FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, April 9, 2001
Contact: Bill Mosley
Tel.: (202) 366-5571
DOT 33-01
Fiscal 2002 DOT Budget Addresses Safety, Capacity Challenges
U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta today said that President Bush’s proposed fiscal 2002 budget for the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) will address the need to enhance mobility and transportation safety while preserving the environment and strengthening national security.
“The United States enjoys what I believe is the safest and the best transportation system in the world. However, we face safety and capacity challenges,” Secretary Mineta said. “The funding requested in the 2002 budget will help us to address those challenges and save lives, relieve congestion, reduce environmental impacts, and provide greater mobility for all Americans.”
The $59.5 billion budget represents a 6 percent increase over fiscal 2001 when last year’s one-time projects, which total over $2.8 billion, are subtracted, Secretary Mineta said.
The budget includes full funding for highway and transit guarantees under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), with highway funding increased by 6 percent from 2001 and transit up by nearly 8 percent. Funding for programs under the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR-21) would enjoy a 6 percent increase.
In addition, the budget includes $521 million for Amtrak capital programs, and $145 million for the President’s New Freedom Initiative to ensure transportation alternatives for people with disabilities.
Secretary Mineta stressed that safety is the department’s number one priority, and that the budget includes over $7 billion for safety programs, including a total of $400 million to reduce motor carrier fatalities. The proposed budget includes an increased investment of $88 million for state and federal enforcement activities and inspection infrastructure to support opening the southern border.
The budget funds activities to implement the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation (TREAD) Act, which requires updating tire safety standards, increasing crash data collection, developing dynamic rollover tests and improving the safety of child restraints.
In an effort to reach the goal of an 80 percent reduction in fatal U.S. aviation accidents by 2007, aviation safety funding would increase 4 percent to over $4 billion, including $112 million -- up 13 percent from 2001 -- to prevent runway incursions.
Funding for rail safety programs would increase 9 percent to $154 million, the U.S. Coast Guard’s search and rescue programs 12 percent to over $1 billion, and pipeline safety 15 percent to $54 million.
The budget provides resources to ease transportation congestion, which is caused by the gap between demand for transportation and the capacity of transportation infrastructure. Total investment in transportation infrastructure would reach almost $43 billion in 2002, up 39 percent from the average annual investment between 1994 and 2001. A total of $2.9 billion is proposed for aviation capital modernization, including funding for delay reduction initiatives such as better weather systems and improved automation aids. In addition, the budget includes $253 million for Intelligent Transportation Systems, up 32 percent.
A total of $6.6 billion is proposed to lessen the environmental effects of transportation, including the Coast Guard’s response to oil spills and the Maritime Administration’s disposal of obsolete vessels.
DOT’s critical role in national security is enhanced by the budget proposal. In support of the President’s drug control strategy, funding for the Coast Guard’s drug law enforcement activities increases 19 percent to $759 million.
DOT’s FY 2002 Budget in Brief is available via the Internet at http://ostpxweb.dot.gov/budget/FY02BiB1.pdf.