NEW YORK Volume VIII No

NEW YORK Volume VIII No. 2 Spring 2005 TRANSPORTATION JOURNAL wagner.nyu.edu/rudincenter TRANSPORTATION AS NATIONAL POLICY Letter from the Editor st New York City was recently visited by The Transportation Equity Act for the 21 Century (TEA-21) expired on September 30, 2003. A year the International Olympic Committee and a half later, after numerous debates and six temporary extensions, it looks like a new bill may (IOC) to review New York’s bid to hold finally be in store this spring. In mid-March, the House of Representatives approved a $284 billion the 2012 Olympics. One of the key transportation bill for 2004-2009. Shortly thereafter, the Senate panel voted 17-1 to move their own issues was transportation. New York $284 billion bill ahead as well. The amount of funding proposed is well beneath previous proposals, City transit officials impressed the IOC with a presentation on the size and but is more likely to avoid a veto by the Administration. What will the new bill mean for trans- breadth of the subway system, past portation? Janette Sadik-Khan, Senior Vice President of Parsons Brinckerhoff and President of efforts to bring the system into a state Company39, the e-business subsidiary of the firm, and a regular contributor to the Journal, inter- of good repair, and future plans to con- viewed Congressman Earl Blumenauer of Portland Oregon, about the role of the federal government tinue system improvements and to in financing and regulating transportation in the United States. In this comprehensive interview, extend the “7” train to the West Side. Congressman Blumenauer speaks about TEA-21 reauthorization, his interest in streetcars, trans- Not mentioned in the presentation was portation security, and his involvement with Rail Volution. whether there were sufficient financial commitments to ensure a reliable tran- JSK: One of the big issues in New York is JSK: Do you think things will change come sit system in 2012. As we go to press, funding for transportation. What hope do you spring? the region's transportation capital pro- gram continues to limp along without see for a federal reauthorization bill this Federal and State funding programs. spring and what level of funding might be EB: It’s too early to tell. I have been continual- available, particularly given the President’s ly surprised that accommodation could not have In this regard, we have included in this edition of the Journal testimony given proposal of $256B over six years and the been reached given the urgency of the need, the by NYU Wagner Rudin Center Director House and Senate holding at around $300B? breadth of the coalition and the fact that people and the Journal's publisher, Elliot G. from coast to coast want and need this. It is Sander at a January 24, 2005 joint EB: Sadly, it may be the topic of the day for interesting that in the initial statements of (Continued on page 7) some of us but it has not received the wide- Congressional leaders — Senator Frist, the major- spread attention it has had in the past. This is ity leader, and Senator Reid, the minority leader, somewhat perplexing given the sluggish econo- neither Republicans nor Democrats had this on Inside NYTJ my of the last three years. Having a robust tar- their list of priorities. There still is a majority in Broad Leadership is Needed geted reauthorization along the lines of the the House that would support a robust bill in a to Pass the MTA Capital original ISTEA would have provided virtually heartbeat. The dynamic is not yet clear whether Plan every community with projects to jump start it will be permitted. One of the bright spots in By Elliot G. Sander their local economy. It is also perplexing the House is that one of the people who would A Unique Island with Unique because I have been impressed with the depth support a robust bill is the Speaker. Metropolitan Transportation Issues and breadth of the coalition that has been Chicago has unique and significant needs and By Jeffrey Zupan, P.E. assembled over the course of the last two frankly there are bottlenecks there that are years. The ability of this coalition to remain affecting my district, such as when it takes High Speed Rail in the United States united may in fact be the single most impres- longer for freight to move across metropolitan By Allison L. C. de Cerreño, Ph.D. sive, important, long standing development in Chicago than it takes to get there. transportation. It is significant when you hear Collaborative Planning for similar positions articulated by the US Chamber I am not going to make any more predictions but Land Use and Transportation Can Be of Commerce and the Sierra Club. It was unfor- passage of a reauthorization bill continues to be Successful for All tunate that reauthorization got caught up in a high priority for me. I’m going to work as By Allen J. Zerkin, J.D. presidential politics at a period of time when though it’s going to happen this spring and con- we were hemorrhaging red ink and there was a tinue to work with the affected groups; in part Honoring the 2004 Leadership in Transportation Award need for the Administration to demonstrate because in Washington, you make your own real- Recipients some fiscal responsibility. (Continued on page 2) 1 2 NEW YORK TRANSPORTATION JOURNAL TRANSPORTATION AS NATIONAL POLICY CONT. (Continued from page 1) ity. If we have the political infrastructure in place, look at some minimum guarantee for metropolitan areas in the TEA-3 legislation. if we have made the case, if we know what it is that we want and we have the network to launch I’m also concerned about the continued uneven playing field between modes. FTA into action, it makes it more likely that passage has some pretty aggressive standards of accountability and performance. I’m con- will happen. cerned that this standard applies to only a small portion of the transportation funding. Maybe it is time to think through the lack of accountability standards for mas- JSK: Moving further into the future, if we look sive highway projects. One shouldn’t have to jump through all sorts of loops for into a crystal ball, what are your thoughts as to relatively small amounts of money for one mode of transportation while another is TEA-3 and future policy directions for the trans- a massive entitlement. I don’t care how aggressive the standards are, but that they portation bill? ought to be uniformly applied whether it’s for a bike path, streetcars or freeway interchanges. I think it’s time to think about accountability. Another big question EB: For me, it’s time to go back and revisit the that should be addressed is what the match ratios should be. If we are trying to large concepts that we had for the original ISTEA. solve problems of freight and passenger mobility, does it make sense to skew the We are still indebted to great thinkers like Senator outcome based on a funding formula? Moynihan from New York and Senator D’Amato: Mr. Policy and Mr. Pothole, who created a framework JSK: Which clearly happens with transportation investment decisions all the that considered how the pieces fit together. I don’t time. want TEA-4 to become just a big ISTEA, where we run on fumes and we lose the sense of being able EB: If we have a ratio, and I’m agnostic as to what the match ratio should be — to give communities and States the opportunity to 3:1, 2:1 or 50-50, it needs to be a uniform match ratio for all modes. This would do a better job of making infrastructure work for add an element of accountability and rationality and it wouldn’t have the trans- them. Part of what made ISTEA so powerful was portation solution skewed by funding bias. the flexibility and empowerment it provided to states and metropolitan areas. Finally, we need to get serious about improving intermodalism. From where I sit, looking back at the “I” in ISTEA, the intermodal piece, everybody still acknowl- I think it is time for us to be more explicit about edges that it is not being adequately addressed in planning, funding or systems the role of the metropolitan area. There is all this integration. What is great about the current transportation coalition is that we do talk about states getting a guaranteed minimum have the truckers and the railroads both talking about the need to seize intermodal gas tax return. If we are sincere, we should talk opportunities. It’s why I feel so strongly about the Small Starts proposal for street- about equity as it relates to metropolitan areas car projects. around the country that are putting in two, three, four times as much or more than they receive JSK: Can you describe the Small Starts proposal and also perhaps some of the back. There isn’t a metropolitan area in the coun- implications that it may have for large metropolitan areas? try that isn’t being shortchanged by their state and federal formulas. Well, let’s take a step back and EB: Yes, as you may know I have been obsessed with streetcar. It was sort of a 20- New York Transportation Journal The New York Transportation Journal is published by the NYU Wagner Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management in conjunction with the Rudin Center’s Adivsory board, Elliot G. Sander, Publisher the Council on Transportation.

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