We at the Department of Transportation recognize that transportation can be an important factor in restoring a sense of community, in bringing people together, and in enhancing the human and natural environment. We have just begun to realize what can be accomplished in our communities through thoughtful consideration of a mix of transportation solutions and creative approaches.
We cannot achieve any of these key national priorities -- linking Americans to jobs, health care, and education -- without efficient transportation systems. The challenges that we face do not stop at our borders. We are looking at intermodal, flexible, intergovernmental partnerships and a strong commitment to safety, environmental protection, enhanced planning, and strategic investment. In partnership with our colleagues in the States and the communities and with the private sector, we believe that we can respond to the challenge of creating livable communities.
The Clinton-Gore livability agenda will help communities across America grow in ways that ensure high quality of life and strong, sustainable economic growth. This initiative will strengthen the Federal Government's role as a partner with the growing number of State and local efforts to build livable communities by ensuring coordination on new livability initiatives, improving coordination of existing programs, generating new ideas, and conducting appropriate outreach to constituent groups. This is a cause that we at the U.S. Department of Transportation have been addressing in one form or another even before the inception of ISTEA -- sprawl, and its effect on our communities.
The reason why transportation has a role in curbing sprawl and why the Federal Government is involved is very simple. As we look at the problems created by sprawl and the need to stabilize and revitalize our first-ring suburban city centers while maintaining a vital urban core, we must realize that sprawl creates a quality of life problem. The Department of Transportation's livability initiative will help communities use DOT-funded programs more effectively to include an active and participatory planning process that results in transportation facilities and services that are well-designed, customer-friendly, and community-oriented, linking safety, growth strategies, environmental quality, and economic development.
Our role is to make it easier for communities to get the tools they need to build the way they want to. Airports, mass transportation, and highway construction provide millions of jobs and billions of dollars in economic impact across the Nation. All of these infrastructure improvements have been accomplished within the context of environmental regulations and land use policies that have changed how we do business.
We look at the Nation's transportation system as a multiple of modes, complimenting each other and working together as a whole for the benefit of all users. The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century has made it possible for us to fund programs that are compatible with the development goals and objectives of metro areas, small communities, and rural America.
But none of this would have been possible if it were not for the leadership of the Chairman, Senator Reid, and his role in the Environment and Public Works Committee, winning the enactment of TEA-21.
TEA-21 gives State and local governments even greater responsibility for planning all aspects of their transportation systems, and more funding flexibility to pursue their goals. The Federal Transit Administration, under its Livable Communities Initiative, has demonstrated that locating family-friendly facilities at intermodal and transit terminals, such as child and elderly care, police substations, health care facilities, one-stop job centers, and commercial retail development, can lead to transit-oriented development. Across the Nation we can point to successful projects that resulted from public participation, in cooperation with the private sector and the Federal agencies. These partnerships not only leveraged the Federal resources, but resulted in job creation and access to jobs and services, providing continued growth and vitality to communities.
In the Las Vegas area, the Department has been working with the Regional Transportation Commission of Clark County to complete all of the Federal requirements necessary to receive a favorable ranking and rating for their transportation projects. The streetscape improvement programs and the city and county support of high-density transit-oriented development is a good start toward making this project a reality.
The Las Vegas area has also taken advantage of the Federal Highway Administration's Transportation Enhancement and Scenic Byways Program to fund improvements in the region, ensuring that the regional and State highways become more scenic byways.
Aviation-related matters in this region involve cooperative efforts between the Federal Aviation Administration and McCarran International Airport to put into effect noise abatement measures around residential and school zones, while continuing to meet the vital air transportation needs of this thriving region.
The Department of Transportation is committed to creating partnerships with communities by instituting a wide variety of programs, starting with identifying and disseminating the most useful information, evidence, tolls, and techniques available for integrating transportation and land use planning; convening a regional transportation task force to initiate a dialogue on the effects of urban sprawl and congestion on the region's economy and its residents' quality of life; selecting ten localities across the country to partner with as they expand their existing livability efforts; develop stringent aircraft noise standards to reduce noise in areas proximate to airports; and establish a Center for Global Climate Change, because we recognize that one-third of the greenhouse gasses are introduced by transportation. This would help us develop strategies to achieve gas emission reductions through multimodal policies that are inclusive of technology, and market-based land use strategies.
The transportation component of the Livability Initiative combines what we can do now, under present programs, with what we must do in the future to make sure that the places in which we live will remain the places in which we want to live. By working together, we can design transportation systems that create safe communities, a stronger economy, and a better quality of life and prosperity for all Americans.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my prepared statement. I would be happy to answer any questions.