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U.S. Department of Transportation
2007 Budget in Brief

Safety
Mobility
Global Connectivity
Environmental Stewardship
Security
President’s Management Agenda — Organizational Excellence

Introduction

The American people deserve a safe, secure, and efficient transportation system. The quality of our lives, the shape of our communities, and the productivity of our Nation's economy depend on the Department of Transportation's (DOT) success in fulfilling these goals.

Established in 1967, DOT sets Federal transportation policy and works with State, local, and private sector partners to promote a safe, secure, efficient, and interconnected national transportation system of roads, railways, pipelines, airways, and waterways. DOT's overall objective of creating a safer, simpler, and smarter transportation program is the guiding principle as we move forward to achieve specific goals.

The FY 2007 budget request for the Department of Transportation totals $65.6 billion in appropriations, obligation limitations, user fees, and exempt obligations. The Department's five key strategic objectives are to: (1) improve safety; (2) increase mobility for all Americans; (3) increase global transportation connectivity in support of the Nation's economy; (4) protect the environment; and (5) support national security. These five objectives, along with furthering the goals outlined in the President's Management Agenda through organizational excellence, form the foundation for the FY 2007 budget request.

Safety

Transportation safety is the Department of Transportation's (DOT's) top strategic priority. Because the human toll and economic cost of transportation accidents are massive, sustaining continuous progress in improving transportation safety is the first objective of all DOT operations. Evaluations using the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) support DOT's decision to retain safety as the number one strategic objective and form the foundation for much of this resource request.

The FY 2007 budget request proposes overall transportation safety funding of $15.9 billion. This request will fund the aviation and surface transportation safety programs and initiatives of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA).

Surface Transportation Safety

All told, it is estimated that 42,643 people died on the Nation's highways in 2005, down from 42,884 in 2003. The economic cost of motor vehicle crashes is estimated to be more than $230 billion annually. Within DOT, FMCSA and NHTSA are the two operating administrations primarily focused on regulating highway safety, with FHWA supporting highway safety through its infrastructure programs. Almost exclusively, FRA's focus is on improving the railroad safety record, and PHMSA's focus is on hazardous material (hazmat) and pipeline safety.

• Improve Motor Vehicle and Driver Safety. The fatality rate per 100 million vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) was 1.44 in 2004, down from 1.48 in 2003. Early estimates for 2005 show a further improvement in the highway fatality rate, dropping to 1.43. The fatality rate has been steadily improving since 1985 when 43,825 people died and the rate was 2.47. In 2004, VMT increased to 2.963 trillion, up from 2.89 trillion in 2003.A PART review of NHTSA's operations and research program indicated that steady progress has been made in reducing highway fatalities, which is evidenced by the 2004 statistics. While progress has been made, NHTSA will continue to focus on two significant areas to further reduce the overall highway fatality rate to 1.0 per 100 million vehicle-miles traveled by 2008: (1) increasing safety belt usage from 69 percent in 1998 to 83 percent in 2007, depending on how many additional States pass primary safety belt laws; and (2) reducing the rate of fatalities in high blood alcohol concentration (BAC 0.08 or above) crashes per 100 million vehicle-miles traveled from 0.61 in 1996 to 0.49 in 2007. The FY 2007 budget request includes $231 million for NHTSA safety operations and research programs, and $584 million for grants to States for targeted highway safety programs to counter drugged and drunk driving and to enforce safety belt use.

• Safer and Smarter Highway and Intersection Infrastructure. FHWA's FY 2007 safety request of $4.7 billion continues the Administration's policy of providing increased flexibility in safety funding to the States to tailor their resources to address unique factors that impact highway safety, such as highway design and operation. These funds also enable FHWA to increase its research focus on safety and concentrate efforts on reducing the number of fatalities in three types of crashes: roadway departures, crashes at or near intersections, and collisions involving pedestrians. Roadway departures, including run off-the-road and head-on crashes, accounted for 24,848 fatalities in 2005, a 3.2 percent decrease from 2004. Safer and smarter highway and intersection design and operation will remove roadside hazards and help keep vehicles on the roadway. A total of 8,847 fatal crashes occurred in 2005 between vehicles in collisions at intersections, a decrease of 3 percent from 2004. FHWA will continue to promote the use of comprehensive intersection design and operational tools and enforcement strategies, and will assist States in improving intersection safety problems at specific locations. Pedestrian deaths declined 2.8 percent from 4,774 in 2003 to 4,641 in FY 2004.FHWA will continue to target crash causes in major urban areas and select rural locations and facilitated community-based programs that fully and safely accommodate pedestrians.

• Improve Motor Carrier Safety. An FY 2005 PART review for FMCSA's safety grant program indicated that steady progress has been made in reducing truck-related fatalities. Further, the FY 2006 PART review for FMCSA's safety and operations programs found that FMCSA has continued to achieve reductions in the rate of fatalities involving large trucks. Preliminary data show that the large truck-related fatality rate in 2004 was 2.29 fatalities per 100 million truck vehicle-miles traveled (TVMT), which is 16 percent lower than the baseline rate of 2.81 fatalities per 100 million TVMT, established in 1996. When reviewed on a state level, some areas have achieved or exceeded the goal for reducing fatalities to a rate of no more than 1.65 fatalities per 100 million TVMT. Further, FMCSA's progress in reducing injuries in crashes involving trucks continues to be very significant. A preliminary estimate of 2004 truck-related injuries -116,000 - represents a 5 percent decrease from 2003. The large truck injury rate of 51 per 100 million truck-miles is at the lowest level since injury data have been collected. Aggressive enforcement, FMCSA's primary safety strategy, has proven effective in reducing crashes, fatalities, hazardous materials releases, and injuries. Consistent with the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), the budget request of $521 million includes $223 million for Motor Carrier Safety Operations and Programs to support critical motor carrier program activities to reduce crashes, save lives, and prevent injuries on our Nation's highways. The request also includes $298 million for Motor Carrier Safety Grants to maintain aggressive State enforcement of interstate commercial truck and bus regulations as part of a Federal-State partnership aimed at meeting the Department's strategic goals and performance targets.

• Improve Railroad Safety. An FY 2005 PART review of FRA's rail safety program showed that this program is well managed, and making good progress in achieving rail safety goals. The FY 2006 PART review of FRA's Research and Development program, with goals that also support safety, furthered these findings. The FY 2007 budget request for FRA safety includes $181.6 million to support FRA's efforts to reduce rail-related accidents and incidents to 16.70 per million train-miles in FY 2007. By reducing accidents and incidents, there should also be a relative reduction in fatalities, injuries, and serious rail hazardous materials incidents.

• Improve Transit Safety. Public transit is one of the safest modes of transportation, with less than 1 fatality per 100 million passenger-miles traveled. The challenge is to further reduce the rate of fatalities and injuries, even as the total number of people using transit increases. To help meet this challenge, the President's budget requests more than $13.8 million for FTA safety oversight, research projects, and associated administrative costs. These funds will also contribute to reducing the rate of transit-related injuries and incidents.

• Improve Pipeline and Hazmat Safety. An FY 2005 PART review of PHMSA's hazardous materials safety grant assistance program showed that this program is well-managed and making progress in achieving hazardous materials safety goals. Similarly, the FY 2006 PART review for PHMSA's pipeline safety program found that the program is effectively managed. In FY 2007, $120.8 million is requested for PHMSA to support efforts to reduce the number of natural gas and hazardous liquid pipeline incidents to 362 in FY 2007, and for PHMSA's share of the overall DOT performance target of achieving no more than 466 serious hazardous materials transportation incidents in FY 2007.

• Alternative Fuels For FY 2007, $0.4 million is requested for RITA to continue its efforts, in concert with the Department of Energy and other partners, to design safe handling, transport and storage guidelines for hydrogen fuels that will enable the development of a deployable hydrogen fuel infrastructure. Included in this safety effort is the education of emergency responders for safe handling of hydrogen fuel incidents.

Aviation Safety

• Improve Aviation Safety. This is one of the safest periods in commercial aviation history. In FY 2005, for the second year in a row, FAA achieved the lowest three-year average commercial air carrier fatal accident rate in history, with a result of 0.017 accidents per 100,000 departures. Since the last fatal jet airliner accident involving passengers in November 2001, more than two billion passengers have safely reached their destination. In FY 2007, FAA will continue working to reduce the precursors of aircraft accidents in response to the recommendations in a PART review of Air Traffic Services conducted in FY 2003, and to the Office of Inspector General's (OIG's) Aviation Safety Management Challenge for FY 2006. In FY 2005, for the fourth year in a row, serious runway incursions decreased. To better map movements on the ground and in the air, the agency plans to deploy Airport Surface Detection Equipment Model X systems at 14 airports between FY 2006 and FY 2009. FAA did not meet its target to reduce operational errors. Initiatives are underway to better understand the causes of these incidents, and to improve training, certification, and procedures for air traffic controllers, pilots and ground personnel. General aviation safety remains a concern as well. Fatal accidents increased to 350 in FY 2005, seven more than FAA's target. Programs are in place to better educate the pilot community and to deploy new technology.

  The FY 2007 budget request for FAA includes $9.6 billion to reduce U.S. commercial air carrier fatal accidents to 0.010 per 100,000 departures in FY 2007, and to reduce all general aviation fatal accidents for an annual target of 331 in FY 2007. The request also supports FAA's efforts to reduce the most serious runway incursions to a rate of 0.53 per million operations, and to reduce the most serious operational errors to a rate of 4.20 per million activities. It provides funding for inspecting aircraft, certifying new equipment, and ensuring the safety of flight procedures and the competence of airmen and women. It also includes funding for additional air traffic controllers to prepare for the projected surge in retirements over the next decade, and to ensure that adequate staffing is available and fully trained to perform this critical safety function.

DOT's Safety Performance Budget is distributed as follows:

Mobility

The President's budget request includes $44 billion in FY 2007 to continue improvements in transportation mobility. Mobility is essential to America's economic prosperity and quality of life. In today's global economy, it is more important than ever to have seamless transitions among the modes of transportation so that people and cargo can move effectively and efficiently.

On August 10, 2005, the President signed into law SAFETEA-LU which represents the largest surface transportation investment in our Nation's history. The two landmark bills that brought surface transportation into the 21st century - the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) and the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) - shaped the highway and transit programs to meet the Nation's changing transportation needs. SAFETEA-LU builds on this firm foundation, supplying the funds and refining the programmatic framework for investments needed to maintain and grow our vital transportation infrastructure.

SAFETEA-LU addresses the many challenges facing our transportation system today - challenges such as improving safety, reducing traffic congestion, improving efficiency in freight movement, increasing intermodal connectivity, and protecting the environment - as well as laying the groundwork for addressing future challenges. SAFETEA-LU promotes more efficient and effective Federal surface transportation programs by focusing on transportation issues of national significance, while giving state and local transportation decision makers more flexibility for solving transportation problems in their communities.

SAFETEA-LU continues a strong fundamental core formula program emphasis coupled with targeted investment, featuring Safety, Equity, Innovative Finance, Congestion Relief, Mobility & Productivity, Environmental Stewardship, and Environmental Streamlining.

The search for new and innovative solutions to our mobility challenges is strongly supported in the FY 2007 budget request with overall investment in research, development, and technology proposed at $1.1 billion.

Surface Mobility

• Improve Highway Infrastructure Condition and Relieve Congestion. FY 2004 and FY 2005 PART reviews for the Federal-aid Highway infrastructure program and the Federal Lands Highway program, respectively, affirm that these programs effectively support States in maintaining the good condition of highway infrastructure and ensuring that there is sufficient capacity and access to transportation to move people and goods.
  
  Consistent with SAFETEA-LU, the FY 2007 budget request of $31.5 billion for FHWA mobility programs continues to improve highway infrastructure conditions and relieve congestion. The requested funds will improve pavement conditions on the National Highway System (NHS) and thus increase to 57 percent in FY 2007 the share of travel on the NHS that meets pavement performance standards for a "good"-rated ride. Additional funding will be used to limit the growth in total annual urban-area road travel that occurs in congested conditions. The goal in FY 2007 is to slow the annual rate of increase below a projected 0.7 percent. Within the mobility budget request are funds for an infrastructure performance and maintenance initiative, which targets "ready-to-go" highway projects that address traffic bottlenecks and improve infrastructure conditions. The NHS is comprised of the most important national routes for trade and commerce, including all Interstates and over 68 percent of other principal arterials. While the NHS accounts for only 4.1 percent of total road mileage in the United States, it handles 44.3 percent of total vehicle-miles traveled. Improving the condition of highways and bridges is critical to transportation mobility and key indicators of system performance. Consequently, the condition of the NHS significantly impacts congestion, wear-and-tear on vehicles and fuel consumption.

• Restructure Intercity Passenger Rail Service. The Administration called for real reform of Amtrak and intercity passenger rail in its FY 2006 budget. The Administration's efforts to reform Amtrak and fundamentally change the manner by which intercity passenger rail services are provided are beginning to show progress. This last year the Amtrak Board of Directors committed to ambitious reform improvements; a new management team is being put in place with a mandate to reshape the company; and Congress provided tools that will enable DOT to oversee and promote necessary changes. Nevertheless, much more action is required to remedy Amtrak’s entrenched and well-document problems. The FY 2007 Budget proposes a Federal subsidy of $900 million for Amtrak, primarily for capital and transitional assistance. This amount would support continued intercity passenger rail service, but would also require that Amtrak undertake meaningful reforms and control spending.

• Increase Transit Ridership and Improve Access to Transportation Services. FY 2005 and FY 2006 PART reviews for the capital investment (New Starts) and formula transit grant programs affirm that these programs are well managed and effective in meeting the demand for transit in communities nationwide. FTA requires all New Starts projects to conduct a rigorous "Before and After Study" to document the impact of the project on ridership and other performance indicators. In communities that have completed New Starts projects, significant regional transit ridership growth has been demonstrated after the beginning of revenue operations.
  
  Consistent with SAFETEA-LU, the Department of Transportation is requesting more than $8.4 billion for FTA to: increase by at least 1 percent the average yearly number of transit boardings per transit market adjusted for changes in employment; increase in FY 2007 the number of employment sites made accessible by Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) transportation services; maintain the proportion of bus fleets that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) at 97 percent in FY 2007; and increase to 93 percent in FY 2007 the proportion of key rail stations that are ADA-compliant. Transit formula programs are essential to maintaining and upgrading the condition and performance of the Nation's transit infrastructure so that America's transit systems continue to move millions of people safely and efficiently every day, thereby reducing congestion, facilitating economic development, and connecting people to their jobs and communities. Transit ridership during fiscal year 2005 increased by 1.4 percent compared to last year - more than double the increase in fiscal year 2004. This equates to an increase in the number of transit boardings nationwide by 126 million riders. Consistent with the national commitment to improve coordination and access to specialized transportation, the President signed Executive Order 13330 on Human Service Transportation Coordination in February 2004 to improve human service transportation coordination for individuals with disabilities, older adults, and people with lower incomes. The Executive Order established the Interagency Transportation Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility (CCAM), chaired by Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta, that includes 11 Federal Departments, representing 62 Federal programs that support transportation for people with disabilities, older adults, and individuals with lower incomes. This past year, the Council released a report to the President, "United We Ride", which includes a comprehensive action plan and five overarching recommendations related to: 1) coordinated planning; 2) vehicle sharing; 3) cost sharing; 4) reporting and evaluation; and 5) demonstration projects. The Council is currently working on transportation related issues for emergency preparedness for the targeted populations as a result of the 2005 Hurricane events.

Aviation Mobility

The aviation industry is responsible for moving people and products, and it contributes approximately $900 billion to our economy. Over two million people a day travel on our Nation's airlines and more than one-third of the value of all goods is moved by air. Air travel returned to pre-9/11 levels in FY 2005, and is on track to reach more than one billion passengers by 2015. By FY 2007, air carrier, commuter, and air taxi operations are anticipated to increase approximately 12 percent from FY 2004. We cannot afford to reduce our commitment to investing in the Nation's air traffic control system and our airports.

• Improve Access to Transportation Service. To allow Americans living in rural areas to have reasonable access to air travel, the Department of Transportation’s FY 2007 budget request assumes that $50 million of overflight fees collected by the FAA will fund a program managed by the Office of the Secretary to make payments to air carriers serving rural airports.

• Improve On-Time Flight Arrival Performance. To achieve an on-time arrival rate of 87.4 percent of flights in FY 2007, the President's budget requests $3.1 billion, primarily for FAA Facilities and Equipment (F&E) and Airport Improvement Grants. This includes F&E funds to replace obsolete radars and to continue automating terminal control facilities, and $31.7 million for oceanic automation to improve flight route flexibility. Programs that will form the core of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) are also funded, including $24 million to develop an internet-like System-Wide Information Management network, and $80 million to begin implementing Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast technology throughout the National Airspace System. The Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO), a multi-agency task force assembled to address future capacity needs, is charged with overseeing the NGATS project. $18 million is included in FY 2007 Research, Engineering and Development (RE&D) funding to support the JPDO. The FY 2007 Airport Improvement Program request includes $976 million aimed at enhancing capacity, largely through the building and maintaining of runways. OMB's FY 2004 PART review for the Airport Improvement Grants program affirmed that this program is well managed and effective in providing support to airport authorities for moving people and goods.

DOT's Mobility Performance Budget is distributed as follows:

Global Connectivity

The U.S. and global transportation systems are inextricably linked to the Nation's economic growth. Transportation is a key economic and productivity enabler, connecting people with work, school, and community services, and connecting American enterprise with domestic and global markets. The U.S. transportation system handles about 5 trillion passenger-miles of travel and 4.4 trillion ton-miles of freight every year - generated by more than 293 million people and 7.2 million businesses.

An intermodal domestic and international approach is central to DOT's role in promoting global connectivity. For the freight industry, efficient connections between transportation modes, and efficient transport within each mode, are essential to the competitive position of U.S. products in global markets. Increasing foreign trade requires transportation system capacity around our ports and borders. The U.S. freight system currently carries about 19 billion tons of cargo each year that has a value of $13 trillion, and forecasts suggest a 70 percent increase in tonnage of general cargo and international trade movements, and a tripling of freight by value by 2020.

Our strategies to address transportation in the global economy have two synergistic thrusts: (1) opening international transportation markets; and (2) the improvement of essential, intermodal transportation linkages. Both are needed to achieve the outcomes that will yield better global connectivity and a more competitive, cost-effective transportation marketplace. The FY 2007 budget request includes $219 million to meet this challenge.

Reduced barriers to trade in transportation goods and services, and enhanced international competitiveness of U.S. transport providers and manufacturers

• Increase International Aviation Service. The 2007 budget requests $6.3 million for the Office of the Secretary to increase opportunities for air transportation consumers traveling in international markets by expanding open skies and open transborder aviation agreements. The domestic airline industry continues to undergo major changes, and international deregulation, which poses even more complex and controversial issues, is barely underway. Common to all of the aviation issues currently facing DOT is the need for in-depth and intensive analysis of airline practices, mergers, and international alliances. As the United States moves towards a multilateral approach to air service agreements, the Department of Transportation is seeking an understanding of the long-term trends in the airline industry's operating and competitive structures in order to formulate and execute effective negotiating strategies that will ensure pro-competitive liberalization.

• Preserve and Expand International Cargo Carrying Opportunities for U.S.-Flag Vessels. The budget request includes $13 million for maritime programs that preserve and enhance our maritime connections with the global marketplace. The budget request will allow MARAD to ensure that Federal agencies and other shippers of government-funded cargoes comply with cargo preference laws designed to assure appropriate use of U.S.-flag ships to transport abroad certain government funded cargoes. MARAD also continues its efforts to reduce and eliminate international trade barriers that impede the competitiveness of U.S. shipping companies in the international market, and to license additional offshore, deepwater entry points for liquid natural gas and petroleum imports.

• Increase U.S. mass transportation industry access to international markets. The budget includes $0.9 million for the FTA to promote human capacity building in developing countries, which not only benefits those countries, but also helps develop future markets for U.S. transit goods and services. In FY 2007, the FTA will continue to carry out activities to inform and educate the American public transportation industry about international best practices and technologies. Also, the FTA will provide participating companies unparalleled access to senior decision-makers in foreign markets through our trade missions and other trade-related events.

Efficient movement of cargo throughout the domestic and international supply chain

• Increase Freight Travel Efficiency. Consistent with Secretary Mineta's Freight Action Plan, the budget request includes funding of $133.8 million in FY 2007 for FHWA, RITA, FMCSA and the Office of the Secretary to improve global connectivity in freight, reduce travel time in major freight corridors, and reduce border-crossing delays. FHWA programs include the border and corridor programs, which work together to reduce bottlenecks in and around seaports and land borders with Canada and Mexico, and parts of the Intelligent Transportation Systems program for improved freight technology, efficiency, and security. This request also includes funds being requested by FHWA and RITA to improve the quality and availability of freight data, freight professional capacity-building efforts, and freight technology development and evaluation.

• Maintain a High Level of Seaway System Availability. The FY 2007 budget request includes $17.3 million for the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC) to maintain 99 percent system and lock availability in the U.S. portion of the St. Lawrence Seaway during the navigation season. The SLSDC achieved its goal in FY 2005 at 99.7 percent system availability. In FY 2007, the agency will continue to perform operations, maintenance, and capital infrastructure improvements on the U.S. portion of the St. Lawrence Seaway between Montreal and Lake Erie to ensure the reliability and availability of the commercial waterborne route.

Harmonized and standardized regulatory and facilitation requirements

• Increase the Standardization and Harmonization of Transportation Standards and Practices. The Department of Transportation is requesting $38.5 million in FY 2007 for FAA and the Office of the Secretary to increase the number of bilateral and multilateral agreements that promote aviation safety by enhancing international cooperation and efficiency in civil aviation. FAA will continue to promote increased external funding for training and technical assistance programs that help civil aviation authorities around the world meet international safety standards. FAA will also continue to work with its international partners and the International Civil Aviation Organization to harmonize global technological standards, and to expand the use of global satellite navigation systems.

Achieve the most competitive, cost-effective, and efficient environment for passenger travel

• Improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of passenger travel. The budget includes $5.2 million for the Office of the Secretary to promote the opening of transportation markets to competition through multilateral or regional agreements in FY 2007.

Expanded opportunities for all businesses, especially women-owned and disadvantaged businesses

• Increase Opportunities for Small Disadvantaged (SDB) and Women-Owned Businesses (WOB). The budget request includes $5.1 million for outreach and technical assistance to small businesses in general, including disadvantaged and women-owned businesses. These resources will promote the awarding of DOT direct contracts to both SDB and WOBs in FY 2007. WOBs do not have a special set-aside authority allowing them to compete in a restricted market for Federal procurements. Therefore, WOBs must successfully compete with other small businesses for small business set-aside procurements or with all businesses for full and open procurements. To assist WOBs to successfully compete, DOT and the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) conduct outreach, training and offer financial assistance.

DOT's Global Connectivity Performance Budget is distributed as follows:

Environmental Stewardship

Safe and efficient transportation makes our communities more livable, enhancing the quality of our lives and our society. At the same time, transportation generates pollution and noise, and uses valuable land and aquatic habitat on which fisheries depend. In 2002, on-road transportation sources accounted for 55 percent of carbon monoxide emissions, 35 percent of nitrogen oxide emissions, 27 percent of volatile organic compound emissions, and 1 percent of particulate matter emissions. Total on-road mobile source emissions declined from 112 million tons in 1993 to 74 million tons in 2002, marking a 33 percent improvement in a decade. No matter how much is done to improve the capacity and efficiency of our transportation system, we cannot consider our programs to be successful unless we also manage the effects of transportation on our environment and our quality of life.

DOT's objective is to reduce the time it takes to gain benefits from transportation projects while minimizing negative environmental impacts. The FY 2007 budget request includes $4.2 billion in funding to continue progress in achieving our environmental outcomes. This will require further streamlining of the environmental review process and greater emphasis on program level and major-project oversight activities in conjunction with the Federal, State and local agencies involved.

Reduce pollution and other adverse environmental effects of transportation

• Reduce the Impacts of Transportation on Wetlands and Ecosystems. The budget requests includes $136.1 million for FHWA in FY 2007 to increase the number of Exemplary Ecosystem Initiatives (EEIs) undertaken to at least 30. An EEI is an action or measure that will help sustain or restore natural systems and their functions and values, using an ecosystem or landscape context. Examples include mitigation projects that support wildlife movement and habitat connectivity, the development of watershed-based environmental assessment and mitigation approaches, the use of wetland banking, and the use of special measures to prevent invasive species along highway right-of-ways.
  
  FHWA will support activities in the States to improve highway planning and project development, thereby enhancing the scenic beauty of facilities, promoting native habitat conservation, protecting wildlife populations, and reducing impacts on land and water resources in general. Funds will also be used for research, technical assistance, and public education initiatives to support further implementation of exemplary ecosystem and habitat conservation initiatives.

• Reduce Emissions. The President's budget request includes funding of $1.9 billion in FY 2007 for FHWA, FRA, FTA, OST, and MARAD for environmental programs that help to reduce emissions. One of DOT's performance goals for FHWA and FTA is to ensure that the 12month moving average of the number of areas with transportation emissions conformity lapses in FY 2007 is no greater than six. DOT aims to reduce mobile source emissions by encouraging the use of less polluting transportation; designing and implementing infrastructure that reduces congestion and emissions; researching and modeling the emissions impacts of investment choices; and supporting the development of fuel- and emission-efficient vehicles. FHWA and FTA will fund improvement projects in States to ease congestion, reduce emissions, improve highway planning, and expand transportation options. Funds will also be used for research, technical assistance, and public education initiatives to improve air quality. In 2006, MARAD will implement an Environmental Management System and continue to work to mitigate air quality problems and evaluate ballast water treatment technologies.

• Reduce Pipeline Spills. The budget request includes $24.2 million in FY 2007 for PHMSA to ensure that the amount of hazardous liquid materials spilled per million ton-miles shipped by pipelines in FY 2007 is no greater than 0.0057 tons. To reduce pipeline failures, thereby reducing hazardous liquids spills from pipelines, PHMSA reviews the compliance of large hazardous liquid pipeline operators subject to PHMSA's Integrity Management Program (IMP). PHMSA will increase IMP reviews to 75 percent of pipeline miles operated by the Nation's 65 largest hazardous liquid pipeline operators, accelerate integrity testing, comprehensively evaluate all pipeline risks, and strengthen Federal and State pipeline safety oversight. Testing, evaluation, and repair will result in finding and solving problems before they lead to failures, thereby directly supporting the goal of reducing spills. These initiatives support the National Energy Policy for energy infrastructure growth by improving the integrity of, and public confidence in, existing pipeline infrastructure.

• Limit Exposure to Aviation Noise. The budget request includes $298 million for FAA in FY 2007 to ensure that the number of people in the United States who are exposed to significant aircraft noise levels a Day/Night Average Sound Level (DNL) of 65 decibels or more continues to decline. FAA will address the environmental impacts of airport projects, primarily aircraft noise. FAA will also provide expertise and funding to assist in abating the impacts of aircraft noise in neighborhoods surrounding airports by purchasing land, relocating persons and businesses, soundproofing residential homes or buildings used for educational and medical purposes, purchasing noise barriers and monitors, and researching new noise prediction and abatement models and new technologies.

• Clean Up DOT Facilities. The budget request includes $88.6 million for FAA and MARAD in FY 2007 to ensure that the percentage of DOT facilities categorized as No Further Remedial Action Planned (NFRAP) under the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) is no less than 93 percent in FY 2007. Facility cleanup will comply with the SARA process and the requirements of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan. A "worst first" prioritization system is used to assign higher priority to those facilities representing the greatest potential hazard to the public health and the environment.
  
  Regulatory factors at the local, State, and Federal levels are also considered in the decision-making process. FAA funds pollution prevention; complies with occupational safety, health and environmental regulations; promotes good energy management practices; and conducts environmental impact analyses. In addition, MARAD conducts an obsolete ship disposal program in support of DOT's strategy to improve DOT-owned or controlled facilities. In 2007, MARAD proposes to remove approximately 13 ships from the reserve ship fleet sites for disposal, and to continue pre-decommissioning activities on the Nuclear Ship SAVANNAH radiological remediation project. These pre-decommissioning activities include: development and solicitation of the industrial decommissioning and disposal contract and continued decommissioning license amendment activities with the Nuclear Regulatory Agency and the public.

Improve timeliness of environmental review for federally funded infrastructure projects

• Improve Project Review Efficiency. The budget request includes $1.7 billion of funding in FY 2007 for FAA and FHWA to streamline the completion of an environmental impact statement or environmental assessment on all infrastructure projects. The overall performance target is to reduce the median time for completing an environmental impact or environmental assessment on all DOT-funded infrastructure projects to 30 months in FY 2007, and to reduce the percentage of Environmental Justice cases that remain unresolved after one year to 35 percent in FY 2007. Executive Order 13274 contains a mandate for DOT to reduce the time required for decision-making for transportation infrastructure projects. Environmental reviews consume a significant amount of time in project review and final decisions. A key challenge to DOT's stewardship of the environment vis-ŕ-vis the Nation's transportation system is to strike a better balance between adding capacity and doing so at the smallest reasonable impact to the human and natural environment. Executive Order 12898 directs each Federal agency to identify and address disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of its programs, policies, and activities on minority and low-income populations. To achieve this objective, DOT operates under existing authorities, such as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. DOT's Environmental Justice policy incorporates these considerations in all DOT programs, policies, and activities.

DOT's Environmental Stewardship Performance Budget is distributed as follows:

Security

The Department of Transportation is responsible for ensuring that the national transportation system remains operational in the face of natural and man-made disasters. DOT operational emergency management programs have three key facets: emergency preparedness, response, and recovery. Activities in these three facets include domestic and international coordination and planning. For example, DOT is participating in interagency and international planning to mitigate the impact of a pandemic or terrorist event on the security of the national transportation system and the security of the United States. The international planning is with our partners in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Mexico.

In addition, DOT also manages the Civil Reserve Air Fleet program and operates the Ready Reserve Force in support of the Department of Defense's strategic airlift and sealift needs. DOT coordinates with the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, as well as State, local, and tribal governments, and private sector partners, to ensure that DOT's core competencies are used to meet critical transportation needs during any contingency. This involves such tasks as:

• providing transportation to Federal, State and local entities to move resources to a disaster site;
• coordinating DOT's role in select international contingency planning and response initiatives;
• assisting in the design and implementation of alternate transportation services, such as mass transit systems, to replace system capacity temporarily lost to disaster damage; and
• coordinating the clearing and restoration of transportation infrastructure.

Rapid recovery of transportation in all modes from intentional harm and natural disasters

• Increase Overall Resilience of the National Transportation System. The FY 2007 budget requests $253.4 million to improve the overall readiness of the Department to respond to acts of intentional harm and natural disasters and to prepare for a rapid recovery from such events.

• FAA insures the operability of the national airspace through the facilities, equipment and personnel of the air traffic control system, which is essential to the rapid recovery of transportation services in the event of a national crisis. The budget request includes $173 million to continue upgrading and accrediting facilities, procure and implement additional security systems, and upgrade the Command and Control Communications equipment.

• FHWA works with a number of DOT agencies and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its Transportation Security Administration to improve highway-related security by assessing the vulnerability of critical highway infrastructure and developing measures to reduce vulnerability, ensuring State and local highway departments are prepared to respond to attacks on the highway system, improving the readiness of military and civilian authorities to support military deployments, and conducting security-related research. The budget request for FHWA's security activities include funding for research, vulnerability assessments, emergency operations, and preparedness.

• FTA, in coordination with the Transportation Security Administration, works with transit agencies to enhance the security of public transportation systems. By FY 2007, FTA will implement a Memorandum of Understanding with DHS and promulgate a joint rulemaking with DHS to award transit security grants as required in SAFETEA-LU. The Department of Transportation is requesting $42.4 million to ensure that transit agencies address security needs and to provide assistance in the areas of emergency preparedness, employee training, and public awareness.

• DOT's Office of Intelligence, Security, and Emergency Response has primary responsibility for DOT preparedness, response, and recovery programs. This office develops and participates in training and exercise programs to ensure staff are prepared to respond appropriately when a disaster occurs. The Office of Intelligence, Security, and Emergency Response operates a continuity of operations/government program to ensure that essential Secretarial functions can continue at an alternate site if Departmental facilities have been impacted or disrupted. Further, staff in the Department's Crisis Management Center monitor the national transportation system for any type of disruption, provide information to senior management, and operate communications resources to assist DOT in effectively responding to problems in day-to-day operations and emergency response. DOT also contracts for transportation for all of the supplies, equipment, and personnel used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in responding to disasters. The budget request includes $4.4 million for security-related activities of OST to improve DOT's ability to carry out essential national functions at the alternate site and to make improvements to the Crisis Management Center. The goal is to increase the Transportation Capability Assessment for Readiness rating for emergency preparedness from 65 in FY 2005 to 75 in FY 2007.

• FMCSA works in concert with the Transportation Security Administration to establish protocols that will enhance the security of commercial motor vehicle transportation, particularly the security of commercial motor vehicles carrying hazardous materials. The budget request includes approximately $8 million to continue security compliance reviews of hazardous materials carriers and to continue an outreach initiative that communicates threat characteristics and security advice to commercial motor vehicle drivers, carriers and law enforcement agencies.

• The U.S. railroad system carries approximately 40 percent of the ton-miles of freight in the United States, making it imperative that the FRA reduce the vulnerability of the railroad infrastructure and systems to physical and cyber attack. The budget request includes $0.8 million to coordinate all FRA-related security projects in addition to responding to notifications of bomb threats and criminal acts against railroads as they are reported to the National Response Center. Personnel monitor FRA's accident/incident database for reported acts of vandalism, sabotage, criminal mischief, and/or other malicious, intentional acts of destruction. FRA personnel also provide information to railroads regarding terrorist activity and threats or acts against rail transportation.

• The SLSDC is a critical transportation link to and from the agricultural and industrial heartland of the United States. A shutdown of any one of the Seaway's 15 U.S. and Canadian locks due to a security-related event or lock malfunction or failure would stop operations through the St. Lawrence Seaway System and severely disrupt traffic throughout the entire Great Lakes. The budget request includes $0.3 million to continue SLSDC's physical security program around the U.S. Seaway lock facilities.

National Security Contingency Sealift

• Ensure the Availability of Contingency Strategic Sealift. The President's FY 2007 budget request includes $201.3 million to achieve the goal that 94 percent of DOD-required shipping capacity, complete with crews, be available within mobilization timelines in FY 2007; and to maintain 94 percent of DOD-designated commercial ports available for military use within DOD established readiness timelines in FY 2007.

  MARAD works closely with the Department of Defense to provide a seamless, time-phased transition from peacetime to wartime operations, while balancing the defense and commercial elements of the maritime transportation system. MARAD ensures that strategic port facilities are available and ready to move military cargo smoothly through commercial ports during DOD mobilizations. Through the Maritime Security Program, the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement program, the Ready Reserve Force, and the War Risk Insurance program, MARAD assures that DOD has access to commercial sealift capacity to support the rapid deployment of U.S. military forces. MARAD's contribution to Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom underscores the critical importance of readiness to meet national security needs. With DOD approval, ships from the Ready Reserve Force are also available to participate as part of a DOT emergency response team for natural disaster recovery efforts in coastal areas. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and six State Maritime Schools continue to provide the skilled U.S. merchant marine officers essential to the success of DOT's security activities.

DOT's Security Performance Budget is distributed as follows:

President's Management Agenda — Organizational Excellence

With approximately 56,000 employees and hundreds of programs, DOT faces significant challenges regarding customer satisfaction, employee effectiveness, and organizational performance and productivity. The FY 2007 budget requests an overall $747 million, including $12.3 million in the Office of the Secretary, to strengthen the management of the Department's large information technology investment portfolio and to improve the American public's access to information and services through electronic government. Also included is $59.4 million to finance the FY 2007 costs for the new Department headquarters building that will consolidate headquarters operating functions into efficient leased office space.

Organizational Excellence

Overall, the Secretary is improving Departmental management by ensuring that:

• All elements of the Human Capital, Competitive Sourcing, Improved Financial Management, Electronic Government, Budget and Performance Integration, Eliminating Improper Payments, Real Property Asset Management, and Research and Development Investment Criteria segments of the President's Management Agenda are accomplished.
• For major DOT systems acquisitions, a minimum of 80 percent of cost goals established in acquisition project baselines are met.
• At least 95 percent of major federally funded infrastructure projects meet schedule milestones established in project or contract agreements, or miss them by less than 10 percent.
• At least 80 percent of transit grants are obligated within 60 days after submission of a completed application.

The DOT Organizational Excellence Performance Budget is distributed as follows:

Conclusion

DOT's goal is to provide the resources necessary to support our Nation's transportation system. The funding requested for FY 2007 will help improve transportation safety, enhance homeland and national security, maintain and expand our transportation infrastructure and increase its capacity, reduce environmental degradation, and improve the quality of life for all citizens. The following pages provide highlights of the budget request by DOT operating administration.

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