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REMARKS FOR
THE HONORABLE MARY PETERS
SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION
MORE THAN EISENHOWER EVER
DREAMED:
A NEW VISION FOR TRANSPORTATION IN AMERICA
DETROIT ECONOMIC CLUB
DETROIT, MI
MAY 5, 2008
NOON
Good afternoon.
I want to thank Tom Dekar for that wonderful introduction. As we approach National Transportation Week, I appreciate the Detroit Economic Club bringing this group together to talk about the transportation challenges created by increased traffic volumes, outdated funding mechanisms that don’t match our 21st Century needs, and, of course, high gas prices.
And I am absolutely delighted to have so many young people in the audience, because what we are really talking about is the future – your future.
We can live in a time when traffic actually flows along the Lodge and the Mixing Bowl during rush hour. We can live in a time when transportation projects are built that actually address the needs of automakers in Detroit and steel manufacturers in Jackson.
And we can live in a time when commuters aren’t afraid of their commutes, businesses aren’t hamstrung by delivery delays, and shippers aren’t sidelined by traffic tie-ups.
All we need is the political courage to embrace a new way forward in our approach to transportation infrastructure.
Transportation in America today is ripe for the kind of transformation that Henry Ford, Ransom Olds, Walter Chrysler and the Dodge brothers led when they built a new industry – and a great city – by making the automobile a mainstay of American mobility and freedom.
President Eisenhower ignited a similar transformation half a century later. He had the courage and the vision to propose and begin the construction of a national Interstate Highway System that would provide a high-quality, interconnected road network for Detroit’s autos and revolutionize our economy and way of life.
The program Ike created in the 1950s was well-defined, and well-suited to its time. The goal was clear: build the Interstate and connect the country – and we did.
Since that task was accomplished more than a quarter of a century ago, however, our federal surface transportation program has lost its sense of direction. It has become a breeding ground for earmarks and burdened by a proliferation of special interest programs, goals, and requirements.
When I began working at the Arizona Department of Transportation in the 1980s, we dealt with only a handful of such programs. Today, states must navigate more than 108 different programs administered by five different agencies within the Department of Transportation.
The failings of the current system are clear. Traffic congestion has increased by more than 300 percent in the past 25 years while billions of dollars are wasted on bridges to nowhere and roads that carry a tiny fraction of the traffic that M-59 handles.
The system we are operating today is very efficient at giving out money for lighthouses and museums, but wildly inefficient at delivering results that actually reduce traffic or improve commutes. Detroit feels the impact more than most, as poorly performing highways make driving less enjoyable and less reliable as a form of travel.
There is no greater symptom of the failure of our current policies than the fact that public confidence in our transportation policies has collapsed. Americans in every corner of the country are deeply skeptical that raising taxes will do anything to improve their day-to-day commutes or the productivity of their businesses. So am I.
As family budgets strain under the burden of record gasoline prices, it is increasingly clear that fuel taxes are not only ineffective but also wildly unpopular.
There is a further disconnect between gas tax increases and the aggressive new CAFE standards we announced last month.
I want to thank the automakers for their support and willingness to help make this ambitious but achievable plan succeed. Together, we are accomplishing important national goals – cutting fuel consumption by nearly 55 billion gallons, reducing tailpipe emissions, and saving America’s drivers over $100 billion in fuel costs over the lifetime of the cars and light trucks covered by the new rule.
So I do not have to tell anyone in this room that increasing dependence on gas taxes to fund infrastructure makes zero sense when Detroit and other automakers are working so hard to make more efficient cars every year. Leave it to Congress to get its signals crossed and call for greater fuel economy on the one hand while simultaneously calling for higher taxes on a product whose consumption we are trying to reduce – petroleum.
Thankfully, the coming reauthorization of our surface transportation programs provides an historic opportunity to send these outdated approaches to transportation the way of the Nash and the Edsel.
By retooling our policies for the 21st Century, we can do more to put transportation in the fast lane than Eisenhower ever dreamed possible.
When we try to be all things to all people, we risk being nothing to anyone. So the first step is to eliminate the earmarks and set-asides and refocus on the areas of greatest federal interest today: 1) transportation safety; 2) the Interstate Highway System and other nationally significant corridors; and 3) mobility in metropolitan areas.
We have taken ownership of safety, and we have made measurable progress in reducing traffic fatalities. Here in Michigan, the number of deaths is down 25 percent compared to 10 years ago, and severe injuries have been cut in half. The safety features automakers have added have been a big help.
But with over 42,000 deaths on America’s roads every year, we still have unfinished business. Using a data-driven approach, we must continue to focus on stubborn issues that put drivers, passengers, and pedestrians at risk – including crashes involving drunk drivers, motorcycles, and rural roads.
The federal government should similarly take ownership of improving and maintaining the condition and performance of the Interstate Highway system and other major corridors.
Roughly one-quarter of all highway miles traveled in the U.S. takes place on the Interstate system. These are the roads Detroit’s businesses depend upon to deliver their products to markets across the country and around the world. We must keep them in good condition and operating at peak efficiency.
Finally, we have a congestion problem in Detroit and other metropolitan areas that demands immediate and strong federal focus.
There are technologies and models that can provide almost immediate relief, if we are willing to use them. They also give state and local leaders the opportunity to cut the vast array of indirect taxes going into transportation.
We have seen
through the Urban Partnership Agreements the Department negotiated last
year how relatively small amounts of federal incentive funding can serve as an
important catalyst for strategies to fight congestion through innovative
combinations of technology, open-road electronic tolling, and transit.
Much as we did with welfare reform in the 1990s, it is time for transportation reform that encourages innovation, rather than stifling it; that integrates approaches, rather than stove-piping them; and that cuts through red tape to focus on outcomes. Process requirements that are not producing outcomes are not worth keeping.
Neither are funding approaches that are out of step with modern financing and national goals.
The federal government’s role in transportation should not be simply to hand out the cash; it must instead encourage new investment, stimulate new innovation, and produce real results.
Sadly, under our traditional approach, federal dollars too often diminish other investments, instead of encouraging more. If we shape our programs right, every dollar we spend can bring three-to-four additional dollars to the table by states, localities, and especially the private sector.
A growing line of innovative public-private infrastructure partnerships already are being developed in the U.S. and around the globe to finance and accelerate major projects. Over 20 major PPP projects are at various stages of procurement right now in the United States.
Just this past December, we helped Virginia close an extremely creative transaction to widen one of the most congested highways in America – the Capital Beltway – using private financing and state-of-the-art variable electronic tolls.
There is no reason why Michigan could not be next on this list, provided that Lansing approves the legislation necessary to allow you to tap into the estimated $400 billion in private-sector capital available for investment in our nation’s transportation infrastructure. We can sit by and let that massive amount of private-sector funding be invested in China, Europe, and South America – as it is today - or we can see those dollars invested in the U.S. It is that simple.
In fact, we can use revenue generated from private sources to unleash the greatest new wave of transportation investment this country has ever seen – not the greatest new wave of gas tax hikes. And we can do it right now.
Communities in Southeast Michigan don’t have to watch helplessly as gridlock puts the brakes on the economy of the Motor City.
You don’t have to live with lengthening commutes and worry that traffic tie-ups will spoil vacations and cut hours off of weekends at the lake.
And you don’t have to come hat-in-hand to Washington to beg for transportation dollars or put major improvements like I-94 rehabilitation on the back burner because of lack of funds.
America’s transportation system can be better, and I am asking you to work with me to make that happen. Over the next few months, we will be unveiling more of the details of our proposals to create a coherent federal role, encourage a wise investment strategy, and deliver a higher level of performance for the American people.
We cannot afford to squander this opportunity to give America the modern transportation policy it deserves. Thank you. And now I would be happy to take a few questions.
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