ARTBA Offers Solutions to Alleviate
Growing Traffic Congestion in
Testimony Before House Committee

Contacts:
Joe Manero 202-289-4434 jmanero@artba.org		Matt Jeanneret 202-289-4434 mjeanneret@artba.org	Print this page

Washington, D.C. [May 21, 2002]—Ever wonder why traffic congestion is getting worse in urban areas? An analysis by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) has found that state and local governments are only building the equivalent of one-tenth of one inch of new road capacity each year for every urban resident with their federal highway program dollars.

Over the past four years, only 11 percent of federally-funded road work involved projects that added new capacity to the road system, ARTBA Vice Chairman Gene McCormick, told the House Highway and Transit Subcommittee at a May 21 hearing called to study highway congestion. McCormick is senior vice president of Parsons Brinckerhoff, one of the nation's largest transportation planning and design firms.

"We don't cite these figures as an indictment of how state and local transportation departments are choosing to spend their federal highway dollars," McCormick, who is an ARTBA vice chairman, said. "They are merely indicators of the underlying transportation capacity problem facing the nation—financial capacity. We are not providing the level of public investment necessary to maintain the existing highway, bridge and transit system, much less invest in needed new capacity."

"That is why ARTBA is calling for a minimum $50 billion per year federal highway investment when the federal highway program is reauthorized in 2003," McCormick said. "The real target is $65 billion per year. That is the federal share of the investment level the U.S. Department of Transportation says is necessary just to maintain current highway and bridge conditions and performance levels and add economically justifiable capacity."

With the U.S. population projected to increase by 60 million people and highway travel by more than 40 percent over the next 20 years, McCormick said there are a number of things that Congress should be considering now to help alleviate traffic congestion. "Number one is significantly increasing highway and mass transit capital investment," he said. "No revenue raising option should be taken off the table—including the federal gas tax."

The transportation construction executive said Congress should also support new ways to add highway capacity. "Toll financed truck-only lanes should be considered for existing Interstate
highway right-of-way, where appropriate. Double decking and tunneling in some urban areas—while expensive—should also be seriously considered as options."

Other solutions, McCormick said, include improved handling of traffic incidents to clear roadways quickly, increased use of synchronized traffic signalization and "smart road" technologies to increase traffic flow, and completing closing roads that need repair to traffic, when possible, so that contractors can get in and finish the work as fast as possible.

ARTBA, which is celebrating its 100th Anniversary this year, represents the U.S. transportation construction industry before the Congress, federal courts and agencies and media.

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Editors Note: The complete text of ARTBA's testimony can be found online at http://www.artba.org/pdf/McCormick_capacity_testimony_5_02.pdf (PDF format 206K).