"The Technology
Revolution in Transportation"
Ensuring that Innovation Puts People First
Prepared Remarks by
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater
to the Special Session on Transportation and Technological
Innovation
at the Transportation Research Board's 78th Annual Meeting
Tuesday, January 12, 1999
I am delighted to join all of you for this 78th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board. For more than three-quarters of a century, TRB has served as the premier forum for innovative technology in transportation. In today’s global information marketplace, TRB is rapidly becoming the world’s Home Page for transportation research.
DOT is an enthusiastic participant in the work of TRB; we have a large delegation at this Annual Meeting, not only attending sessions, but also presenting them.
TRB is where transportation visionaries congregate. I would like to acknowledge your President, Sharon Banks, for insisting that the social, environmental and economic implications of innovation be part of any conversation about transportation’s future. And I look forward to working with your next president, Wayne Shackelford, who will take office with a well-earned reputation for being at the cusp of change.
TRB’s recently expanded vision of the scope of transportation research builds upon the contributions of the giants of the past. John Volpe—the nation’s second Secretary of Transportation—anticipated our current interest in intermodalism thirty years ago, saying that "no one mode of transportation will ever solve all our transportation problems.
For me, transportation has always been about having a vision of new possibilities, especially for those who have been marginalized by progress. I grew up in the Mississippi Delta, in Marianna, Arkansas, which is in Lee County—one of the 10 poorest counties in America. As a child, one of my favorite pastimes was to sit on the porch with my sisters, watching the cars go by, imagining what it would be like to see the bright lights of Memphis or Chicago first hand.
I recalled my childhood dreams recently when I went down to Cape Canaveral to watch John Glenn take off in the Space Shuttle, a vindication of his faith that older Americans can still make a contribution to cutting edge science. By his courage and persistence, Senator Glenn encouraged Americans of all ages to ‘think outside of the box.’
My five-year old daughter Bridgette was with me at the launch. We stood there together, feeling the ground shake. The Shuttle was as big as the Statue of Liberty, with payload doors as large as the buses that shuttle children to and from Brigette’s school. But even as the mighty spacecraft lifted off, putting out as much horsepower as 192,000 Corvettes at full throttle, Bridgette could still put her tiny palm in front of her face and block the entire spacecraft from view. Within my lifetime we have moved from tentative probes at the edge of space by just two countries, to the construction of an International Space Station that will benefit all countries.
Clearly, the possibilities for transportation careers for the next generation have expanded enormously.
But if Bridgette and others in her generation are to seize these possibilities, they must master not only the fundamentals of science and math, but the "hard stuff" as well. That’s why I established the Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Transportation Futures Program to challenge one million students to develop their math, science and technology skills in order to qualify for a career in transportation. The program has already touched the lives of more than 370,000 children across America and will return dividends far into the future. I know that TRB has supported this initiative in a number of ways, and I thank you for that. I also urge you to do even more in the coming year.
president clinton’s vision for america
Putting people first is the driving force behind President Clinton’s larger vision for America. Under his leadership, we have achieved the longest peacetime economic expansion in the history of the United States. We have the lowest unemployment rate and the smallest welfare rolls in a generation. We have a balanced budget earlier than nearly anyone but the President thought possible—and the largest budget surplus ever.
The President has been very clear about the role technological innovation plays in creating economic success. He on record as saying that "investing in technology is investing in America’s future." During his visit to Detroit and the Auto Show last week, he reminded his audience that one of America’s foremost transportation technology innovators, Henry Ford, set 20th century economic history in motion with the very first assembly line. Ford sought out leaders, thinkers and workers with "an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done."
It was innovators like Henry Ford and those who worked with him, the President reminds us, who forged "America’s transition from farm to factory."
NEW FEDERAL ROLE IN FOSTERING TECHNOLOGY
History has given our generation the assignment of forging America’s next great transition. We are leaving the factory for the electronic marketplace and integrated global economy that will dominate the next Millennium. The President’s technology policy creates a new conceptual architecture which will move us from strength to strength as we create the safe, efficient, accessible and convenient transportation system this nation needs for the 21st Century.
On June 9th, the President signed the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st century, a record-level level $200 billion investment to upgrade America’s surface transportation system which also takes into account how transportation impacts people communities and the environment. TEA-21 significantly expands our commitment to public transit.
The President’s "people first" agenda for transportation is reflected in new initiatives for 1999. Yesterday the Vice President announced a comprehensive agenda to build "livable communities" for the 21st century. A key part of this agenda is to promote community transportation choices. The Clinton-Gore Administration is therefore proposing a record $6.1 billion for public transit in the FY ’99 budget.
DOT’s strategic plan to implement the President’s policy has been described as the "best in government." Our plan calls for a 21st century transportation system that is international in scope, intermodal in form, intelligent in character and inclusive in service.
I had the opportunity in New Orleans last month to see all four of these principles at work during a historic meeting of Western Hemisphere transportation ministers. During the meeting, DOT announced plans to provide a $1.3 million GPS satellite-based harbor navigation and guidance system for Central America. This modest investment will replace the obsolete systems destroyed by Hurricane Mitch and enable the region to leapfrog several generations of transportation technology.
By definition, this project is international in scope. Because the GPS system can be used by any type of transportation system, it intermodal by design. Linked to the $10 billion global network of GPS satellites, the project is both and intelligent system and an intelligent investment. By restoring Central America’s maritime navigation system to working order, it inclusively benefits all of the people of the region.
Of these four principles, "intelligent in character" is probably the most immediately relevant to members of TRB, especially when we focus on research supporting Intelligent Transportation Systems. ITS improves safety and efficiency without relying on new roads, saving taxpayers about 35 percent of the infrastructure investment that would otherwise be needed. ITS will also reduce transportation system operating costs by as much as $7.4 billion over the next decade.
Over the next twenty years we forecast that putting an ITS infrastructure in place will create a $340 billion market and 600,000 new jobs.
These projections are based on solid evidence. In New York, electronic toll stands at the Tappan Zee Bridge can handle 1,000 vehicles per hour, compared to 450 vehicles per hour by manual collection. This year, in partnership with the U.S. automobile industry, DOT will also launch the Intelligent Vehicle Initiative—a project designed to protect drivers by using new technologies that actually prevent a crash from happening in the first place.
What’s Next?
We will see some pretty amazing inventions in the transportation field over the next two decades or so. Look for tiltrotor planes that will forge new links to regional airports, elevators that go sideways, electric vehicles on automated highways, ocean freighters that cross the Atlantic in days rather than weeks. High-speed trains are almost here. In the last two months I’ve participated in 3 ceremonies dedicating high-speed rail corridors and I’ll help dedicate another one in Chicago later this month.
We need to remember that each and every innovation needs to connect with real people—with the customer, in other words. Some innovations, like New York City’s new MTS electronic farecards, use off-the-shelf technology, yet provide enormous, immediate improvements in the quality of life for ordinary people.
Innovation is more than invention. Daimler invented the automobile; Henry Ford had the vision to create a global industry. Leif Ericksson was the first European to discover America; Christopher Columbus had the vision to use that discovery to launch history’s most ambitious market expansion plan. Xerox invented the PC; Bill Gates had the vision to realize the PC’s possibilities.
Conclusion
The revitalized economy we now enjoy under President Clinton’s leadership creates a new opening for assuring the future well being of all of our people. But this opportunity is also a challenge. Without first-class transportation to support it, the digital economy can’t move material objects anywhere. As the top management of Federal Express puts it, "What often gets lost in discussions about Internet commerce and the digital economy are the physical aspects of doing business."
To assure our future prosperity we must create a 21st century transportation system that is efficient and supports economic growth while still being safe, secure and environmentally friendly. We can reconcile these apparently conflicting goals if we are both visionary and vigilant. Visionary about what is possible and vigilant about seizing the means to realize those possibilities.
But to do so, we must follow the example of leaders like John Volpe, Henry Ford and Christopher Columbus, whose success depended upon innovation rather than invention. The challenge we face as members of the transportation research community is to make sure we are investing our time and resources in technology with the potential to move beyond mere invention.
I challenge TRB’s leadership to work with me in the coming months to translate today’s visionary technology into tomorrow’s innovative plan of action.
As the President summed up the challenge in Detroit last week:
"We will never have, in all probability, in [our] lifetime…. a better opportunity to take the long view, to imagine how our children will live when they are our age, to imagine how our grandchildren will live when they are our age. …If we work together there are no limits to 21st century America. And that’s what we owe our children—no limits."
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