The reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) is one of the environmental community's most important federal legislative priorities this year. Updating this national transportation law, which expires September 30, should provide an opportunity to improve transportation systems across the country and advance community development and environmental objectives.

Since TEA-21 was enacted in 1998, Congress has invested some $200 billion in a wide range of transportation infrastructure, from highway construction and repair to public transit to bicycle and walking facilities, and this year's financial commitment could exceed that amount. Regardless of the amount, environmentalists want to ensure that new investments in transportation projects not only improve mobility, but also conserve our air, water, energy, wildlife habitat, historic places and landscape. Thus, the new legislation must prevent rollbacks of environmental protections, ensure that a variety of projects are funded so our tax dollars do more than just pave more acreage, and make minor modifications in the original law to yield better results.

Prevent Rollbacks of Environmental Safeguards

NRDC is concerned that congressional and administrative proposals to fast-track new highway construction threaten not only the spirit of TEA-21, but also the integrity of the landmark National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969. For more than 30 years, NEPA has been the environment's last line of defense by requiring public participation in key federal environmental decisions, and forcing federal agencies to carefully consider the likely consequences of human activity on the environment.

Last fall, some members of Congress introduced two bills -- one in each chamber -- that would, in effect, paralyze the NEPA process. They are advocating saddling NEPA's environmental review process with arbitrary, tight deadlines for considering environmental effects, and have proposed other changes that would weaken NEPA and related laws. The bills -- "Expediting Project Delivery to Improve Transportation and the Environment Act" (ExPDITE, H.R. 5455) and "Maximum Economic Growth for America Through Environmental Streamlining Act" (the MEGA Stream Act, S.3031) -- would accelerate highway construction and other transportation projects by circumventing environmental regulations that the bills' sponsors claim delay projects. Those claims are specious: Several studies have found that environmental reviews rarely delay projects. The bills are unnecessary and will trample our basic environmental protections.

Besides NEPA, some members of Congress are proposing weakening transportation-related protections under the Clean Air Act, including the "conformity" rule that helps ensure that transportation plans and programs help states comply with clean air laws. New health studies and other data show that vehicle emissions are a greater threat to public health than previously thought, especially for the most vulnerable -- children, seniors and asthmatics. The transportation conformity rule and TEA-21 clean air projects are the only meaningful tools states and localities have to address vehicle pollution, so it is imperative that Congress leaves them alone.

Fix Potholes and Provide More Choices

TEA-21 and its precursor, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA), have been valuable and effective laws. Among other things, the two laws were responsible for completing the nation's 45,000-mile interstate highway system, expanding federal assistance for public transit projects, encouraging metropolitan planning efforts that factor in environmental concerns, and offering funding for environmental protection and community enhancements. By passing ISTEA and TEA-21, Congress recognized the need for more balance in a national transportation system long dominated by highway projects, cars and trucks. NRDC will resist any attempt by this Congress to weaken programs that benefit a full range of transportation choices.

It is especially important for Congress to maintain public transit funding it guarantees in both ISTEA and TEA-21. Federal transit assistance amounts to only 25 percent of the funding Congress provides for highways and bridges, but the results have been impressive: Public transportation ridership has surged in recent years, surpassing 9 billion annual trips for the first time since 1960. In addition, cities are expanding rail and bus systems, including 1,500 miles of new light-rail and heavy-rail lines in planning or construction in 2000, and many more waiting for funding. These investments are reducing energy consumption and environmental damage, and strengthening national energy security. In fact, according to the Federal Transit Administration, in the 1990s, public transit saved the country some 1.5 billion gallons of fuel every year.

To build on this progress, Congress should cover the full costs of public transit needs; increase overall transit investments; and, at the very least, maintain the current four-to-one highway-to-transit funding ratio. Congress also should increase its commitment to intercity rail facilities, and continue to fund the "New Starts" program, which has created new, successful rail transit systems and extensions in Salt Lake City, Dallas and other cities across the country.

The Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement program (CMAQ), which Congress created in 1991 under ISTEA, also has been a critical source of funding for states and communities to reduce ozone smog and carbon monoxide pollution as required by the Clean Air Act. Under CMAQ, states and regions over the last 10 years have invested more than $9 billion in environmentally beneficial alternatives to new highway construction, including more than $4 billion on transit projects. Given the challenge we face to clean up air pollution, it is critical that CMAQ funds remain exclusively dedicated to projects that will help states and localities comply with national air quality standards. NRDC urges Congress to double dedicated funding to help regions comply with the tougher air quality standards that will take effect during the tenure of the law Congress enacts this year.

A smaller but similarly effective program is the Transportation Enhancements Program, which has helped finance more than 10,000 environmentally beneficial projects nationwide, including scores of bike paths and walkways. NRDC supports maintaining strong, dedicated funding for this program.

Make Small Fixes That Yield Big Results

In addition to identifying those key aspects of TEA-21 that must be preserved, NRDC and other organizations concerned with sustainable transportation have identified a number of areas where some relatively modest changes to the law would yield improved transportation and environmental benefits:

Fund projects to improve water quality. Roadways and other impervious surfaces generate far more water pollution than the open spaces they replace: A 1-acre parking lot, for example, produces 16 times more runoff than undeveloped land. As a result, communities and states expanding their roadways struggle to comply with the Clean Water Act and other laws that require improvements in water quality. NRDC urges Congress to give states and regional transportation agencies additional flexibility to use their federal transportation dollars -- including TEA-21's Surface Transportation Program and National Highway System and Interstate Maintenance funds -- to address the impact of federally assisted transportation projects on water quality and supply. This is crucial for cities and states where polluted pavement runoff has degraded water quality.

Invest in clean buses. Our nation's aging fleet of diesel buses is a significant source of air pollution, particularly diesel soot, toxic chemicals and nitrogen oxides that contribute to ozone smog. The transportation bill provides an opportunity to help municipalities modernize their fleets with vehicles that run on cleaner fuel technology.

NRDC supports several clean-bus amendments. First, Congress should ensure that all initiatives to clean up vehicle fleets are eligible for more federal assistance by making the reduction of all pollutants regulated under the Clean Air Act -- including diesel particulates -- eligible for CMAQ funding. CMAQ is currently only available for reducing ground-level ozone and carbon monoxide. Congress also should strengthen the Clean Fuels Formula Grant Program to promote hybrid electric engines, fuel cells and other advanced systems. Another potential source of funding is the New Starts program, which should include clean bus transit systems as long as they can meet performance criteria. Lastly, the new transportation bill should include funding for more research into alternative-fuel technologies.

Strengthen community control. TEA-21's Surface Transportation Program (STP) remains one of the more innovative components of federal transportation law. It allows states to "flex," or move, program funding from traditional highway construction to locally determined priorities, such as maintaining existing infrastructure and strengthening transportation choices by building bike paths or other alternatives to cars and trucks.

In the early- and mid-1990s, many states took advantage of this new flexibility, leading to more balanced transportation investments. But, after several years of laudable changes in spending patterns, in the late 1990s state transportation spending began backsliding to old highway construction habits at the expense of alternatives.

NRDC supports placing more of STP decision-making authority in the hands of those closest to transportation problems. This would give communities maximum flexibility to repair the existing system and initiate more environmentally beneficial projects. In particular, NRDC urges Congress to directly "suballocate" a portion of STP funding to metropolitan areas of 200,000 residents or more. It could allocate the remainder of the funds to states for distribution to smaller cities and towns.

Require performance reporting. NRDC urges Congress to require states and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to track their own performance. In particular, Congress should require states and MPOs in regions with more than 200,000 people to periodically report the performance of their transportation systems on fuel and energy intensity and usage, equity and access, safety and security, fiscal costs, air and water pollution, land use, infrastructure condition, and other basic aspects of operation and production.

States and MPOs already compile much of these data, but they do not report them in a form that is understandable to a lay audience. The information should be available on the Internet with maps and other visual aids. This information would help system managers and elected officials spend tax dollars wisely, and allow the public to monitor the process. To facilitate compliance, Congress should give additional resources to the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration to publish best practices guides and provide other technical performance management assistance to states and localities. Congress also should create an environmental cooperative research program to help advance best practices relating to transportation and the environment.

Reform transportation project design. Improved and flexible road design practices that go beyond cookie-cutter engineering can help states and municipalities build projects that minimize or prevent harm to environmental, scenic, historical and community resources. In 1977, the Federal Highway Administration published "Flexibility in Highway Design," a guide that showcased how innovative design can work for communities and the environment. NRDC supports providing additional resources to promote this approach, referred to as "context-sensitive design," for all highway projects.

Clean transportation on public lands. Congress must ensure that there are transportation choices on our federal lands that respect the environment. NRDC urges Congress to increase funding for transportation programs that serve our national parks and other federal lands, particularly funding for walking, bicycling, park-based shuttles and other transit systems. Congress should create model programs in select parks and other public lands to demonstrate and refine the viability of alternative transportation systems that reduce pollution and resource degradation.

In sum, the upcoming TEA-21 reauthorization offers tremendous opportunities for building on 10 years of investments in and improvements to a more balanced transportation system. A decade of projects and programs have resulted in an enhanced quality of life, reduced congestion, and improved environmental quality. But we have a long way to go, and there is no guarantee that this Congress will ensure we continue to make progress.