DOT 43-03
Thursday, May 15, 2003
Contact: Kim Riddle
Tel: (202) 366-5580
U.S. Department of Transportation Under Secretary for Policy Briefs American
Association of Port Authorities and the Intermodal Association of North America
on SAFETEA
NEW ORLEANS --
In New Orleans, LA, today, Jeffrey Shane, Under Secretary for Policy at the U.S.
Department of Transportation, briefed the American Association of Port
Authorities and the Intermodal Association of North America on major provisions
in the Bush Administration’s surface transportation reauthorization
proposal. Secretary Mineta launched
this major legislative initiative on
Wednesday in Washington, DC.
The “Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient
Transportation Equity Act of 2003” (SAFETEA), a six-year $247 billion
proposal, serves as the largest surface and public transportation investment in
U.S. history. The Department’s number one priority for the reauthorization of
the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) is saving
lives.
Under Secretary
Shane also highlighted the intermodal nature of SAFETEA.
“I am proud to say that addressing bottlenecks in freight and
goods movement is a high priority for this Administration and our proposal will
include several provisions designed to accomplish this.”
Under Secretary
Shane added, “Our proposal calls for states to set aside at least 2
percent of their National Highway System (NHS) funding to ensure that critical
connectors to ports and other intermodal facilities are improved and adequately
maintained. The Administration is
also proposing to expand innovative finance tools to leverage more federal
dollars and encourage private sector participation in the construction of
intermodal facilities, including expanding private activity bonds to cover
highways and surface freight transfer facilities, and lowering the threshold and
expanding eligibility under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and
Innovation Act of 1998 (TIFIA) to include private freight rail projects.”
Under Secretary
Shane concluded, “We recognize the importance of freight and goods
movement to our economy and want to work with you to ensure that federal
programs meet your needs.”
If enacted, SAFETEA will consolidate and expand federal safety programs, create jobs, sustain economic growth, reduce congestion, minimize project delays, empower local decision makers by increasing funding flexibility, increase environmental stewardship and protections, and increase transit efficiency for a more seamless transportation network.
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