Highway and Transit Needs Examined -- California Capitol Hill Bulletin -- Volume 10, Bulletin 6 -- March 13, 2003

As the 108th Congress readies to reauthorize the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), the House Subcommittee on Highways, Transit, and Pipelines, of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure heard March 13, 2003, from various transportation experts on the needs of the Federal Highway and Transit Programs in an oversight hearing titled "Reauthorization of Federal Highway and Transit Programs: What are the needs, and how to meet those needs".

During her opening remarks, Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (Torrance) emphasized the importance of federal funding provided under TEA-21 to California in light of its enormous population and the current and estimated economic growth in the state. Noting the vast share of the nation's cargo freight goes through the two ports located in her district, Rep. Millender-McDonald voiced concern about traffic congestion in California. Rep. Ellen Tauscher (Alamo) echoed the comments and also expressed the need to secure funding for seismic retrofitting to ensure the safety of various transit units.

Panelists testifying included Mr. Tim Martin, Secretary of Illinois Department of Transportation; Mr. Arlee Reno, Senior Vice President of Cambridge Systematics Incorporated; Dr. Fred Salvucci, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Mr. Allen Pisarski, an independent Transportation Consultant; Mr. Michael King, Director of Marketing at Zogby International; Dr. C. Michael Walton of the University of Texas Department of Civil Engineering; and Dr. Robert J. Cuomo of Global Insight.

All panelists agreed that TEA-21 has been a great success for transportation funding, and that continued government investment in highway and transit programs generates substantial short-term and long-term economic growth and labor productivity, in turn inducing increased private funding as well, reducing cost to users.

Transportation-related investment is responsible for 25% of economic growth, according to Mr. Reno; creation of an additional 42,000 jobs per every $1 billion in funding, according to Mr. Martin; and has been directly linked to an increase in home ownership rates per Mr. Pisarski. Mr. Cuomo also testified about the effect that the increased funding, a proposal put forth by the committee leadership, would have on the national gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of productive capacity of the economy. Reporting on results of several simulated studies which looked at the effect of differential TEA-21 funding structure, Mr. Cuomo said that under the proposed increase, there would be an increase of $65 billion in GDP, in addition to an increase on $22 billion in consumer spending and $23 billion in dispensable income. Reporting about yet another study, Mr. King spoke of the voter attitudes about transportation funding. Nearly 80 percent of polled voters agree that highway, bridge, and transit investment should be an important element of homeland security, he said. Sixty-seven percent of respondents believe that transportation is very important to the U.S. economy, and nearly 2/3 of voters would support a "reasonable increase" in federal gas taxes if assured that the money will go towards transportation expenditures.

For more information about this hearing or to obtain witness testimony, go to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure website: http://www.house.gov/transportation.

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