HighLight Heading
June 2002
Plenary Session
Security joins safety, congestion mitigation as reauthorization priorities
Elwyn Tinklenberg
Frederick "Bud" Wright
Moderator Robert Johns (right) introduces Frederick "Bud" Wright
State and federal transportation agencies are grappling with enormous challenges, from funding shortages and growing congestion to increased security needs since September 11. The silver lining may lie in new technology and innovations developed through research, concurred Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) executive director Frederick "Bud" Wright. They gave their insights in the opening plenary session, moderated by CTS director Robert Johns.
Speaking just days after the close of the state legislative session, Tinklenberg jokingly put a positive spin on the lawmakers' inability to pass a transportation funding bill: "After five months of deliberation, the legislature came to the conclusion that everything was fine." On a more serious note, he said it was a "sore disappointment to most of us" that the incredible support for transportation issues went by without legislative action. This year again the legislature failed to provide adequate transportation funding, so those in the field must continue to find ways to make the most of existing infrastructure and services. Research is "absolutely indispensable" in understanding how what we do today affects our future, he said. In closing, he warned that congestion threatens Minnesota's economic vitality and quality of life, and encouraged the audience to find new ways to deliver programs and improve quality and performance.
Keynote speaker Bud Wright agreed with the importance of research, pointing out that the FHWA cannot fulfill its research goals without many partners from state and local government, academia, and the private sector. Especially in times of scarce resources, there is no "luxury of redundancy," so the FHWA's niche will focus on advanced, high-risk research, complementing the applied research normally done at the state level. The FHWA's emphasis in the next three to five years will be in areas where there are major performance gaps and the public is looking for change, he said. He identified three vital priorities where the FHWA feels it can add value and make an impact:
- Safety: More than 40,000 Americans die annually on our roadways. "We as transportation professionals cannot allow this to continue."
- Environmental stewardship and streamlining: Not an "either/or proposition," this is an area where research will be an important component.
- Congestion mitigation: We advocate a multimodal—not highways-only—solution, Wright said, along with application of intelligent transportation systems (ITS), better infrastructure maintenance, and use of traveler information systems. A new twist is the need to provide continuity in the event of terrorism.
"America's entire transportation sector faces a period of extraordinary challenge" due to 9-11, Wright said, taking a few moments to discuss security issues. Highways represent the most important single surface mode and have the most redundancy and resiliency, but the enormity and openness of the highway infrastructure probably makes it the most challenging to protect. Most vulnerable are bridges and tunnels on major facilities because they are visible symbols, expensive to replace, and offer potential for large loss of life. More research "will be critical" to understand how to reduce their vulnerability and improve design, he said.
The FHWA has been working very hard on security provisions for next year's reauthorization, all of which will be discussed within the administration over the next three to six months. A big part of the debate is how proscriptive the federal government should be in requiring states to implement security systems, Wright said. The administration is "strongly encouraging" state and local partners to develop emergency response plans and is assembling best practices and technical expert teams to assist them in their efforts.
One challenge is evaluating the risk and priority of security measures over other transportation needs in times of stagnant budgets. "We have to ensure a focus on emergency planning and response for attacks on highway infrastructure," he said. "It is absolutely critically important."
Looking ahead, Wright expects TEA-21's successor to be an evolutionary, not revolutionary, bill. "It is not an overstatement to say TEA-21 was a landmark piece of legislation," he said. Still controversial is its provision guaranteeing a level of spending for federal surface transportation separated from annual appropriations, a provision supported by the secretary. "What we expect to promote and see are relatively modest tweaks." He believes the new act must preserve funding flexibility for state and local partners, and does not expect new major mandatory activities—even in light of the new security climate: "We are very much torn over wanting to make a national statement in those areas but respectful that the best decisions typically are made closest to where the issues lie." He also noted that it will be important to preserve and encourage to an even greater extent a multimodal system.
Finally, Wright declared that investment in research and innovation will be a critical element of reauthorization. "The single greatest failure of TEA-21 was the tremendous underinvestment made in research and technology." The administration will work hard to ensure additional dollars to identify innovative solutions to our transportation issues, he pledged.