National Commission on Surface Transportation Announces Plan to Modernize System,...

National Commission on Surface Transportation Announces Plan to Modernize
System, Restructure Programs

Report Offers Solutions to Improve the Performance of the Nation's Transport
System

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Calling for a "new beginning"
to reform the nation's transportation programs, the bipartisan National
Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission today unveiled a
comprehensive plan to increase investment, expand services, repair
infrastructure, demand accountability, and refocus Federal transportation
programs, while maintaining a strong Federal role in surface transportation.
Policy changes, though necessary, will not be enough on their own to produce
the transportation system the Nation needs in the 21st century. Significant
new funding also will be needed.

Congress created the twelve-member, bipartisan Commission in 2005 and it not
only was charged with examining the condition and operation of the surface
transportation system, but also with developing a conceptual plan and specific
recommendations to ensure that the surface transportation system serves the
needs of the nation now and in the future. After an intensive fact-finding
program that included hearings in ten cities across America, the Commission
released its Report to Congress, called Transportation for Tomorrow, at a news
conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of the U.S. House of
Representatives has scheduled a hearing on the Report on January 17, 2008.

Chaired by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters, the bi-partisan
twelve member Commission also includes Jack Schenendorf, Vice Chair, Of
Counsel, Covington and Burling, LLP; Frank Busalacchi, Secretary, Wisconsin
Department of Transportation; Rick Geddes, Associate Professor, Department of
Policy Analysis and Management, Cornell University; Steve Heminger, Executive
Director, San Francisco Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission; Frank
McArdle, Senior Advisor, General Contractors Association of New York; Steve
Odland, Chairman & CEO, Office Depot, Inc.; Patrick E. Quinn, Co-Chairman,
U.S. Xpress Enterprises, Inc.; Matt Rose, Chairman & CEO, Burlington Northern
Santa Fe Railway; Tom Skancke, CEO, The Skancke Company; Paul Weyrich,
Chairman and CEO, Free Congress Foundation.

The Commissioners unanimously agree that an efficient surface transportation
system will be vital to the future economic growth, international
competitiveness, and social well-being of the Nation. They also agree that
major overhauls of current Federal surface transportation programs will be
essential to achieve such a system. They did not agree, however, on all of
the recommendations to reform and finance our surface transportation programs.
Secretary Mary Peters (as Commission Chair), Commissioner Cino, and
Commissioner Geddes provided a minority view to the report. Commissioner
McArdle and Commissioner Rose each contributed an individual supplemental
view.

The key recommendations in Transportation for Tomorrow include:

-- Significantly increasing investment in surface transportation, including
investing at least $225 billion annually from all sources (Federal, state,
local, and private) for the next 50 years to upgrade to an advanced surface
transportation system capable of sustaining strong economic growth;

-- Accelerating the time between conception and delivery of major
transportation projects to reduce costs while still addressing environmental
concerns. Many federally-funded projects take between 10-13 years to complete
after they are proposed, largely due to lengthy approval processes. Given the
high rate of construction inflation, for example, simply reducing the time
between conception of projects and delivery could save billions of dollars as
well as bringing new facilities online more rapidly.

-- Retaining a strong Federal role in transportation, while depoliticizing
investment decisions. Keeping the promise to citizens for effective
expenditures by building accountability into the new program structure. Money
will be spent through outcome based, performance driven programs supported by
cost/benefit evaluations rather than political "earmarking";

-- Replacing over 100 current transportation programs with ten programs
focused on the national interest. This structure will target infrastructure
facilities, crippling congestion, unacceptable safety consequences, missing
intercity passenger rail options, underutilized transit options, environment
linkages and the synergy between transportation and energy policy. This new
structure will address the needs of urban, suburban and exurban areas, small
towns and rural areas, (See descriptions of ten programs below.)

-- Creating a new National Surface Transportation Commission (NASTRAC) to
perform two principal planning and financial functions. Modeled after aspects
of the Postal Regulatory Commission, the Base Closure and Realignment
Commission, and state public utility commissions, the NASTRAC would act as
overseer of a stakeholder-rich planning process whose goal would be to develop
national strategic plans for each of the program areas. The NASTRAC would
establish the cost to finance the plan and recommend a Federal fuel tax or
equivalent Federal mechanism to fund the Federal share, subject to
Congressional veto.

To fund the necessary investment, the Commission recommends new revenue
strategies, including increasing the Federal gas tax between 25-40 cents (5-8
cents per gallon, per year), with the rate increase indexed and phased in over
time. The fuel tax was the primary recommended user fee in the near term
since it will continue to be a viable revenue source for surface
transportation for some time to come. The most promising alternative user fee
revenue measure is a vehicle miles traveled fee, provided that substantial
privacy and collection cost issues can be addressed.

Other user-based fees also should help address the investment shortfall, such
as tolling the deployment of peak-hour "congestion pricing" on Federal-aid
highways in major metropolitan areas, a freight fee for freight projects, and
ticket taxes for passenger rail improvements. Tax policy also can provide
incentives to expand intermodal networks. Governments on all levels should
encourage public-private partnerships as a means of attracting additional
private investment to the surface transportation system, provided that
conditions are included to protect the public interest and the movement of
interstate commerce.

Ten Outcome-Based Programs to
Replace Over 100 Existing Programs

The report calls for the replacement of over 100 current Federal surface
programs with ten comprehensive programs that are outcome (rather than
modally) based. For the most part, the U.S. Department of Transportation, in
cooperation with State and local governments, multi-State coalitions,
transportation system users, and the full range of public and private
stakeholders, would develop national performance standards for each applicable
program area. State and local performance standards would form the basis for
State and metropolitan plans. In combination, these would comprise a national
strategic plan and the basis for distribution of Federal funding to implement
these plans.

In brief, the streamlined new federal program structure the Commission
recommends is:

-- Rebuilding America: A National Asset Management Program
-- Freight Transportation: A Program to Enhance U.S. Global Competitiveness
-- Congestion Relief: A Program for Improved Metropolitan Mobility
-- Saving Lives: A National Safe Mobility Program
-- Connecting America: A National Access Program for Smaller Cities and Rural
Areas
-- Intercity Passenger Rail: A Program to Serve High-Growth Corridors by Rail

-- Environmental Stewardship: Transportation Investment Program to Support a
Healthy Environment
-- Energy Security: A Program to Accelerate the Development of
Environmentally-Friendly Replacement Fuels
-- Federal Lands: A Program for Providing Public Access
-- Research, Development, & Technology: A Coherent Transportation Research
Program for the Nation

For a full copy of the Report, detailed descriptions of each program and more
information on the Commission and its activities, please visit
www.transportationfortomorrow.org.

SOURCE National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Commission

Trina Leonard, +1-301-530-6700, trina@starpower.net, for National Surface
Transportation Policy and Revenue Commission