Transportation Public Policy: SAFETEALU and Beyond

1
Transportation Public Policy SAFETEA-LU and
Beyond

• Michael Replogle
• Transportation Director
• Environmental Defense

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A Tough Reauthorization

• End of the easy money
• Ever-rising earmarks
• Minimum guarantee dead-end?

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Losing Common Ground

• Fracturing of ISTEA, TEA-21 big tent coalition
• Waning customer faith in DOT product delivery and
  mix
• Declining use of funding flexibility
• More hardwired funds

4
SAFETEA-LU Measured Change

• System operations
• Tolls, innovative finance
• Public-private partnerships
• Bus rapid transit
• Bicycling walking

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SAFETEA-LU Keeping Balance

• Some streamlining while ensuring
• public involvement
• environment, health, resource protections in
  planning and project reviews

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Transportation Plans Must Meet Objectives

• New duty to adopt state and regional
  transportation plans that accomplish planning
  objectives in 134(a)
• maximize mobility
• promote economic development
• minimize fuel use, and
• minimize air emissions

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Planning Strategies Capable of Achieving All
Objectives Include

• Ramp metering, congestion charges for peak period
  traffic management
• Bus Rapid Transit
• Truck toll lanes
• Safe routes to schools transit, complete
  streets
• High Performance Corridors
• Operate-Design-Build-Operate PPPs

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Trends Worth Watching

• Highway Trust Fund bust by 08
• High fuel price accelerates this spurs transit,
  walking, cycling
• Shaky govt finances all levels spurs use of
  tolls, PPPs
• Global transport innovation but US lags in BRT,
  market incentives
• Rising concerns about global warming, pollution
  hotspots

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Pollution Hot Spots

• Health cost of road air pollution 40
  billion/year (600/household)
• Pollution hotspots cause serious health problems
  for those close to big roads
• Impact avoidance, mitigation required

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Highways Drive Many Hot Spots
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Effects of Globalization

• Higher cost for road materials/construction
• Rising freight demand
• More foreign private infrastructure investment
• More focus on asset management, performance
• Rising income inequality mitigate or face
  backlash

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Aligning With New Opportunities

• Road lobby wants tolls to pay only for new lanes
• Will portion of toll revenue go for transit,
  bike/ped access, impact minimization?
• Only if congestion charges manage existing lanes,
  not just new lanes

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Will HOT Lanes Deliver Transit Advantage or Just
Fuel Sprawl?

• Inadequate funds for more bus services
• Last mile problem transit access interchanges
• Design motorway vs. arterial BRT
• Bike/ped access?

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Access Makes A Difference

• Poor pedestrian and bicycle access to freeway bus
  stops curbs use of I-110 express bus services,
  even in transit-dependent areas of Los Angeles

15
Common Ground or Battleground on Public Private
Partnerships?

• Rapid growth in long-term concession leases for
  roads IL, TX, GA,VA, CO, OR, DE, NJ, etc.
• Compliance with state/federal requirements?
• Binding community environmental performance
  agreements?

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What Way for Reauthorization?

• Turnback to states?
• VMT-fees to replace gas tax?
• A curbing of earmarks?
• Renewing a sense of national purpose?

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Seeing Beyond SAFETEA-LU

• Fiscal crisis the information revolution
• Transportation as a managed public utility
• Stewardship
• managing systems for performance
• unlocking trapped infrastructure asset values
• dealing with global warming

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• For more information
• Michael Replogle, Transportation Director
• Environmental Defense (formerly EDF)
• 1875 Connecticut Ave. NW 600
• Washington, DC 20009
• 202-387-3500
• mreplogle_at_ed.org
• www.environmentaldefense.org/go/transportation