A Comprehensive National Strategic Transportation and Infrastructure Plan

In 1954, Vice President Nixon spoke before the nation’s governors in Lake George, New York, unveiling President Eisenhower’s vision of an efficient, interconnected network of roads to help provide for our national defense and facilitate coat to coast travel and commerce. This revolutionary vision led to today’s Interstate System, and not since then – more than fifty years ago – have the leaders of this nation advocated for a truly national transportation strategy.

Every segment of our transportation infrastructure, not just in Florida but across our nation, is stretched to its limits. Our highways, bridges, airports, transit systems, rails, ports and waterways all have been unable to keep up with demand. Unfortunately we have no comprehensive plan to effectively address the resulting deterioration and congestion. Instead we myopically apply a piecemeal approach to fixing specific components of our transportation network without a vision of the needs of the system in its entirety.

Consider a house that is decades old. The roof is collapsing, the plumbing is leaking, the heating system is failing, and the foundation is sinking. With these problems, would you conclude that it’s time to repair the driveway? Some recent proposals to create another federal bridge repair program funded by an increase in an obsolete gas tax ignore the larger problem.

The American Society of Civil Engineers gives a “D” grade to the infrastructure of the United States. It estimates that an investment of $1.6 trillion over the next five years is needed from federal, state and local governments, as well as private sector sources, in order to address this crisis.

The Federal Aviation Administration estimates that, in less than ten years, U.S. commercial airlines will carry more than 1 billion passengers annually. If these projections are accurate, air traffic delays will increase 62 percent between 2004 and 2014.

Between 1980 and 2000, the number of highway miles increased by less than two percent, yet over those same two decades, passenger car travel increased by 50 percent and the number of truck miles increased by 95 percent. The resulting traffic congestion hits the urban areas of Florida particularly hard. For example, Orlando drivers annually lose an average of 54 hours to congestion, with the associated costs totaling $738 million. Tampa drivers waste 45 hours sitting in traffic and lose $1 billion per year. And Miami commuters average 50 hours lost per year and an incredible $2.73 billion – the fifth highest cost of congestion in the nation.

Demand for freight rail is expected to grow 55 percent by 2020, and the United States lacks a true high-speed rail system as a viable alternative to highway and air travel. The slowest Japanese bullet train averages 125 mph and the French TVG recently reached a top speed of 357 mph, yet Amtrak averages just 86 mph between New York City and Washington, D.C. Freight now moves by rail at an average speed of 23 miles per hour.

The amount of freight moving through U.S. ports is expected to double by 2020, yet only 13 percent of freight moves domestically by water. Florida’s ports must be modernized to accommodate mega-ships. Our ports and waterways must prepare to take advantage of shipping as a way to alleviate the congestion plaguing other modes of transportation.

Modernizing and increasing capacity of the various modes of transportation is critically needed, but we cannot do so in a stove-piped fashion, tackling the needs in one mode while separately addressing another.

America needs a comprehensive National Strategic Transportation and Infrastructure Plan.

Intermodal connections to airports, highways, ports, rail yards, and transit facilities must be essential factors in the design of each new project and in any plans to expand the existing transportation system. Public transportation systems should have direct connections to airports and intercity bus and rail facilities. Our highways, ports and rails should interface seamlessly in order to move freight with the utmost efficiency. We should establish a true high-speed rail system as a legitimate alternative to highway and air travel. Port-capacity increases and lock and dam modernization are essential to more fully utilizing waterborne transportation alternatives.

We must secure a better means of funding our infrastructure needs. While government always will play a crucial role in infrastructure financing, we must find better ways to leverage our investment dollars. We also need to better leverage the vast resources of the private sector.

Successful partnerships between the public and private sectors are commonplace across the globe. The private sector plays a major role in air traffic control and the management and ownership of airports in Europe. The Virgin Rail Group has successfully established a private and profitable high speed rail system in England. Private sector companies in Europe and Australia have been building and operating highways for more than 30 years.

The private sector has the capability to outperform the government in developing, operating and maintaining transportation systems. Harnessing that potential will be an essential component of a first-rate integrated transportation system for the future.

Implementing a National Strategic Transportation and Infrastructure Plan will be crucial to the United States’ ability to remain a world economic leader. Emerging economies are investing unprecedented levels in their infrastructure, and if this nation continues to be crippled by congestion and capacity limitations, our nation will become less and less competitive.

A recent study by the Urban Land Institute and Ernst & Young reports on our “relatively low investment in virtually all aspects of mobility-related infrastructure.” The report states that we must rethink the way we finance project construction and operation, and we must develop a more intermodal approach to transportation.

The federal government must assume a leadership role in development of a National Strategic Transportation and Infrastructure Plan. Working with state and local officials, and leaders in the private sector, it’s time to move forward. Fifty years is too long to wait for an encore to Eisenhower’s vision.