The
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration receives a 28 percent
funding increase in the President's budget, to a $344 million
level. Operations and research is up 47 percent to $139 million,
while $205 million is proposed for the National Motor Carrier
Safety Program, up from $177 million provided in FY 2001. Of this
amount, $23 million comes from RABA.
The National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration's budget is increased $16 million to
$419 million in FY 2002, according to the proposal. A total of
$223 million will be allocated in highway safety grants, including
$160 million in the Section 402 program; $15 million in seat belt
use incentive grants; $38 million grants to curb alcohol-impaired
driving; and $10 million in State Highway Safety Data
grants.
A summary of the Department of Transportation's
budget can be found at
http://ostpxweb.dot.gov/budget/FY02BiB1.pdf.
Funding for
Highway Research and Technology Increased in Budget
By changing the treatment of
highway research in the budget process, the Department of
Transportation's FY 2002 funding request would substantially
increase the amount available for highway research and intelligent
transportation system development and deployment.
The
President's FY 2002 budget request includes $503.7 million for
federal highway research and technology programs, which includes
an additional $53 million as a result of Revenue Aligned Budget
Authority (RABA). In an attempt to boost overall resources for
research, the Department of Transportation also proposes to change
the budgetary treatment of transportation research programs by
providing 100 percent obligation authority under the Federal-aid
limitation. Since the passage of TEA-21, the research program has
experienced an initial lop-off of funding limitation based on the
way obligation limitation is distributed to certain FHWA
headquarters programs.
With the additional RABA funding and
100 percent obligation limitation, the Administration's budget
funds highway and bridge research programs at $250.4 million, a 27
percent increase above 2001.
In the past two appropriations
bills, Congress strayed from the allocation formula for RABA,
which has resulted in research programs not being funded at
expected levels. States have responded by dipping into their own
funds to fill in the federal shortfall. AASHTO has identified full
funding of the research program, including the additional RABA
contribution, as a legislative priority this year.
ITS
Funding Increased
The Administration's budget also
includes $253.2 million for Intelligent Transportation Systems
(ITS) programs, an increase of 32 percent over FY 2001. This
amount includes $135 million to accelerate rural, regional and
commercial motor vehicle ITS deployment. An additional $118.2
million is proposed for ITS standards, research, operational
tests, and development.
Goals Set in U.S. DOT Budget
With safety taking top
priority, the U. S. DOT's budget proposal sets a number of
performance goals for the coming year, as well as designating the
dollars intended to achieve them.
The Administration
identifies some $7.3 billion in funding for safety programs
throughout the agency, designed to reduce the number of deaths and
injuries in transportation-related accidents. Safety-related goals
include:
Reducing the highway-related fatality rate from
1.6 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled to 1.4. In 2000,
roughly 41,000 deaths and three million injuries occurred on the
nation's highways.
Reducing the number of motor-carrier
fatalities to no more than 4,710 in 2002.
Reducing the
fatal accident rate for U.S. commercial air carriers to .038
accidents per 100,000 departures, with reduction by 80 percent by
2007.
Reducing the rate of rail-related fatalities from
1.29 per million train miles in 2000 to 1.20.
The budget
also sets some specific goals for highway and bridge performance
and transit and rail ridership, proposing to:
Maintain 95
percent more miles within the National Highway System (NHS) in
"acceptable ride quality" condition.
Hold the growth in
hours of extra travel time due to traffic delays to 34 hours
annually. In 1999 urban travelers experienced 32 hours of delays.
Without projects that improve traffic flow, the budget states, the
time would increase to 35 hours. "Clearly, traffic congestion is a
problem to which DOT will need to devote increasing
attention."
Reduce the number of deficient bridges on the
NHS from the 21.5 percent reported in 2000 to 21 percent in
2002.
Increase, from 52 to 61, the number of metropolitan
areas with integrated Intelligent Transportation Systems
infrastructure.
Increase transit ridership by some 2.2
billion passenger miles, to 47.5 billion, from the level of 45.3
billion in 2002.
Increase Amtrak ridership by 4.2 million
passengers, from 22.5 million in 2000 to 26.7 million in 2002.
Amtrak ridership in 2000 was at an all-time high, increasing by
4.7 percent over 1999.
Calling current levels of aviation
delay "unacceptable," the budget calls for a plan of action for
improving the record. In particular, the Administration "will
examine the success that various nations, including Canada, have
experienced with individual air traffic control systems owned and
operated by private companies." As a specific goal, the
Administration proposes to reduce the rate of air travel delays
from 250 per 100,000 activities to 171 delays per 100,000
activities.
All federal agencies have been mandated by
Congress to set strategic plans and performance goals, and then to
report on their achievements. For the past two years those goals
have been used as the framework for the budget proposal.
Budget Proposes
Greater State Environment Enforcement
The Administration's FY 2002
budget for the Environmental Protection Agency proposes a $25
million grant program to shift enforcement activities to the
states, and another $25 million to assist states in managing
information systems needed for environmental
assessments.
At the same time, the budget proposes to
reduce the overall funding for the agency by some $500 million
from current levels, to a total of $7.3 billion.
The first
of the new state grant programs is described as "money to improve
and bolster enforcement efforts in the states in a way that
reflects individual state priorities." EPA Administrator Christie
Whitman said, "In some cases, that will mean prosecution. In
others, it will mean compliance assistance. But no matter which
course is chosen, it will produce the best possible result in each
individual situation."
The second $25 million state grant
program is aimed at improvements to the states environmental
information systems, to allow states "to produce more accurate and
useful environment assessments."
"When it comes to cleaning
the environment, information is power?the power to make the right
decisions to achieve the best results," Whitman said.
Change Sought
to Endangered Species Process
In court on 76 lawsuits on
endangered species, and facing 95 more, the Bush administration
has proposed capping the funding that the Fish and Wildlife
Service can spend on such litigation, and giving the agency more
discretion to set priorities on protecting the most-threatened
species.
The proposal was assailed by environmentalists and
Congressional Democrats who hold that litigation is the only way
to get new species added to the endangered list.
The budget
proposal states that the proposal "will assist in moving toward a
rational system" by allowing department officials, rather than
courts, to determine which "critical habitat" species should have
priority. Currently the agency's entire $6.3 million budget for
listings of endangered species is being consumed by legal costs.
The Bush administration has proposed to increase that budget to
$8.5 million, but hopes the expanded discretion will allow some
funding to be used outside the courtroom. The proposal would limit
the ability of litigants to obtain court orders to mandate agency
action on endangered species, but would still require that
Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton comply with existing court
orders.
A total of $112 million is provided for the
agency's endangered species programBa reduction of $9.1 million
from current spending.
Mineta Calls for Review of CAFE Standards
Secretary of Transportation
Norman Mineta told a House panel last week that the Administration
is considering the Department of Transportation review the
corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard, in an effort to
curb energy consumption.
Although previous appropriations
bills have repeatedly prevented the U.S. DOT from studying and
making a recommendation on raising the CAFE standard, the issue
has traditionally been among the more controversial elements of
annual spending bills. Secretary Mineta's remarks before the House
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last week will likely
raise the issue again this year, during the appropriations
process.
Mineta commented on the CAFE standard in testimony
before the committee. He said a White House task force on energy
policy recently discussed the issue, and that participants were
receptive to asking Congress to eliminate the appropriations rider
prohibiting DOT from studying the standard.
ARTBA: Gasoline Tax Among Several
Approaches to Meeting True Highway Needs
The American Road and
Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) has completed a report
that concludes $50 billion a year is the cost of meeting highway
needs in the United States B and suggests a combination of
approaches, including a motor-fuel-tax increase, to cover that
cost.
"While some may not want to hear it, it is clear that
an increase in the federal motor-fuels excise will be necessary
just to maintain the nation's surface transportation status quo,"
ARTBA officials stated in a news release. "Depending on the
revenue options chosen by Congress, any objective analysis would
show that up to a 10-cents-per-gallon increase in the federal
motor fuels excise -- eight cents for the Highway Trust Fund (HTF)
account and two cents for the HTF Mass Transit Account -- may be
necessary."
In fact, for improvement, a likelier spending
level would be $65 billion per year rather than the $50 already
identified as a maintenance level, ARTBA said.
ARTBA's
analysis, based on needs information taken from the Federal
Highway Administration's latest Conditions and Performance Report,
applies inflation and traffic-growth data to information on unmet
need within the C&P document. Considering the size of the
resulting financial gap -- about $17 billion per year -- ARTBA
suggests several approaches are possible, including ending the
subsidy for ethanol, broader use of innovative financing, lowering
the balance in the Highway Trust Fund, and increasing federal
gasoline tax by at least 8 cents per gallon.
A gas-tax
increase, ARTBA concedes, would likely be the most effective of
the choices based on past experience. Other options include
drawing down the estimated $27 billion 2003 balance in the Highway
Trust Fund, to provide about $5 billion more per year; fostering
tax-exempt financing for transportation capital projects and
promoting innovative financing; cracking down on federal gasoline
and diesel-fuel tax evasion, to add about $1.8 billion a year to
federal coffers; ending the subsidy on ethanol-based motor fuel
sales, which would bring in about $1.1 billion a year; and
indexing federal fuel taxes to the Consumer Price Index, which
could bring in another $900 million a year.
The ARTBA
recommendations follow an 18-month task force review of
reauthorization issues. The group's preliminary goals were
approved March 30 by ARTBA's board of directors.
"The
Federal-aid Highway Program should no longer be viewed by the
Congress, the Executive Branch, the media and the public as 'just
a construction program,'" the ARTBA plan document states. "It is
rightly put in a larger context. Today, its successes -- and
shortcomings -- impact virtually every aspect of American business
and quality of life."
Bring Research & Technology
Spending to $1 Billion Yearly
ARTBA also called for a
ramping-up of federal highway research and technology programs to
$1 billion per year, in the upcoming reauthorization of the
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. ARTBA President
Pete Ruane made the comments in a speech delivered Sunday (April
9).
The comments came at a seminar sponsored by the Iowa
State University Center for Transportation Research and Education
in Ames. "Applied research and the implementation of new
technologies are crucial to improving the durability and
performance of our transportation network," Ruane said.
Carlson
Addresses National Work Zone Awareness Event
AASHTO President E. Dean
Carlson, families of fatality victims and officials of the Federal
Highway Administration, the American Traffic Safety Services
Association and other construction-related groups launched
National Work Zone Awareness Week with an event on the National
Mall on Monday.
Thousands of tourists visiting the nearby
Washington Monument and its groves of cherry trees also saw the
event's display of 868 traffic cones, each representing one of the
lives lost in 1999 U.S. work-zone accidents.
"Work zones
are tangible evidence that America takes care of its
infrastructure," said Carlson, Secretary of the Kansas Department
of Transportation. "However, we are also asking Americans to take
care of themselves, and their passengers, and the hard-working
folks who keep us moving."
AASHTO, with the Federal Highway
Administration and the American Traffic Safety Services
Association, sponsored the annual consciousness-raising event for
the second consecutive year. In addition to the national event,
many AASHTO member state transportation departments held special
events featuring their governors, lieutenant governors or other
officials.
"Too many of the people who are out on the line
in work zones are being hurt, or killed," Carlson said.
"Sometimes, we need to be reminded that they are contributors to
our economic and personal success, protectors of our investments,
friends, neighbors, parents.
"But if that's not reason
enough for you to exercise care driving through work zones -- and
it should be -- here's an even more powerful reason: the vast
majority of people killed in work-zone accidents are motorists and
passengers." Focus-group studies show most drivers believe workers
constitute the majority of work-zone fatalities.
Speakers
at the national event included Carlson, FHWA Deputy Executive
Director Vincent Schimmoller, ATSSA President Dennis "Chip"
Sterndahl, and Associated General Contractors President Robert
Desjardins. Also sharing their personal experiences were Herbert
and Lois Ellis of North Carolina, whose son, Travis, was killed
two years ago while working in a highway work zone, and Daniel
Doyle, the recipient of a special American Road and Transportation
Builders Association scholarship for children of parents killed on
the job in work zones. Daniel's father died while at work on a
Michigan bridge.
"The need to establish work zones is
increasing, as we bring Americans the benefits of the
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century," Carlson said.
"With that increase comes a heightened likelihood of
work-zone-related accidents. Yet these are avoidable deaths," he
said.
"Stay alert. Stay alive."
FAA Announces Plan to Use WAAS for Small
Planes
Following recommendations by
a panel of industry experts, the Federal Aviation Administration
announced Tuesday that within three years it intends to enhance
the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system to let small planes
land under low-visibility conditions, the Washington Post
reported.
FAA said the clearance for general aviation use
of the "Wide-Area Augmentation System," or WAAS, could increase
efficiency and help cut delays in the air traffic control system.
Improving safe movement of general-aviation aircraft is expected
to allow the more expeditious landings of larger commercial craft
as well.
An independent panel of satellite location experts
performed a technical review of WAAS and concluded that it will
work better than FAA earlier estimated. WAAS has been under
development for years, but has been mired in mismanagement and
cost overruns, the Post reported. The advisory panel, overseen by
the Institute for Defense analysis, said WAAS can be a cornerstone
for a move to satellite navigation as the primary means for
aircraft guidance in the United States, allowing a scaling-back of
the costly ground-based navigation aids now used.
Some WAAS
hardware already is in the field and operational. However,
software enhancements are considered necessary to allow reliable
use of the system by aircraft. FAA has given its contractor on the
system, Raytheon, until late 2003 to develop and certify the
needed software.
The enhancements would improve the signal
from the current GPS system, to allow even small aircraft with GPS
receivers to safely land on runways that lack an instrument
landing system or other navigational aids. It would also allow
curving approaches, now unavailable except to modern airliners
with special guidance systems, and would up the reliability of the
GPS signal for all users -- from backcountry hikers to trucking
firms.
Major airlines will probably get little use out of
the system in the short run, as they fly to major airports with
sophisticated ground-based navigation aids. But it will help some
commuter airlines using remote airports, as well as private-craft
aviators.
American Airlines' Purchase of TWA Completed
The purchase of bankrupt
Trans World Airlines by AMR Corp., the parent company of American
Airlines, was completed on Monday, following the denial last
Friday by a U.S. District Court judge of a bid to delay the final
sale pending a challenge by some TWA employees and retirees in
Israel.
The Associated Press reported that the last-minute
bid was made by the Jewish Labor Federation, representing about
100 Israeli TWA employees and retirees. They asked that the case
be sent back to federal bankruptcy court for further
consideration.
Three American Airlines unions have thus far
withheld support for the buy, saying they fear turmoil in the
absorption of TWA's employees. However, the TWA unions, including
the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
and the Air Line Pilots Association, have expressed support for
the buyout.
American spokesman John Hotard said the
airlines will operate independently at first, maintaining separate
payrolls, reservation systems, planes and policies -- but
eventually, the two airlines will be merged into a single
one.
The deal makes American the No. 1 carrier in the
United States, surpassing United. Between them, American and TWA
have more than 900 aircraft and serve more than 300
cities.
Wisconsin Bridge Repair Designated a USDOT Priority; Similar
Spans Under Scrutiny
U.S. Secretary of
Transportation Norman Y. Mineta, joining President George W. Bush
in a visit to Milwaukee last Friday, indicated that repair work to
the Daniel Webster Hoan Bridge will be a federal priority.
Wisconsin DOT officials also held a news conference to share the
results of research into the unexpected failure of a section of
the bridge in December, which led to its partial
demolition.
Wisconsin DOT, and a special team of experts
including engineers from Lehigh University, the Federal Highway
Administration and Lichtenstein Consulting Engineers, concluded
that a combination of joint strain, extreme cold temperatures and
stress from traffic caused the sudden failure of the bridge on
December 13. No one was injured. The panel eliminated as potential
causes the quality of steel, workmanship or fabrication of the
bridge, pointing instead to a variety of joint used in bridge
design in the 1970s.
FHWA is continuing work to identify
other bridges across the country that might share characteristics
with the Hoan Bridge. The research team has identified a design
element known as a "lower lateral connection joint assembly." Thus
far, FHWA has identified a number of bridges with beams of 7 feet
or deeper, which is one of the Hoan Bridge characteristics;
however, the exact number of bridges with lower lateral connection
joint assemblies has not yet been determined. Fuller
identification of bridges sharing similar characteristics is
expected by early summer.
Wisconsin has identified 21
bridges in the state that share characteristics with the Hoan
Bridge. None of the 21 shares its exact design, but the FHWA
computer model will be used to determine whether joint replacement
should occur on other Wisconsin bridges too.
Wisconsin Gov.
Scott McCallum directed WisDOT to repair the Hoan Bridge beginning
immediately. A bid award for repair work is expected early in May.
The demolished portion of the bridge will be replaced, and about
300 joints similar to the problem joint will be removed, with
significant reinforcement made elsewhere to compensate. The
southbound lanes of the bridge were reopened in February to
limited two-way traffic; the bridge, opened in 1977, carries about
37,000 motorists per day.
Dr. John Fisher of Lehigh
University said the Hoan Bridge failure is unlike any on record.
Using an electron microscope, investigators on the school's
faculty found that the cracks that occurred in the Hoan girders
were not fatigue-related, but instead were caused by sudden,
catastrophic structural failure.
FHWA engineers tested the
quality of materials used in the bridge and used a computer model
to study the connection joints where the failure occurred. Though
the bridge conformed to quality standards at the time of its
construction, they found that use of overlapping welds --
eliminated today under more rigid standards -- may have
contributed to the failure.
Lichtenstein Consulting
Engineers analyzed the type and size of vehicles on the bridge,
performed weight-load tests on the damaged bridge and created a
3-D computer model that was used to study stresses throughout the
structure. They found that the bridge responded as the computer
model predicted it would, which supported the conclusion that the
failure originated in a lower lateral joint assembly.
Summer Gas
Prices May Soar
Industry analysts have
predicted that gasoline prices will reach over $2 a gallon in the
next two weeks, and will continue to climb during the busy summer
driving season.
The Energy Department last week reported
that summer gas prices will average $1.49 per gallon for regular
unleaded. But a nationwide survey of 8,000 service stations found
that prices have increased 7 cents in the last two weeks, costing
an average $1.51 a gallon over the weekend. The national average
was $1.53 a gallon last summer.
Wholesale prices of
gasoline -- prices that get passed on to the consumer -- have hit
record levels in the Northeast and Gulf Coast. USA Today
reports the price escalation is based upon low supply and low
production of gasoline. Fuel that is formulated to meet various
anti-pollution standards is on short supply as well.
Tom
Kloza, publisher of Oil Price Information Service, told USA
Today that prices will continue to rise even if production is
increased. "While wholesale prices are up an average of 25 cents a
gallon since March 20, the nationwide retail average is up just
5.45 cents. Most retail prices at the pump will hit records before
May," Kloza said.
Oklahoma DOT Secretary May Head Bureau of Indian Affairs
Oklahoma Department of
Transportation Secretary Neal McCaleb is in the running to lead
the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, according to state
transportation officials.
McCaleb is being considered for
the position of assistant to the secretary of the interior. He has
served on the Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission, and was
President Nixon's appointee to the National Council on Indian
Opportunities. He is a member of the Chickasaw
Tribe.
Washington Senate Votes to End Motor Vehicle Excise Tax
The Washington Senate last
week voted to strike down the final piece of the motor vehicle
excise tax, which is dedicated to local transit programs. Transit
agencies received $218 million from the tax in 1999.
The
tax was first repealed in 1999, when Washington voters passed
Initiative 695 that replaced the tax with a flat $30 fee. But last
February, the Thurston County Superior Court found that transit
systems were entitled to their piece of the state tax. The judge
ordered the state to begin collecting the tax immediately, but
held the order until the state Supreme Court could hear the
case.
S.B. 6036 is structured to fully eliminate the local
transit tax. The bill passed 32-15 over Democratic opposition that
mass-transit programs are key in reducing congestion on Washington
highways. Senator Georgia Gardner told the Seattle Times:
"If you're worried about congestion relief, putting 40 people on a
bus instead of 40 cars on the road is the best congestion relief
we can offer." Gardner added that lawmakers will soon release a
"massive" transportation-improvement
package.
International Conference on Roadway Work Zone Safety Slated
for May
The International Conference
on Roadway Work Zone Safety will be held May 9-12 at the St. Louis
Marriott Pavilion.
The "first of its kind" conference will
bring together international leaders, researchers, manufacturers,
contractors, and government officials to learn about new practices
and technologies related to work zone safety. It will offer
sessions on best practices for worker and motorist safety and
efficiency, as well as workshops on federal work zone safety
studies.
For more information about the conference, access
the National Work Zone Safety Clearinghouse web site at
wzsafety.tamu.edu, or contact Ashley Stow at (202)
289-4434.
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