Senate Accelerates Toward Transportation Reform: The Devil's in the Details

After 18 months of dead ends and false starts in Congress, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee renewed hope that lawmakers might soon take action to overhaul our outdated federal transportation policy. The committee's leadership - two Democrats and two Republicans - have agreed on several key principles for a new bipartisan transportation bill titled Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21).

This small but important step offers Americans the hope that our elected officials might soon engage in a real debate over a bill that affects critical issues such as traffic congestion, transportation affordability, air pollution, and oil dependence. Since our last transportation law expired in 2009, committee leaders on both sides of Capitol Hill have sought a path forward for renewing our federal surface transportation policy, only to be met by one obstacle after another.

All the while, millions of Americans sit stuck in traffic each day with few if any alternatives, resulting in big costs in lost productivity and wasted fuel. And the transportation sector continues to drive our oil addiction, causing dangerous levels of air pollution in regions around the country.

Real reform of our federal transportation policy can address all of these problems. Investment in state of the art highway management systems and new public transit service can cut road congestion and reduce emissions. Smarter transportation planning and performance-based transportation programs can help families and businesses reduce transportation costs and oil use.

To accomplish this, new legislation must establish national goals for our transportation investments and set clear performance measures to gauge success. Such a policy would invest limited tax dollars wisely in new projects that enhance the efficiency of our transportation system, while prioritizing repair and rehabilitation of the network we've already built. (See our factsheet on Building Transportation Infrastructure 2.0)

Besides promising to "...focus resources on key national goals..." the committee's statement offers few specifics on these items, which have been supported by dozens of public and private commission, transportation experts, policymakers, and advocates. These details will determine whether any bill fulfills the major potential to make American more competitive, secure, and sustainable through sound transportation investments. Moreover, Congress must take care not to undermine bedrock environmental laws like the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) which have served Americans well for 40 years. 

But that's a discussion that can only happen if we actually have a debate. The committee's agreement on key principles takes as a step closer.

Header photo by taberandrew, used under a Creative Commons license.