Transportation policy: Oberstar unveils new plan for surface transportation authorization

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James L. Oberstar formally rolled out his plan for a new approach to surface transportation authorization earlier today.

In his whitepaper, “The Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009: A Blueprint for Investment and Reform,” Oberstar outlines myriad ways to remedy the nation’s transportation system, which, he said, “while once the envy of the world, is losing its battle against time, growth, weather, and wear.”

What is needed now, he says, is a National Transportation Strategic Plan that is intermodal in nature and national in scope.

A major theme of Oberstar’s plan calls for a national transportation policy, as opposed to the Department of Transportation’s current policies, which were established and are administered by separate DOT departments—each of which focuses on a single mode transportation.

“Since completion of the Interstate Highway System, our national transportation policy has lacked strategic focus,” notes the plan. “Although States and metropolitan regions are required to develop long-range transportation plans for highway, transit, and rail investment, there has been no attempt to aggregate these plans and establish a National Transportation Strategic Plan.”

Some of the main objectives of the Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009 include:

* consolidating the majority of highway funding in four, core formula categories designed to bring our highway and bridge systems to a state of good repair; improve highway safety; develop new and improved capacity; and reduce congestion and greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality;

* establish new initiatives to address the crippling congestion in major metropolitan regions, and eliminate bottlenecks in freight transportation; and

* create a National Infrastructure Bank to better leverage limited transportation dollars, among others.

“This plan restructures programs within the DOT…and moves from a highly prescriptive program to a performance and outcomes-based surface transportation program,” said Oberstar at a press conference today.

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