Wednesday, August 6, 2003.

       E-Mail Address:
      
        Password:
        
       Get Password
       Register Now
       Subscribe Now
       Search Phrase:
        
       Advanced Search
 
Year: Issue:
Printer Friendly Format

Volume 101 Number 21
May 25, 2001
Executive Digest

Congress
Information
AASHTO
Details

AASHTO Testifies at House Hearing on Congestion and Streamlining

    Citing streamlining as a means to ease congestion, AASHTO President E. Dean Carlson provided a House subcommittee five specific actions Congress could take to help expedite transportation project approvals. Carlson was joined by Utah Department of Transportation Executive Director Thomas Warne and Elwyn Tinklenberg, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

    Carlson, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Transportation, provided testimony on behalf of AASHTO during a hearing of the House Highways and Transit Subcommittee on Wednesday. Subcommittee Chairman Thomas Petri (R-WI) said that the hearing on solutions to highway congestion was intended to help the subcommittee develop a comprehensive strategy to address the problem.

    Carlson said that the increasing rate of congestion can be attributed to trends in population growth, vehicle miles traveled and road-building over the past 50 years. Carlson noted as an example that from 1956 to 1979, total highway system lane-miles increased by 1.1 million miles, while from 1980 to 1999, the increase was less than one-third of that amount.

    "There is a crisis of capacity -- on the highways, on buses, in the air, on trains," Carlson said. "What we need now is a vision of how to enhance and then sustain our mobility for the next 40 years. And that vision must recognize that we need new capacity, not just preservation and maintenance."

    Carlson said that in addition to funding and political will, an essential aspect to relieving congestion was reducing delays in the project approval process. He provided five specific reforms that Congress could take this year to help streamline the process, including:
    • Reforming duplicative federal regulations regarding historic properties and parks by eliminating the overlap between Section 4(f) and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, and restoring balance and proportionality to Section 4(f) to better base decisions on the type of resource being affected and the extent of a project's impact;
    • Delegating states the authority to conduct National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) reviews for smaller projects with little environmental impact;
    • Affirming transportation agencies' authority over deciding issues of transportation policy and methodology;
    • Making streamlining project reviews a part of all federal agencies' missions; and
    • Establishing pilot projects to encourage innovation.
    Tom Warne noted that the success of the recently completed I-15 renovation project in his state was due in part to the good working relationship between state and federal agencies involved in the project. Utilizing design-build concepts, the $1.59 billion project was completed early and under budget. Warne noted some other projects in his state were languishing, despite strong support by the public and politicians, because different federal agencies could not reach consensus on a decision. "The state and MPOs are caught in between" as a result, he said.

    Elwyn Tinklenberg of Minnesota said streamlining is "terribly important," given that current delays in the approval process are driving up the costs of projects substantially. On one particular project in Minnesota, a delay of 10 years has doubled the price of the project due to increased prices in right-of-way purchases. "Delays have real economic impacts," he said.

    Operations Critical to Congestion Relief

    Tinklenberg discussed ways his state is getting better use out of the transportation network already in place. Noting that congestion cannot be resolved through increasing capacity alone, Tinklenberg said that Minnesota has adopted a combined emphasis on operations and capacity.

    Specifically, the state has used advanced technology, such as ramp-metering and traveler information, to squeeze more efficiency from existing infrastructure. The use of technology alone can increase capacity by 15 percent, he said, although increased demand will continue to outstrip the benefits. At the same time, with capacity nearing its peak level, the DOT has entered an agreement with the state patrol to quickly address roadway incidents to prevent backups.

    Tinklenberg said the state has developed a plan to target bottlenecks. Taylor Bowlden of the American Highway Users Alliance noted that fixing 167 identified bottlenecks across the country would substantially reduce congestion, accidents and pollution nationwide.

    Testifying on behalf of the American Consulting Engineers Council, Hal Kassoff of Parsons-Brinckerhoff added that specific, binding timelines should not be limited to disputes between federal agencies alone, but should be established for federal decisions on projects in general. Kassoff provided the subcommittee with 10 specific recommendations for transportation agencies and environmental resource agencies to meet streamlining objectives.

    Transit Touted

    Members of the subcommittee, and those providing testimony, also discussed the important role of transit in easing congestion. William Millar, President of the American Public Transportation Association, noted that while there has been a huge increase recently in the number trips by public transportation, easing congestion "is not about cars vs. transit -- we must give travelers choices."

    Millar said several changes could be made to the tax code to help promote transit ridership, including providing more tax incentives for using public transportation and private investment in transit facilities.

    Millar added that the public transportation system itself is becoming congested, and continued federal and state funding support was essential. Noting that 25 percent of Americans currently do not have access to transit, steps should be taken to improve its availability, he said. At the same time, for locations with good transit, better technology should be used along with additional rail lines and bus lanes.

    Roy Kienitz of the Surface Transportation Policy Project testified that the construction of additional roadways was not an effective way to mitigate congestion. According to an STPP analysis, he said, areas that increased road capacity saw no better congestion relief than those areas that did not add capacity.

Sen. Jeffords to Leave Republican Fold

    Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont, a Republican during his entire 26-year career in the House and Senate, declared his decision to formally become an independent on Thursday, changing the balance of power in the upper chamber from an even split to Democratic-controlled. Jeffords' action will trigger an across-the-board change in committee chairs, including the Environment and Public Works Committee, which Jeffords is rumored to be assuming.

    Georgia Sen. Zell Miller, a conservative Democrat reportedly wooed by the GOP to make a similar party switch, said Wednesday he plans to stay with his party but advised fellow Democrats to practice "much more getting along and much less getting even. The poisonous partisanship that has pervaded this place on both sides of the aisle must end," he told the Associated Press.

    Jeffords' decision elevates Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota to the position of Majority Leader. Democrats also will regain the committee chairmanships they lost in the 1994 elections. Senate historians say it will be the first time partisan control of the chamber has switched between elections.

    The leadership of Senate committees will also change with Jeffords' decision. The Congressional Monitor reports that Jeffords may take the reins of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee from current chairman Robert Smith (R-NH). Although Senator Harry Reid (D-NM) would be next in seniority, it was reported that Reid had indicated his willingness to step aside in favor of Jeffords.

    Jeffords, long a moderate, had strained relations with the White House for several weeks, resulting from a struggle over the federal budget and Jeffords' desire to see more money spent on education than the administration sought, according to the AP. He had asked for a commitment from the White House for more education funding for disabled students, as a condition of his support for the president's budget and the administration's tax-cut proposal.

    The White House declined, and Republican aides accused Jeffords of reneging on a compromise hashed out by Vice President Richard Cheney and senior GOP leaders; shortly thereafter, Jeffords was not invited to the White House for a ceremony honoring a Vermont educator as National Teacher of the Year.

AASHTO Board: NPRMs Should Wait Until After Reauthorization

    During its May 20 meeting the AASHTO Board of Directors passed a number of policy resolutions regarding streamlining of the environmental approval process for transportation projects. One resolution calls on the U.S. Department of Transportation to defer implementing the proposed rules on planning and NEPA until the reauthorization of TEA-21.

    Meeting May 20 in Wichita, Kansas, the AASHTO Board of Directors considered a number of new policy resolutions, including three that dealt with improving the environmental approval process for transportation projects.

    The Board of Directors approved PR-3-01 - Support for Deferring Regulations on Planning and NEPA, which calls on the U.S. Department of Transportation to not take any action to advance any updated rules on planning and NEPA until after the reauthorization of TEA-21. DOT issued the proposed rules last May, and was considering moving forward with portions of the NPRMs that were deemed uncontroversial. With the new Administration still going through its transition, there has been no reported movement on the NPRMs by DOT.

    The resolution urges DOT to close the dockets on the May 2000 NPRMs, and states AASHTO's desire to work cooperatively with DOT to advance focused regulations that would streamline and improve efficiencies in the NEPA and Section 4(f) processes.

    The Board also approved PR-2-01 - Section 4(f) and Section 106 Overlap. The resolution encourages the Federal Highway Administration to consider adopting recommendations developed by AASHTO regarding short-term improvements of the Section 4(f) process. It urges U.S. DOT to work with other appropriate federal agencies and AASHTO to develop regulatory and statutory proposals for a single consolidated process that would eliminate the overlap of Section 106 and Section 4(f) requirements. Congress is also encouraged to modify Titles 23 and 49 to eliminate overlap with the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act, including consideration to remove historic properties from Section 4(f), and to establish a single consolidated process for protecting historic properties.

    The resolution revises policy approved by the Board last year by incorporating recommendations to improve the Section 4(f) review process that AASHTO submitted to the docket for the NEPA proposed rule.

    In PR-1-01 - Supporting the Flexible Use of Programmatic and Outcome Based Approaches to Environmental Streamlining, the AASHTO Board supports providing authority to states to pursue programmatic and/or outcome based approaches to streamlining, by allowing a state that chooses to do so to develop the method by with it can most effectively achieve program simplification while protecting the environment.

    Full Funding of Research Supported

    The Board also addressed funding for the highway research program in policy resolution PR-6-01 - RABA Support for Transportation Research and Technology. The resolution encourages Congress in its FY 2002 appropriations process to distribute RABA funding for the research program in accordance with TEA-21, and that 100 percent obligation limitation should be provided for research funding. Such funding should be made available to FHWA to support merit based research on national high priority needs, the resolution states.

    In recent years, federal financial support for research has waned, causing state transportation departments to have to dip into their own funding to fill the federal shortfall, especially for such projects as the long-term pavement performance program and Superpave.

    Rail Resolutions Passed

    The AASHTO Board of Directors passed two resolutions regarding funding for the Federal Railroad Administration and for high-speed rail. Policy resolution PR-4-01 - Federal Railroad Administration Funding, urges the Federal Railroad Administration and the U.S. Department of Transportation to request, and Congress to appropriate, general funds sufficient enough to administer track infrastructure and safety programs. The resolution states that any new federal rail assistance programs be structured such that funds are distributed among the states through existing FRA policies and procedures.

    PR-5-01 - High Speed Rail Funding, calls on Congress to expeditiously approve legislation such as the High Speed Rail Investment Act of 2001, while working closely with the states to assure an acceptable and workable program that would not authorize funding for such investments from the Highway Trust Fund

Gas Tax Repeal Continuing Possibility; House Leaders, Others Voice Opposition

    With repeal of some portion of the federal tax on gasoline in response to high gas prices still under discussion in House and Senate, four House transportation leaders in the House have registered their opposition in a letter to fellow members and senators.

    Meanwhile, it appeared the vehicle for a repeal might be a Bush Administration energy bill rather than the overall tax-cut bill moving through the chambers. The AASHTO Board of Directors adopted a resolution opposing suspension, or repeal, of the federal motor-fuel tax. (    See related article.)

    AASHTO and other transportation organizations have voiced strong opposition to a possible attempt to repeal 4.3 cents of the federal gasoline tax. Three House proposals have been introduced to repeal the 4.3-cent gasoline tax enacted in 1993 for deficit reduction. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott filed an amendment to the committee markup of the tax package; though he ultimately did not attempt to attach it to the tax bill, he said on a television talk show Sunday, May 20 that he still supported repeal but with the surplus already committed, it will be difficult to replace lost trust-fund revenues. Lott's approach would permanently repeal the 4.3-cent fuel tax, but would hold the Highway Trust Fund harmless by substituting general-fund revenue for the lost fuel-tax revenue. However, observers note that the repeal would reduce or possibly eliminate Revenue Aligned Budget Authority in future years.

    Senator Frank Murkowski (R-AK) has also proposed temporarily suspending the 18.4- cent federal gasoline tax; increasing imports of refined products from Canada, Mexico, and Venezuela; and asking states to temporarily waive tolls on major roads during peak travel times.

    In the House, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) has introduced legislation (H.R. 1575) that would temporarily repeal the 18.3-cent federal motor-fuel tax, and permanently repeal 4.3 cents of the tax enacted in 1993. On May 3, Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) introduced a bill (H.R. 1694) that would permanently repeal the 4.3 cents. That bill has 10 cosponsors. In addition, Rep. Nick Smith (R-MI) on May 17 introduced H.R. 1915, which would repeal 4.3 cents of the fuel tax for six months.

    Four key members of House Transportation panels B Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young (R-AK), Ranking Democrat James Oberstar (D-MN), Highways & Transit Subcommittee Chairman Tom Petri (R-WI) and Highways & Transit Subcommittee Ranking Democrat Robert Borski (D-PA) sent a letter opposing repeal or suspension of the gasoline tax to all 435 House members and the 100 members of the Senate.

    Repeal would have "a devastating impact on our nation's highway, transit, and safety programs," the four wrote. "We agree on the need to address the problem of rising fuel prices. But a repeal of the fuel tax is the wrong way to go."

    Consumers would likely not enjoy any lower prices through repeal, and repeal of the 4.3-cent tax would take a $14 billion bite out of the Highway Trust Fund, while suspending the full 18.3-cent tax, "would be exponentially worse ... each state would lose all but a tiny fraction of its federal-aid highway money," they wrote.

    Several senators also are said to be poised to fight repeal or suspension, including Sens. Max Baucus (D-MT), Kit Bond (R-MO), George Voinovich (R-OH), and Harry Reid (R-AZ). Prospects for a repeal also may change as a result of the shift in control of the Senate from Republican to Democratic leadership. Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) is expected to assume the chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. Byrd initiated the move of the 4.3-cent fuel tax into the Highway Trust Fund to help fund the 40 percent increase in highway and transit funding enacted under TEA-21.

    AASHTO Board Votes

    At AASHTO's Spring Meeting in Wichita, Kansas last weekend, AASHTO's Board of Directors voted to adopt Policy Resolution PR-7-01 opposing the suspension or repeal of the federal motor-fuel tax. The resolution cited the loss of hundreds of thousands of highway and transit jobs through such a step and a "drastic reduction in, or complete elimination of, federal funding for highway and transit."

    The vote followed a letter last week from AASHTO Executive Director John Horsley to members of the Senate, asking for opposition to such a proposal. Other groups opposing such a move include the American Public Transit Association (APTA), which made a release on the topic in conjunction with the Transportation Information Program (TRIP); the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) and the Associated General Contractors (AGC).

Tax Cut of $1.3 Trillion Passes Senate

    Voting 62-38, with a dozen Democrats joining 50 Republicans, the Senate on Wednesday passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut, hoping to win a quick agreement with the House that would send the measure to the President for his signature, the Associated Press reported.

    President George W. Bush appeared poised to sign the bill, which his administration initiated. "Our economy cannot afford any further delays," he told reporters.

    Final passage had been held off two days by dozens of proposed amendments offered by Democrats who argued the package would cost too much and unduly favor the wealthy. It also came as Hill-watchers braced for the fallout of the party switch by GOP Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont, who became an independent in an announcement Thursday (see related article).

    The tax cut is the largest since 1981. Successful Republican backers hailed it as a refund of surplus tax payments to deserving taxpayers, and as a salve to the increasingly faltering U.S. economy.

    The bill affects tax rates by lowering the bottom 15 percent tax rate to 10 percent, retroactive to 2001 and applies to the first $6,000 of taxable income for single people and the first $12,000 for married couples filing jointly.

    It also gradually raises the standard deduction for married couples between the years 2006 and 2010 so it will equal twice that of single filers, and repeals the estate tax effective in 2011. There would be an immediate drop in the top estate-tax rate, 55 percent, to 50 percent.

    The measure gradually raises contribution limits on individual retirement accounts and Roth IRAs and sets a new cap on 401(k)-style plans of $15,000, up from $10,000.

American Airlines in Impasse with Flight Attendants

    Contract talks between American Airlines and its flight attendants' union have reached an impasse, making it possible a strike will be called prior to the July 4 holiday, the Associated Press reported.

    A declaration of deadlock in the talks was made by the National Mediation Board on Wednesday, following three days of negotiations between the Association of Professional Flight Attendants and bargainers for American, in Kansas City. Though the board has offered arbitration, if either side rejects it, a 30-day cooling-off period will begin tolling. After that, a strike could legally be called.

    Members of the attendants' union board, which is expected to reject arbitration according to its president John Ward, will meet next week.

    A spokesman for American, Gus Whitcomb, said the airline would accept arbitration.

    The flight attendants have worked without a new contract for more than two years. In February they voted to strike, but that would be illegal prior to the declaration of deadlock handed down Wednesday. The two sides have differences over pay, retirement and crew rest.

    The union represents 23,000 flight attendants at the nation's largest air carrier.

American Airlines in Impasse with Flight Attendants

    Contract talks between American Airlines and its flight attendants' union have reached an impasse, making it possible a strike will be called prior to the July 4 holiday, the Associated Press reported.

    A declaration of deadlock in the talks was made by the National Mediation Board on Wednesday, following three days of negotiations between the Association of Professional Flight Attendants and bargainers for American, in Kansas City. Though the board has offered arbitration, if either side rejects it, a 30-day cooling-off period will begin tolling. After that, a strike could legally be called.

    Members of the attendants' union board, which is expected to reject arbitration according to its president John Ward, will meet next week.

    A spokesman for American, Gus Whitcomb, said the airline would accept arbitration.

    The flight attendants have worked without a new contract for more than two years. In February they voted to strike, but that would be illegal prior to the declaration of deadlock handed down Wednesday. The two sides have differences over pay, retirement and crew rest.

    The union represents 23,000 flight attendants at the nation's largest air carrier.

FHWA Accepting Applications for TIFIA Credit Assistance


Njord Named Executive Director of Utah DOT



    In his remarks after the announcement, Njord said, "The department is at the highest level of excellence it has seen B the employees are the finest, bar none, the leadership team the strongest and most innovative ever."

    Njord is a 13-year veteran of UDOT, and became its deputy director over a year ago. Prior to serving as deputy director, he was Director of Transportation Planning for the Olympics, engineer for urban planning, local government liaison, and construction field engineer.

    Warne's retirement is effective June 26. Njord's appointment is subject to Utah Senate confirmation.

Car-Sharing to Team Up with Transit in Washington DC

    Transit officials last week approved a car-sharing pilot program for subway users in the Washington metropolitan area, for when the train just doesn't go far enough.

    The program will let train-riders rent a car after getting off the Metro in order to reach their final destination, or to simply run errands. Program members pay by the day, so they can take the car out for as long as necessary after reserving one by phone or the Internet.

    Customers who use the car-sharing option would pay a $100 membership fee, and a refundable deposit of about $300. Once in the car, members are charged an hourly rate and mileage fee, but don't have to pay for gas or parking. Paul DeMaio, transit specialist for the City of Alexandria, told the Washington Post, "You use the car when you need it. You don't pay for its downtime; you don't pay for its maintenance." Hourly rates will range from about $4.50 to $7.50.

    Metro's car-sharing program could be implemented by the fall, and Arlington County and the City of Alexandria have applied for grant money to get cars planted at nine area transit stations by next month.

Tennessee DOT Rumble Strips Project Featured on AASHTO Web Site




Copyright © 2000 AASHTO. All rights reserved.
Legal Information | Privacy Policy | Copyright Notice