Our nation must use an integrated approach to solve our transportation problems. Though maintaining a safe and effective roadway system is essential, we must work to provide Americans with alternative methods of transportation as well.

Transportation alternatives, like mass transit, passenger rail and bike lanes, improve air quality, reduce our reliance on foreign oil and support healthier lifestyles. Since transportation is a major source of carbon dioxide emissions, we cannot effectively fight climate change without reining in pollution from the transportation sector.

A strong national infrastructure is an important component of our economy, but we have a big challenge ahead when it comes to paying for that infrastructure. Americans have been driving less frequently due to high fuel prices and a slumping economy. And because we fund our transportation programs through the gas tax, this has created a transit funding problem. Congress will need to explore alternatives to the traditional gas tax to ensure that we continue to have the funding necessary to maintain and expand our transportation system.

We will also need to make sure that this funding is going to a program that Americans have faith in, one that is less reliant on foreign oil and reduces costs for American families. Transportation is the second largest budget item for most families, just behind housing. This is because we built homes far from work places, provided few transit options, and we made it unsafe for a child to even walk to school. We must address these issues in the next transportation bill, especially if we are going to ask Americans to pay more for it.

One of my legislative priorities since coming to Congress has been to enhance intercity passenger rail systems, like Amtrak. Amtrak meets the transportation needs of millions of Americans and thousands of businesses nationwide, including more than 700,000 Delaware riders each year. Funding for intercity rail projects is a critical step toward modernizing our transportation infrastructure and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

Fuel efficiency is also an essential component of our nation’s transportation solution. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 was a landmark effort to reduce our nation's dependence on foreign oil and decrease air pollution. The legislation included a bipartisan compromise - developed by my colleagues and I in the Senate - to increase the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard from 10 miles per gallon to 35 miles per gallon by model year 2020. President Obama recently moved up this deadline to 2016.This enhanced fuel efficiency standard will save Americans an estimated 1.4 million barrels of oil per day by 2016, which is nearly the amount of oil currently imported from the Persian Gulf each day. Based on a $2.25 per gallon gas price, consumers will benefit by saving approximately $30 billion at the pump in that time period.