Washington,
DC – The House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee heard testimony today from The National Surface
Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission on the need to profoundly
change America’s
transportation funding system to meet concerns of the 21st Century.
“The bipartisan panel of transportation stakeholders
recognized that transit and intercity rail must be vastly expanded to meet
future needs,” said U.S. PIRG transportation advocate John Krieger. “Growing traffic congestion, dependence on
expensive foreign oil, and global warming all point toward the need to shift investment
into transportation alternatives such as clean, efficient mass transit and high
speed intercity rail.”
In their extensive report, Transportation for Tomorrow, released earlier this week, the
Commission recommended restructuring federal transportation resources to place
an emphasis on public transportation, investment in metropolitan areas, upkeep
of existing infrastructure, and intercity rail.
Specifically, they called for mass transit for every metropolitan area
and development of a reliable intercity rail system between population centers
within 500 miles of each other in order to shift travel toward trains.
The number of miles driven on America’s highways has doubled in
the last quarter century. Personal cars and trucks account for 40 percent of
the nation’s oil consumption and the current vehicle-based transportation
system produces a third of global warming pollution.
“Among the
Commission’s many recommendations, the most significant for our country’s transportation
future is the recognition that mass transit needs to be expanded and that a sophisticated
high-speed intercity rail network can and should be developed,” said Krieger.
