Will a New Bill Mean a New Start

This article examines efforts to re-structure the federal surface transportation program as it comes up for reauthorization September 30, 2009. That is the expiration date for Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), which was enacted in August 2005. With new legislation being drafted to replace it, the highway industry is hoping to institute changes to speed project delivery and reduce environmental restraints imposed after the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). ISTEA was considered a major change because of its flexible funding provisions, but changes dating back to the 1960s severely hampered choices, because of the conformity requirement in the 1962 Federal-Aid Highway Act. Under that law, any state or city with a population greater than 50,000 would have to include other transportation modes in its highway plans. The article traces other developments down through the intervening decades, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Air Act, and the growing role of metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in transportation funding and planning decisions. More recently, a December 2008 General Accounting Office (GAO) report showed that regulations were bogging down projects without discernible gains in exchange. Various stakeholders’ positions on regulation reform are stated, including the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) and the American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials (AASHTO). The latter argues for a return to the early 1990s when 90 percent of federal funds were apportioned to states by formula and spent by them according to their own priorities. There are low-keyed hints that there may be receptive ears in the new administration, as shown by a recent meeting between AASHTO and the U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT).