Opening Statement of
SENATOR JAMES M. JEFFORDS
to
THE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
Hearing
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND SMART GROWTH
May 15, 2002.
Good
morning. Welcome to today’s hearing on Transportation
Planning and Smart Growth.
We
are joined this morning by a number of fine witnesses from around the
nation. I appreciate their willingness
to lend a hand as we proceed with our examination of the nation’s surface
transportation program.
Our
topic this morning - transportation planning - is one of the linchpins of the
new thinking introduced by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act
of 1991, or ISTEA, as it has come to be known.
In passing ISTEA, Congress inaugurated the post-Interstate era. With its enactment, our transportation
program moved from a focus on new highway construction to a recognition that
transportation is a means to an end. We
recognized that our investments in transportation and other infrastructure mold
and shape our communities. Beyond
community form, we saw transportation’s influence on people’s daily lives, on
the time they spent away from their families, on their very health and well
being.
Because
of transportation’s broad ramifications, ISTEA provided states and, for the
first time, local officials, wide latitude in the use of Federal - aid
dollars. ISTEA provided flexibility -
the freedom to move federal money from category to category, as best fit the
needs of the given state or metropolitan area.
I
had the honor to serve on this Committee during the enactment of ISTEA. At the time, we recognized that with the
freedom of flexibility came enormous responsibility. The highway program alone has provided $300 billion - taxpayers’
dollars - to state and local officials.
Stewardship of those funds demands great care. The transportation planning provisions of ISTEA were intended to
ensure that care.
The
idea is simple. Lets think before we
act. Before spending Federal-aid
dollars, state and metro officials would first assess needs, communicate with
citizens, coordinate with stakeholders and realistically forecast financial
resources. This basic planning process
would guide and inform the investments
to follow.
TEA
21 - the Transportation Equity Act for the Twenty First Century of 1998 - -
refined the ISTEA planning provisions, but retained its basic thrust. As a result, we now have ten years of
experience in this new way of doing the nation’s transportation business. Today, we will explore lessons learned over
those ten years. We will also examine a
range of ideas for the future of the planning program.
Our
first panel consists of practitioners from across the Federal, state and local
spectrum. They include:
-- Ms. Cynthia Burbank of the Federal Highway Administration.
-- Mr. Kenneth J. Leonard of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, on behalf of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
-- Mr. Ronald Kirby from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, on behalf of the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations.
-- Mr. Peter Gregory from the Two Rivers Ottauguechee Regional Commission in Woodstock, Vermont on behalf of the National Association of Regional Council.
Our second panel will offer a range of views on the
effectiveness of the planning program and on its scope going forward. The second panel will include:
-- Mr. Andrew Cotugno of the Portland, Oregon MPO, known as METRO.
-- Ms. Judith Espinosa from the University of New Mexico, on behalf of the Surface Transportation Policy Project.
-- Ms. Jennifer Joy Wilson, on behalf of the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association
-- Mr. Wendell Cox from Belleville, IL
-- Mr. Tom Downs of the University of Maryland
Again, thanks to the panelists for their participation
this morning.