Transcript The “TEA” Party is over… National Transportation Policies Must Change Gregory Cohen, President American Highway Users Alliance Presentation for The American Dream Coalition September 16, 2006

The “TEA” Party is over…
National Transportation Policies
Must Change
Gregory Cohen, President
American Highway Users Alliance
Presentation for The American Dream Coalition
September 16, 2006
•Lobbying
•Media
•Grassroots / Internet
activism
Who we are:
State affiliate organizations, AAA Clubs
(the brave ones), truckers, bus companies, RV and motorcyclists,
businesses that desire safe and efficient road networks
Net Federal Subsides by Mode
Chained 2000$ (in millions)
Transit ridership up 7%
FTA
Transit funding up 108 percent
(FTA stats)
Transit ridership - APTA
• Transit ridership peaked in 1946, when
Americans took 23.4 billion trips on trains, buses
and trolleys. (100 million less Americans than
today)
• By 1960, ridership dropped to 9.3 billion trips.
• In 1972 ridership dropped to a low of 6.5B trips
• Beginning in 1973, ridership started to increase,
reaching 9.6 billion trips in 2004.
Passenger travel
• 86.6% of trips in America are made in
private vehicles, 1.5% are on public transit
(most over roads), 8.6% are walking trips,
and 3.4% are other trips
• Less than 15% of trips are commutes.
More than half of trips are family oriented,
social, shopping, and recreational –
generally not conducive to transit
Freight
•
•
•
•
69% of freight moves by truck; 14% rail
2.7 million trucks today on the road today
3.7 million trucks in 10 years
30% growth in imports from 2004-2006
Congestion
• Impact is at least $200 billion per year (DOT
stat).
• 40% increase in number of major traffic
bottlenecks causing over 700,000 hours of delay
(AHUA). Over 50 million hours of delay at 3
interchange bottlenecks in Atlanta.
• Safety, time, fuel, pollution, carbon, and
economic productivity all negatively impacted by
severe congestion.
Would you like some pie with your
TEA? Everyone does.
• ISTEA (1991) de-emphasized highways and hurt those
paying highway user fees in favor of subsidizing transit &
intermodalism, creating new planning regulations, and
“enhancements”. Programs designed to pay-off
environmental groups & smart growth activists
• TEA 21 (1998) added “guaranteed” multiyear funding
increases and expanded the number of interest groups
clamoring for a piece of the pie.
• SAFETEA-LU (2005) continued these programs largely
unchanged. One positive was the streamlining
provisions. However, no new funding could be freed up
and increased spending guarantees exceeded incoming
revenues. The Highway Trust Fund will be broke by
2009.
Sudden demand for reform
• The TEA party is over because:
– We’re spending more than we’re collecting in
fuel and truck taxes.
– The Highway Trust Fund will be broke in 2009
forcing major cuts as soon as 2008.
– The public is fed up with earmarks and with a
program that doesn’t solve congestion,
provide national mobility, or properly steward
their user fees.
Options for National Highway
Policy
• No policy changes: Major cuts in federal funding
would either lead to less national investment in
transportation or more splintered state and local
programs. No public support for more user fees.
• Major policy changes: Reforms focused on
national congestion relief priorities (see
Georgia’s Congestion Mitigation Plan),
bottleneck removal, and interstate freight
mobility could lead to greater support for the
national program
Is there a legitimate Federal
interest in a national network of
roads?
•
•
•
•
Interstate commerce & travel
Security, evacuations, and defense
43,400 lost lives/yr is a national epidemic
National economy is tied to mobility
Other options
• Increased state involvement
– GAO study found strong evidence that States
reduce transportation funding when fed-aid
increases and vice-versa.
• Increased private involvement
– Leasing and construction of private toll roads
provide a limited solution in select markets.
But citizen opposition is strong, especially if
the deals favor politicians more than highway
users.
Highway Users Position
• The Highway Users supports a strong national
highway program funded fully by highway users.
We don’t want to ever be accused of being
“subsidized”
• The new national program must be dedicated to
achieving true national mobility needs. We will
support users paying ALL of the costs needed to
achieve safety and mobility IF we do not have to
pay for diversions, waste, and special interest
groups’ “TEA and pie”.
But there are some things we don’t
accept:
• New taxes and tolls without the requisite
major reforms.
• Backroom privatization deals without full
and fair reinvestment in relevant highway
infrastructure, free competition on parallel
routes, and level-of-service guarantees.
(No more Chicago deals)
• Continued growth in diversion of user fees.
In conclusion: the problems are
real
– 34% of major roads are in poor or mediocre condition;
27% of bridges are functionally or structurally
deficient, and 36% of our major urban roads are
congestion.
– VMT increasing at 26 times the rate of new capacity
– More people will die on the roads over the course of
SAFETEA-LU than attended Super Bowl XL.
– No more money left in Highway Account
Yet solutions are there….
• Pessimistic voices are no longer ruling the day
– Mineta’s Congestion Relief Initiative: “Congestion is
NOT inevitable.
– Georgia’ Congestion Mitigation Plan proves that
proper funding priorities can actually increase
mobility. It should be a national model.
– Reason Foundation’s latest study lays out the
investment requirements for mobility in 2030 and
shows that it can be done.
Thanks
• It’s time for a strong, visionary national
highway program. There is little doubt that
the benefits would far exceed costs.
• But Highway Users need to trust their
government to do the right thing and that
means reforms first, more money second.
Greg Cohen 202-857-1200
[email protected]
www.highways.org