The report recommends introducing 10 programs to replace the existing structure of the DOT. While some of the programs would perform the same function as the existing regulatory agencies, others would deal with a specific aspect of transportation, including congestion relief, safety, energy, etc.
The 10 recommended programs:
Rebuilding America: A National Asset Management Program. It would be responsible for putting and keeping the Nation’s infrastructure in a state of good repair in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible. This program underlies all of the other recommended programs, and would need to closely coordinate with them.
Freight Transportation: A Program to Enhance U.S. Global Competitiveness. In conjunction with States and metropolitan areas and consistent with a National Freight Transportation Plan, the program would implement highway, rail, and other improvements that eliminate chokepoints and increase throughput.
Congestion Relief: A Program for Improved Metropolitan Mobility, would fund projects that reduce congestion in our largest metropolitan areas (1 million or more in population). The report said that although these major metropolitan areas comprise about 60 percent of the total U.S. population, they capture more than 85 percent of national market share for three critical transportation indicators: traffic congestion, transit ridership, and population exposure to auto-related air pollution.
Saving Lives: A National Safe Mobility Program would create and implement a national plan for safety to be developed that both “informs investments in all other transportation programs and leads to transportation investments undertaken purely for safety purposes.” The Commission recommends that the DOT establishes national safety standards, beginning with an ambitious goal to cut surface transportation fatalities in half by 2025.
Connecting America: A National Access Program for Smaller Cities and Rural Areas would be responsible for updating what the Report called the “basic backbone” of the surface transportation system and would take into account urban and rural communities.
Intercity Passenger Rail: A Program to Serve High-Growth Corridors by Rail. The Commission believes that Intercity Passenger Rail is a “critical missing link” in the Nation’s surface transportation system. Intercity passenger rail investment would help meet national energy and environmental goals by shifting travel to trains, which consume approximately 17 percent less energy per passenger mile than air carriers and 21 percent less energy per passenger mile than automobiles.
Environmental Stewardship: Transportation Investment Program to Support a Healthy Environment. The program would replace several existing environmental programs, providing more flexibility to States in their efforts to mitigate the environmental impacts of transportation.
Energy Security: A Program to Accelerate the Development of Environmentally-Friendly Replacement Fuels. The Report said the Federal government has a vital interest in supporting initiatives that cost-effectively reduce the Nation’s dependence on petroleum for transportation. “For transportation to make a significant contribution to reducing energy consumption, policies to that end cannot be marginal, but instead must be basic to mobility,” the report reads. With this in mind, the Commission recommends the development of a national research program and commitment to accomplish this end.
Federal Lands: A Program for Providing Public Access. Of the 2.3 billion acres in the U.S., the Federal government has title to about 650 million acres (or about 30 percent of the total area of the U.S.). The Commission believes the Federal government should continue to be responsible for transportation access to this Federal property. The growth of domestic and international tourism is also contributing significantly to increased visitation rates on Federal lands.
Research, Development, & Technology: A Coherent Transportation Research Program for the Nation. The report said the Federal role in transportation research, development, and technology is particularly vital because the Federal government has the resources to undertake and sustain large-scale, high-risk, long-term research that is cost-prohibitive for small private and public sector organizations. According to the Report, “as of the present, too much Federally sponsored surface transportation research is undertaken without clearly defined anticipated payoffs. The research efforts that are funded are sometimes redundant with other efforts and the research quality is inconsistent. In many cases, Federal research funds are distributed by political earmarking.”
The Agencies would be More Accountable
The report also recommended that the new programs be actively managed to ensure they are operating efficiently and effectively. “The new user-financed Federal surface transportation program the Commission proposes will be performance-driven, outcome-based, generally mode-neutral, and refocused to pursue activities of genuine national interest.”
Implementing the Recommendations
According to the report, the planning process for implementing the recommendations would begin with the DOT, working collaboratively with its partners and stakeholders, establishing the appropriate performance standards critical to serve the national interest under the targeted new program structure. National transportation targets would be set for the long run to advance critical national goals for condition of transportation infrastructure, efficiency and mobility, safety, rural accessibility, environmental quality, energy conservation, access to Federal lands and research.
About the Commission
The report was authored by the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, established three years ago by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act—A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). The Commission approved the report 9 – 3.
