The U.S. Department of Transportation: 50 Years of Moving Forward

The U.S. Department of

TRANSPORTATION

50 Years of Moving America Forward

Ensuring more reliable transportation

Warning passengers of traffic and weather Reducing crash rates, injuries and deaths Alerting commuters of emergencies Optimizing routes for time and fuel efficiency

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08/29/1932: Caterpillar No. 9 Auto Patrol and No. 7 Auto Patrol making the Santa Fe–Las Vegas Road near Santa Fe, New Mexico.

A GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY. AN IRON BOND. For 50 years, Cat® machines have assisted the Department of Transportation in ensuring America’s roads, rails, bridges, and pipelines are safe and efficient. Today, our connected technology continues to ensure that our nation’s infrastructure is built smarter for the road ahead.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT CATERPILLAR AND THE DOT AT CAT.COM/BUILTFORIT © 2016 Caterpillar. All Rights Reserved. CAT, CATERPILLAR, BUILT FOR IT, their respective logos, “Caterpillar Yellow,” the “Power Edge” trade dress as well as corporate and product identity used herein, are trademarks of Caterpillar and may not be used without permission. The Department of Transportation did not select or approve this advertiser and does not endorse and is not responsible for the views or statements contained in this advertisement.

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THANK YOU, SECRETARY LAHOOD. In 2009, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood clocked in to the biggest jobsite of all. On his watch, the DOT made landmark efforts to improve safety—from aviation and rail to pipelines and automobile—all while creating reliable, affordable transportation options for all Americans.

So thank you for all your work, Secretary. Job well done.

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Access road to new Bay Bridge in San Francisco, CA. Remodeled from 2002 to 2013.

© 2016 Caterpillar. All Rights Reserved. CAT, CATERPILLAR, BUILT FOR IT, their respective logos, “Caterpillar Yellow,” the “Power Edge” trade dress as well as corporate and product identity used herein, are trademarks of Caterpillar and may not be used without permission. The Department of Transportation did not select or approve this advertiser and does not endorse and is not responsible for the views or statements contained in this advertisement.

Building What Matters

Sharing a history of building our nation’s critical infrastructure to improve communities.

Promoting a joint vision for a vibrant and energized national transportation system for generations to come.

Congratulations to the Federal Department of Transportation for 50 Years of Leadership.

Interstate 215, San Bernardino, CA

www.usa.skanska.com

September 27, 2016 Dear Secretary Foxx, First, on behalf of the American Trucking Associations, and the seven million people employed in the trucking industry, I want to congratulate you and the rest of the Department of Transportation on fifty years of moving this country forward.

While much has changed in transportation since 1966, one thing that hasn’t is the commitment our industry and your agency have to safety. Trucks move roughly 70% of the nation’s goods, delivering essential items like food and medicine; clothes and fuel.

Trucks move these goods on roads maintained and overseen by the Department and its state partners and following rules set by Department aimed at improving safety and reducing crashes.

The trucking industry and DOT have worked together on a number of initiatives – from the commercial driver’s license and drug and alcohol testing of drivers to more recent examples like electronic logging devices and stability control systems. Cooperation between our industry and the government has contributed to a 20% decline in truck-involved fatalities on our nation’s highways over the past two decades, even though trucks drive more than 100 million additional miles each year.

And we look toward future improvements in safety and efficiency – with looming advancements like speed limiting and even further into the future with autonomous vehicles – we believe the continued partnership between the trucking industry and DOT will keep America moving forward safely and efficiently.

So, here’s to another half century of advancing the cause of transportation.

Signed,

Chris Spear President and CEO American Trucking Associations

Kevin Burch Chairman American Trucking Associations

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America’s Homeland and Border Security Depends on the Jones Act Imagine a 12,000-mile highway curving through the heartland of the United States, connecting two dozen states and flowing out to the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and linking the mainland to Alaska, Hawaii and all of the U.S. territories. This remarkable route really exists and is known as the National Marine Highway.

It is a system of waterways and coastal routes on which commercial vessels transport an estimated $2.4 billion in vital cargoes each year. Grain, steel, fertilizers, petroleum products, construction and building materials, paper, coal, chemicals, wood and containers all move on it efficiently and safely.

The industry puts Americans to work. Ship, tugboat, towboat, offshore supply and crew vessels, and barge operators produce family wage jobs for tens of thousands of Americans and support hundreds of thousands of shoreside jobs. Each person who works in the industry is highly-trained and the entire industry is regulated by the U.S. Coast Guard and other federal agencies.

The foundational law for the U.S. domestic maritime industry is known as the Jones Act, which requires that all cargo shipped between U.S. ports be transported on vessels that are American-owned, American-built, American flagged, and American-crewed. Most maritime nations have similar cabotage laws to protect their national waterways and their marine highway systems.

The U.S. maritime fleet, with the Jones Act as its core, brings our nation countless economic benefits, and the industry is also critical to U.S. national and homeland security.

American mariners are the eyes and ears of our inland waterways, on the Great Lakes, and along our coastlines, protecting homeland security from coast to coast. American companies and American mariners provide this security forcemultiplier without taking a dollar of taxpayer money and are always ready to provide assistance during a security threat or natural disaster.

In fact, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx stated his strong support for the law in speaking to the AWO Board of Directors. “My boss is on the record supporting the Jones Act, and so am I. I will do everything in my power to defend the Jones Act,” Secretary Foxx stated, echoing the longstanding position of the Obama Administration.

Because of its importance to national security, the Navy and Department of Defense strongly support the Jones Act. Our senior military leaders have repeatedly voiced their support for the Jones Act, most recently when Gen. Paul Selva, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated his support for the Jones Act in a 2015 speech to the Maritime Trades Department, indicating that the industry makes the military sealift operations possible and enhances our national security.

“There are 2,400 merchant sailors who operate on ships that participate in Jones Act trade that have crewed and will crew ready reserve ships and surge sealift ships -- that’s 2,400 of the nearly 11,000 that are required,” Gen. Selva said. “It’s easy for me to say the economics favor the Jones Act, national security favors the Jones Act, and my operational requirements demand access to the labor pool that is supported by the jobs that are provided by the Jones Act.” In addition, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) has found that the Jones Act plays an important role in American national security, is a critical source of seafarers in times of crisis, and helps ensure an essential shipyard industrial base. The GAO has reported that the American fleet’s contribution to maintaining a shipyard base is particularly important now because of budget reductions for military vessel construction. The GAO also said that if the American maritime industry ever disappeared or were substantially reduced, the Department of Defense would need to re-create a military fleet at a substantial cost to taxpayers.

Additionally lawmakers recognize the importance of the Jones Act to national security. For example, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) wrote in The Washington Times that without the Jones Act “vessels and crews from foreign nations could move freely on U.S. waters, creating a more porous border, increasing possible security threats, and introducing vessels and mariners who do not adhere to U.S. standards into the blood stream of our nation.”

According to a study, The Contributions of the Jones Act to U.S. Security, conducted by the Lexington Institute, by working on the waters every day, the U.S.-flag fleet adds a 24-hour layer of security that is unmatched. “Via the inland waterways, a terrorist could reach America’s heartland and many of its largest and most important urban centers…

Guarding every potential target along the inland waterways against terrorist attack is an impossible task,” the study states.

American mariners aboard commercial vessels are highly trained and licensed, and full partners with U.S. maritime and homeland security officials in protecting our nation.

Therefore, the absence of the Jones Act would be a lose/ lose proposition, placing substantial pressures on an already overburdened homeland security system and greatly exposing America to increased domestic threats.

The bottom line is that now more than ever, the Jones Act is needed to keep America’s borders safe and secure.

Thomas Allegretti Chairman, American Maritime Partnership President & CEO, American Waterways Operators

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Celebrating 50 years of the US DOT

America’s freight railroads join in commemorating the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Department of Transportation with its essential mission of ensuring a transportation system “that meets our vital national interests and enhances the quality of life of the American people, today and into the future.”

When the Department opened its doors, America relied on the freight railroad system to provide the backbone for economic growth. But the federal agency’s leaders soon realized that for the country’s economy to thrive, railroads would need a regulatory overhaul.

By the 1970s, rail companies were a financial shambles, and their ailing infrastructure prevented effective movement of freight and passenger trains. In response, Congress and the Carter administration took a decidedly visionary approach by partially de-regulating the freight railroads. As a result, they rescued one of the nation’s most essential industries and employers while unshackling an economic enabler of so many other industries.

The instrument of transformation was and continues to be the Staggers Rail Act of 1980.

The legacy of that pioneering legislation – and the Department’s role in making it a reality – can still be felt today. Partial deregulation has enabled railroad productivity to surge, and the resulting lowered rates attract large volumes of traffic and benefit myriad U.S. industries. The new locomotives, rails, freight cars and signaling systems railroads purchase with revenue spurred by partial deregulation bring innovation and safety improvements to the nation’s 140,000-mile freight rail network.

As we celebrate the creation of a federal agency that has served as a transportation partner for a half century, the Association of American Railroads and the nation’s freight railroads also celebrate the inspired leadership and balanced regulations that unlocked an industry and continue to benefit millions of Americans.

Signed Edward R. Hamberger President and CEO Association of American Railroads

Bentley is Advancing Infrastructure

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50 y p p a H ar y s r e v i Ann partment U.S. De portation s of Tran

Advancing infrastructure is now a world priority. We need high performance infrastructure that can meet the demands of a global population while preserving a vital and healthy environment for generations to come.

Bentley’s mission is to provide innovative software and services for the enterprises and professionals who design, build and operate the world’s infrastructure — advancing the global economy and environment, for improved quality of life.

Find out more at: www.bentley.com © 2016 Bentley Systems, Incorporated. Bentley and the “B” Bentley logo are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

CONTENTS INTERVIEW: JAMES H. BURNLEY IV,.................................................................... 18 Secretary of Transportation 1987-1989

U.S. SECRETARIES OF TRANSPORTATION........................................................ 25 INTERVIEW: SAMUEL K. SKINNER,....................................................................... 31 Secretary of Transportation 1989-1991

THE “TYRANNY OF DISTANCE”.............................................................................. 34 From the Cumberland Road to the Department of Transportation

By Dwight Jon Zimmerman

ARE WE THERE YET?................................................................................................... 46 Transportation Past, Present, and Future

By Doug Oberhelman, Chairman and CEO, Caterpillar Inc.

UP AND RUNNING.......................................................................................................... 48 Start-up Challenges and Select Road, Rail, Maritime, and Aviation Highlights

By Dwight Jon Zimmerman

DOT ORGANIZATIONS................................................................................................. 58 HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION AND SAFETY ISSUES AND INITIATIVES .......................................................................................... 62

By J.R. Wilson

AIR TRANSPORTATION .............................................................................................. 70 Impact, Issues, and Initiatives

By Eric Tegler

RAIL TRANSPORTATION............................................................................................ 78 Today and Tomorrow

By J.R. Wilson

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Congratulations on

50 years!

Looking to take the next step in your career? Learn online.

Plan and design our nation’s transportation systems Whether you’re looking for a career that focuses on building new transportation systems or maintaining the ones we already have in place, obtaining a graduate certificate in Transportation Engineering online from Kansas State University Global Campus is the first step toward achieving your goals.

CONTENTS MARINE TRANSPORTATION........................................................................................ 86 Upgrading and Enhancing to Meet 21st Century Needs

By J.R. Wilson

All 12 credits from the certificate can be applied to K-State’s Master of Science in Civil Engineering degree.

PUBLIC TRANSIT ISSUES AND INITIATIVES........................................................ 94

By J.R. Wilson

SAFEGUARDING THE PUBLIC AND THE ENVIRONMENT............................... 99 PHMSA Focuses on Health, Environmental Safety

By Charles Dervarics

SECRETARY AND INSPECTOR OFFICES DRIVE DOT’S CORE WORK TASKS.........................................................................105

By Charles Dervarics

FIXING AMERICA’S SURFACE TRANSPORTATION: THE FAST ACT..................................................................................................................108

By J.R. Wilson

SMART CITY CHALLENGE...........................................................................................115

By Eric Seeger

FASTLANE......................................................................................................................... 122

By J.R. Wilson

CONNECTED AIRSPACE............................................................................................... 128 The FAA’s Next Generation Air Transportation System

By Jan Tegler

TIGER GRANTS FUND INNOVATION, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT........... 132 VISIT global.k-state.edu/transportation

By Charles Dervarics

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 50 Years of Moving America Forward

Developing and Deploying Transportation Innovation

Published by Faircount Media Group 701 N. West Shore Blvd.

Tampa, FL 33609 Tel: 813.639.1900 www.faircount.com www.defensemedianetwork.com EDITORIAL Editor in Chief: Chuck Oldham Managing Editor: Ana E. Lopez Editor: Rhonda Carpenter DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Art Director: Robin K. McDowall Designers: Daniel Mrgan Kenia Y. Perez-Ayala Ad Traffic Manager: Rebecca Laborde ADVERTISING Ad Sales Manager: Patrick Pruitt Account Executives: John Caianiello, Sean Darby, Art Dubuc III, Brandon Fields, Darren Mikell, Geoffrey Weiss OPERATIONS AND ADMINISTRATION Chief Operating Officer: Lawrence Roberts VP, Business Development: Robin Jobson Business Development: Damion Harte Financial Controller: Robert John Thorne Chief Information Officer: John Madden Business Analytics Manager: Colin Davidson

Publisher: Ross Jobson

ŠCopyright Faircount LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction of editorial content in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Faircount LLC does not assume responsibility for the advertisements, nor any representation made therein, nor the quality or deliverability of the products themselves. Reproduction of articles and photographs, in whole or in part, contained herein is prohibited without expressed written consent of the publisher, with the exception of reprinting for news media use.

This is not a U.S. government or Department of Transportation publication, and none of the advertising contained herein implies U.S. government, or Department of Transportation endorsement of any private entity or enterprise. Printed in the United States of America.

ARA is Proud to support the U.S. DOT in driving a culture of Innovation

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

INTERVIEW: JAMES H. BURNLEY IV, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION 1987-1989 James H. Burnley IV became secretary of transportation on Dec. 3, 1987. He had previously served as deputy secretary and general counsel during Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole’s term and was appointed secretary in 1987 upon her departure.

As deputy secretary, Burnley had played a key role in negotiating the sale of Conrail and in building an air traffic control workforce in the wake of the PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization) strike.

As secretary, he emphasized programs to eliminate drug use by issuing regulations requiring testing of employees in safety or security-sensitive positions in transportation-related industries. He implemented policies to encourage greater private-sector participation in meeting transportation needs, and supported Coast Guard efforts to upgrade equipment and facilities. Burnley now practices with Venable LLP, concentrating his practice on government relations and regulatory and legislative affairs, with a focus on transportation.

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primary focus was trying to address those concerns. And I think by the end of the year, we had successfully overcome the crisis atmosphere. It had receded.

Would you consider that your most important accomplishment as secretary?

Well, I consider that an accomplishment. I wouldn’t necessarily rate it as the most important accomplishment. I’d probably put at the top of the list getting a regulation out in final form toward the end of my tenure that established for the first time random drug testing for everyone in the private sector who worked in what we called safety-sensitive transportation positions. I’m proud of that. It was not an easy exercise.

There was frankly opposition inside the [Ronald] Reagan administration from certain quarters out of sort of civil liberties concerns. But we were able to get the rule out in late ’88. And the rule has been modified in appropriate ways since, primarily in terms of setting what percentage of the workforce in each sector – how many truck drivers, for example, you have to test

PHOTO BY DUPONT PHOTOGRAPHERS

What did you consider the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) biggest challenge during your tenure as secretary?

James H. Burnley IV: When I became secretary, we were already in the midst of a crisis in confidence that was partially driven by the media, partially driven by certain members of Congress, and partially driven by the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, who used some fairly inflammatory rhetoric publicly. The crisis of confidence was in the safety of our aviation system. So [that was] my immediate challenge – and, of course, I had been at the department at that point for over four years, briefly as general counsel and most of that time as deputy secretary, so I was intimately familiar with the challenges of dealing with that issue. And we were trying to deal with it in the final months of Secretary [Elizabeth] Dole’s tenure. So it fell to me when I succeeded her to address those concerns, which I focused on doing.

And I think it’s historically accurate to say that she left in September of ’87 and I immediately became the acting secretary going through the confirmation process and got sworn in in the late fall as … secretary. But from the day she left, which I recall was Aug. 31 and I took over Sept. 1 … my

in a given year. That’s done annually. The department reviews that. But the basic structure of the rule today is as we wrote it.

When you mention the aviation safety issue or crisis, can you expand on that? What were people alleging and what was the issue at hand that people were concerned with?

Well, there was a lot of concern about the ability of the air traffic control system to operate safely. I think the concern was totally groundless, but there was a lot of rhetoric from certain quarters raising concerns about the safety of the air traffic control system. And so we had to take that seriously, because if those kinds of allegations are not satisfactorily addressed in the public’s mind, they’re not going to fly on airplanes anymore.

So it was a fundamental threat to, first and foremost, the commercial aviation industry if people lost confidence in the safety of the air traffic control system. There was no string of incidents or anything of that sort. Again, it was rhetoric. And the system had problems then as it has challenges today. But the one thing I was sure of then, as I am now, is that no one who’s ever had responsibility for either actually running the air traffic control system or overseeing its operation would permit it to be unsafe.

As I was driving to work this morning, there was actually a recording of President Reagan reading the statement on what the air traffic controllers had agreed to in their contracts regarding not going on strike. I guess today was the anniversary of PATCO beginning the strike.

Was this President Reagan?

Yes. Well that’s interesting, because this would be the anniversary. I arrived in DOT as general counsel initially in March of ’83. Well, in August of 1981, we had the air traffic controllers’ strike. And the union was called PATCO. And that’s the legendary sequence of events where President Reagan said it’s illegal to strike – “Either you come back to work or I’m going to fire all of you.” And he fired them because they didn’t come back to work. And when I got to DOT in ’83, there were still some limitations in certain parts of the Air Traffic Control System, as we had had to rebuild it from August of ’81. But we took – a few months after I got there, just coincidentally – we took the last of those constraints off the system, because we had gotten back to a sufficient number of qualified controllers to operate it safely at full tilt. But by the time we had the confidence issues raised in ’87, you know, six years had passed. So there was no connection between the strike and rebuilding the system on the one hand and the issues we had to deal with in ’87 on the other hand.

I wanted to ask you about rail. I believe you played a role in negotiating the sale of Conrail.

I sure did.

And it became successful for its private owners. Do you see rail as being a growing transportation segment in the future?

Yes, but all sectors that carry freight have to grow.

And if they don’t, it will affect the overall growth of the U.S. economy. The great event that occurred – series of events, but you can categorize it as one large event if you wish – in transportation that I think has contributed tremendously to the overall very substantial economic growth we’ve had since 1980 was the economic deregulation of all modes of commercial transportation. Railroads, trucking, commercial airlines, and even the bus industry all had been heavily regulated by, in the case of the freight operators, the Interstate Commerce Commission, and, in case of the airlines, the Civil Aeronautics Board. And it was actually in the last two years of the Carter administration that President [Jimmy] Carter, interestingly, with Sen. Edward Kennedy taking the lead on aviation deregulation, got Congress to deregulate all those sectors except bus. We did bus in ’82. Again, that happened right before I got to DOT. But the Reagan administration convinced Congress to deregulate the interstate bus industry economically.

So if it hadn’t occurred then, it would have occurred, I think, in the early years of the first term of President Reagan, because virtually every respected economist in America with some exceptions was saying, “We’ve got to do this or it will become a tremendous burden on economic growth.” And because we did do economic deregulation across the board, it permitted the freight railroads – and of course Conrail was created out of the bankrupt estates of Northeastern railroads because they had all gone bankrupt in the late ’60s and early ’70s – but it permitted the freight railroads nationally to grow and to be very competitive not only with each other but with the trucking industry, which in turn was simultaneously deregulated. So you had a tremendous – during the ’80s – wave of both companies that couldn’t adjust to deregulation in trucking failing, but a lot of new companies being created and overall expansion. We freed up freight transportation in this country in all sectors so that it could grow – the capacity could grow – and it could compete and get the efficiencies you get with competition to support overall growth in the U.S. economy. And with the airlines, of course … I mean, it’s hard to believe today, but before airline deregulation was passed in ’78 – and it was actually phased in over several years – if an airline wanted to establish service between two new cities, it had to go through a monthslong process with the Civil Aeronautics Board to get permission to do that. And again, we would have a far smaller and very constrained airline system today if it had not been deregulated.

Experts say there are a number of different sorts of longterm trends that affect how much the Highway Trust Fund is being funded. What are some of the possible solutions to trying to get it fully funded again or to just correct the shortfall?

Well, it has collapsed in the sense that the revenues that are collected and dedicated to the federal Highway Trust Fund,

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which is, as you know, overwhelmingly fuel tax revenues, for years now – a half dozen years – have not been sufficient to cover the current level of funding that Congress wants. But on the other hand, Congress, and for that matter, the [President Barack] Obama administration, have not been willing to take the actions necessary to try to come to a consensus on new revenue sources. So the result is we are in effect just propping it up with very large transfers from general treasury accounts year in and year out. And it’s only going to get worse. So I think and hope that by the time we have to go through the next go-around on reauthorization of surface transportation, we will have already had the debate we need to have – and we’re overdue in having in this country – about the need to make some fundamental decisions. If you want to have a federal surface transportation program at the current size, much less any bigger, we’ve got to come up with additional revenue sources. If you don’t want to come up with the additional revenue sources, then the only, I think, responsible alternative in the long term is then you have to downsize the programs. But I’m not in favor of that. I think we need to have a substantial federal role in surface transportation going forward. So I think it’s time now to come to grips with this.

And I don’t know that there is one solution. You could have one solution, but I think the politics of raising fuel taxes on the federal level have kept us from having that done since the early ’90s. It’s unpopular in the Congress and with the Obama administration on a bipartisan basis. But you might have perhaps a modest fuel tax increase while beginning to phase in what I think in the long term is probably the best answer, which is a vehicle miles traveled [VMT] tax, where regardless of whether you’re fueling your car with electricity or hydrogen or natural gas or gasoline or diesel fuel, you pay based on your usage of the roads. And the current authorization bill has authorized pilot programs that are underway in Oregon and California for VMT. So I hope that will establish the necessary database to permit serious consideration of that alternative, and public/private partnerships, and the creation of a federal infrastructure bank, which can be done in a lot of different ways. But those are also, I think, attractive alternatives, in the abstract at least, and should be in the mix as well. But I do think probably the most likely way to get the revenues back in alignment with the spending would be a mix of these kinds of programs. I don’t think there is one simple answer.

We’ve talked a little bit about some of the things that maybe aren’t necessarily working too well, but what about as far as the transportation system today? What would you point to as being the most successful aspect of it?

Well, I think overall it is working well. If I gave you a different impression, I want to correct it immediately.

No, it’s not that. I’m just saying that we talked about the downside.

But there is no question that we do need to continue to invest in transportation infrastructure. And that investment

I T H I N K A N D H O P E T H AT B Y T H E T I M E W E H AV E TO G O T H R O U G H THE NEXT GO-AROUND ON R E A U T H O R I Z AT I O N O F S U R FA C E T R A N S P O R TAT I O N , W E W I L L H AV E A L R E A D Y H A D T H E D E B AT E W E N E E D TO H AV E – A N D W E ’ R E O V E R D U E I N H AV I N G I N T H I S C O U N T RY – A B O U T T H E N E E D TO M A K E S O M E F U N D A M E N TA L D E C I S I O N S . I F YO U W A N T TO H AV E A F E D E R A L S U R FA C E T R A N S P O R TAT I O N P R O G R A M AT THE CURRENT SIZE, MUCH LESS A N Y B I G G E R , W E ’ V E G OT TO C O M E UP WITH ADDITIONAL REVENUE SOURCES. has got to come from the federal level, the state level, to an extent the local level, particularly in urban areas, and certainly from the private sector. And if we don’t do that, then our economy will be increasingly constrained. There are reliable studies out there indicating that in the next 15 or 20 years, we could see freight in this country grow 40 to 50 percent.

We can’t move that much additional freight within our current infrastructure. And it will get moved by rail. It will get moved by barge. It will get moved certainly by trucking. But we can’t move that much additional freight in this country unless we expand the infrastructure we need to do so. So we’ve got to come up with a national consensus. And I’m encouraged that both presidential candidates are talking about just that – in broad terms. But they both recognize the importance of investment in transportation infrastructure.

It seems to me that “investment” is the key word there, because I know that it gets kicked around sometimes as a political football and it’s talked about as being a cost rather than a genuine investment that we need to make.

Well, I think that people are getting it though. Again, the difficulty comes when you talk about who is going to pay for what. That’s where we don’t have a consensus. I think we have a substantial consensus on the need but not on the resources that we need to make it happen. And that’s what I hope a new president and a new Congress will start to work on.

If there were a model elsewhere to look at with respect to infrastructure investment, which nation would that be if any?

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Well, one, I’m not a sufficiently serious student of how infrastructure is being handled in 2016 around the world to have a good answer to that. So I can’t help you on a broad basis across all modes. The one area where I do have some insight is the Air Traffic Control System. And I still co-chair a working group on aviation, but I co-chaired it during the time that we worked for two and a half years, almost three years, to put out a report in the spring of last year, at the Eno Center for Transportation. I co-chaired it with former Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan. And we put out both a study of half a dozen other models for handling air traffic control. And we put out a statement of principles, and the best system, I think – and the principles we put out pretty well tracked that – is the Canadian system: NAV CANADA. So certainly, as to air traffic control, I think we do need to move toward a separation of the system from the executive branch of the government and set it up in a nonprofit corporation so first and foremost it can go to the bond markets as every public airport in this country today goes to the bond markets. And that would be a tremendous step forward, because it would permit the operator of the Air Traffic Control System to do long-term strategic planning to know that the funding is going to be there in a reliable, stable way, user-fee funded, as the Canadians do.

And I think we get further faster in, first and foremost, converting, through what’s called the NextGen program, to a GPS-based air navigation system.

And there is overwhelming support for that in the airline industry. There is one big outlier, but the rest of the major carriers support it. Interestingly, one of the most outspoken and consistent sources of support is NATCA [National Air Traffic Controllers Association], the air traffic controllers union.

And again, they are looking, as the airlines are, at the Canadian model, as I think they should and the country should. So a bill was reported out of the transportation committee last winter – an FAA reauthorization bill – that contained just such a reform. And it did not go to enactment this year. There is, as you probably know, a 14-month extension of FAA programs, which means the new administration, the new Congress have an opportunity to take this step. So that’s the model that I’m focused on. On surface transportation and maritime transportation, I don’t have a good answer for you.

Well, as far as within the nation, what do you think our transportation will look like 20 years from now? Do you think that the balance of the different modes of transportation will change?

It will change, but in an economically deregulated free market environment, I can’t predict with any confidence what those changes will look like. I do think the one area that’s exciting but also very challenging is the automation of surface transportation in particular. To a very large extent, we’ve already got commercial aviation automated. And actually, one of the concerns that we’ve got right now in commercial aviation is it’s so automated that pilots have to consciously think about staying alert and on top of the situation and just

general situational awareness. And I know we have exactly that set of issues already emerging with respect to the use of automation to operate surface transportation vehicles. And the technology is almost mature. But the human behavioral issues we haven’t begun to really come to grips with. So I think that’s the great challenge. And if we can figure those issues out in a way that enhances safety, which is what automation first and foremost should do, then I think we’ll see both a far safer surface transportation system – I’m thinking particularly about automobiles and trucks – and a far more efficient system, because one way you can increase capacity is, if you have reliable safe automation, you can put more cars and trucks in the same footprint on the road system. You can run them closer together safely. But we’re not there yet. And again, the technology, I think, is going to get there before we sort out the behavioral issues.

I’ve certainly read a couple of studies that have shown that basically human driver behavior does a lot to reduce the carrying capacity of any given highway, for example, because if they were a little bit more, let’s say, altruistic in their driving behaviors, you could have a lot more cars on the road. But instead, typical human behavior tends to gum up the works.

Exactly, you’ve got it down perfectly. And those are not easy issues. So I’m optimistic that we will sort them out in the long term, but I don’t know how long the long term is. And I don’t think, on the other hand, they’re going to be sorted out in the next year or two. I think we will make substantial progress hopefully, but it’s going to take a while to get where we need to go.

What advice would you offer to whomever becomes the next secretary of transportation?

You know, that is a very good question and in some sense is a tough question. Each secretary comes to the job with a unique set of experiences and wildly varying degrees of knowledge of the issues. So I would say, broad brush, have an open mind. The issues that matter are tough issues by definition. And you need to be willing to listen to all the key players both in the private sector and in government, starting with the people at DOT – the professional career staff – as you sort through those issues.

And the department when I was there, and I believe today, has, particularly at the career SES [Senior Executive Service] level, superb leadership. They are supposed to take on policy direction from the political appointees. And they do – most of the time. But they are an amazing resource for a new secretary.

And in my experience, having both worked there and dealt with them for decades, they care deeply about first and foremost transportation safety, and then they care about the efficiency and the evolution of our transportation system. So they have their hearts overwhelmingly in the right places. They’ve got tremendous knowledge. And a new secretary should listen to them and ultimately make his or her own judgments. And then you’ve got to have an open door for people in the private sector to come tell you about their concerns.

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Š Images courtesy of the New York State Thruway Authority

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U.S. SECRETARIES OF TRANSPORTATION On Jan. 16, 1967, Alan S. Boyd was sworn in as the first U.S. secretary of the department of transportation (DOT).

He played a pioneering role in establishing and organizing the new department, where his earlier post as undersecretary of commerce for transportation and six years’ experience with the Civil Aeronautics Board served him well. The DOT issued the first national highway safety and federal motor carrier vehicle standards under his watch. Among other initiatives and moves, the Urban Mass Transportation Administration was transferred from Housing and Urban Development to the DOT. John A. Volpe was sworn in as secretary of transportation on Jan. 22, 1969. Before becoming transportation secretary, Volpe had been appointed in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as head of the Federal Highway Administration.

Volpe created Amtrak, the national rail passenger system, during his administration, established the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as a separate operating administration during, and passed laws to modernize the nation’s airport-airways system and upgrade urban transit systems (using the Highway Trust Fund for the first time). Volpe also introduced an anti-hijacking program through his Federal Aviation Administration appointee Gen. Benjamin O. Davis, who had been commander of the Tuskegee Airmen.

DOT PHOTOS

Claude S. Brinegar was sworn in as secretary of transportation on Feb. 2, 1973. Faced with mitigating the impact of transportation on energy consumption and the environment, Brinegar is probably best known for the adoption of a 55 mph national speed limit and creation of corporate average fuel economy standards as fuel conservation measures. He also worked on railroad revitalization and regulatory reform, reauthorization of federal highway programs, and pushed legslation that eventually led to the creation of Conrail.

William T. Coleman, Jr., became the first African-American to serve as secretary of transportation on March 7, 1975.

Coleman created the first-ever Statement of National Transportation Policy. He also opened the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s automobile test facility at

East Liberty, Ohio, and established the Materials Transportation Bureau to address pipeline safety and the safe shipment of hazardous materials.

Coleman controversially allowed limited trans-Atlantic service for the Concorde supersonic transport, and also decided to defer the mandatory installation of airbags in all new automobiles.

Brock Adams became secretary of transportation on Feb. 1, 1977. Adams mandated the installation of airbags in automobiles and also challenged the industry to achieve greater fuel efficiency through advanced design changes. He supported significant regulatory reform in transportation, and oversaw a major program for repair and improvement of railway service along the Boston-to-Washington, D.C., corridor. He also achieved domestic airline deregulation in 1978 legislation.

Neil Goldschmidt became secretary of transportation Aug. 15, 1979. Goldschmidt oversaw the enactment of regulations for child restraints in vehicles, and established the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization within DOT. Goldschmidt oversaw the passage of the Stagger Rail Act, which deregulated the railroad industry, and the Motor Carrier Act deregulating the trucking industry, during his tenure.

He also created the National Task Force on Ridesharing to encourage carpooling and vanpooling as ways to save fuel.

After leaving DOT, Goldschmidt served as governor of Oregon from 1987-1991, and later opened his own law practice.

Andrew L. “Drew” Lewis became secretary of transportation on Jan. 23, 1981. During his administration Lewis worked with the Federal Aviation Administration in 1981 to keep the nation’s air transport system running safely in the aftermath of the PATCO strike. Legislation passed during his tenure included the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 and the Highway Revenue Act of 1982, both of which made substantial changes to transportation funding and policy. Lewis also supported the government’s sale of Conrail to private owners.

On Feb. 1, 1983, Elizabeth Hanford Dole became the first woman to serve as secretary of transportation.

Dole oversaw the completion of the sale of Conrail to private interests. She also mandated the use of high-mounted center

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AMTRAK PHOTO

On the first day of Amtrak operations, U.S. Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe (l), Amtrak President Roger Lewis (c) and Amtrak Board of Incorporation Chairman David W. Kendall (r) unveil the Amtrak route map.

COURTESY OF VENABLE LLP; COURTSEY OF GREENBERG TRAURIG, LLP

brake lights, and withheld federal highway funds from states with drinking ages below 21. She implemented deadlines for installing airbags and other passive restraints in motor vehicles, while providing incentives to manufacturers that equipped new cars with airbags.

James H. Burnley IV was sworn in as secretary of transportation on Dec. 3, 1987. Burnley had served as deputy secretary of transportation and general counsel during Secretary Dole’s administration and was appointed secretary in 1987 upon her departure.

Burnley emphasized programs to eliminate drug use in transportationrelated industries by issuing regulations requiring testing of employees in safety or security-sensitive positions. He also worked toward greater private-sector participation in meeting the nation’s transportation needs.

Burnley also fought for more funding for the Coast Guard (the service was a member of DOT until February 2003), supporting efforts to upgrade equipment and facilities.

Samuel K. Skinner became secretary of transportation on Feb. 6, 1989.

Skinner deftly handled a series of crises during his tenure, including the Eastern Air Lines strike, the Exxon Valdez oil spill, a California earthquake, and Hurricane Hugo, which earned him the nickname “Master of Disaster.” He also led coordination of civilian transportation support for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Skinner supported the successful passage of legislation to reduce aircraft noise and expand airport capacity, as well as authorizing a landmark federal surface transportation program. He also developed a comprehensive National Transportation Policy to guide transportation into the 21st century.

Andrew H. Card was sworn in as secretary of transportation on February 24, 1992.

In less than a year in office, Card headed a task force to coordinate federal disaster recovery efforts following Hurricane Andrew, which badly damaged transportation infrastructure

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and affected some 200,000 people living on Florida’s southeastern coast and in parts of Louisiana. Card also stood up the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, to publish the data collected by the DOT, making it available inside and outside the government. Card also worked with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army to streamline the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act’s Section 404 wetlands permitting processes.

Federico F. Peña began his service as the 12th secretary of transportation on Jan. 21, 1993.

Peña downsized DOT’s workforce by 11,000 positions, while increasing transportation infrastructure investments by 10 percent during his tenure. He also signed the first new international aviation agreements since the Carter administration with 41 nations, which helped open markets for American airlines and cargo carriers.

Rodney E. Slater was sworn in as the secretary of transportation on Feb. 14, 1997. Slater had served as federal highway administrator since 1993. He is only the second person in DOT history, after John A. Volpe, to hold both posts.

Slater gained bipartisan support in Congress for the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, which made a record $200 billion investment in surface transportation, and for the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment Reform Act for the 21st Century, which provided $46 billion to improve the safety and security of the nation’s aviation system. He negotiated 40 Open Skies agreements with other countries to bolster international air travel, and also hosted the first International Transportation Symposium, attended by representatives from more than 90 countries.

DOT PHOTOS

Norman Y. Mineta became secretary of transportation on Jan. 25, 2001. He was the first secretary of transportation to have previously served in a cabinet position, as secretary of commerce from 20002001. He was the first Asian-American secretary of transportation.

Mineta oversaw the closing of U.S. airspace during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as well as its reopening in the aftermath. He guided the creation of the Transportation Security Administration, and worked to repair and reopen major transportation infrastructure in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Mineta also unveiled the Next Generation Air Transportation System plan (NextGen) to modernize the nation’s air traffic system.

On Oct. 17, 2006, Mary E. Peters was sworn in as secretary of transportation. As head of the Federal Highway Administration

(FHWA) from 2001-2005, she spearheaded efforts to find new ways to invest in road and bridge construction, including innovative public-private partnerships, and encouraged the use of new technologies to help build roads faster, make them safer and, by employing new technologies, at less expense to the taxpayer.

Peters worked with the Bush administration and Congress to enact SAFETEA-LU, a multi-year surface transportation bill, made surface and air congestion reduction a national priority, and dramatically improved highway safety numbers.

Ray H. LaHood became the 16th U.S. secretary of transportation on Jan. 23, 2009. LaHood shifted DOT’s emphasis on highways to include a larger discussion of mobility options, including high-speed rail, local transit, biking, and even walking. He emphasized that transportation was inseparable from housing, education, the environment, and the economy in building more livable and sustainable communities. Under the LaHood model, the DOT, the EPA, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development coordinate policy, and state and metropolitan leaders have to come up with their own innovative (and cost-effective) approaches to transportation problems, coordinating with the federal government. He is probably best known for his campaign to stop distracted driving.

Anthony Foxx became the 17th secretary of transportation on July 2, 2013.

Foxx is working to improve safety in all modes of transportation, leading efforts for new oil train safety standards, and has shut down more than 100 bus companies with the worst safety and compliance issues. He also issued a record $35 million fine against General Motors because of the automaker’s failure to report a safety defect to the government in a timely manner. Foxx has issued a final rule advancing commercial pilot training, and launched the Everyone Is a Pedestrian initiative. He also announced a federal government requirement that new vehicles will require vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication so they can warn drivers if a crash is imminent. Foxx has also overseen billions of dollars in grants for transportation infrastructure improvements, and strengthened ties with international partners.

Compiled from DOT sources.

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INTERVIEW: SAMUEL K. SKINNER, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION 1989-1991

PHOTO COURTSEY OF GREENBERG TRAURIG, LLP

Samuel K. Skinner was sworn in as secretary of transportation on Feb. 6, 1989. Before becoming secretary of transportation, he had previously served as chairman of the Regional Transportation Authority of northeastern Illinois, the nation’s second-largest mass transportation district.

He was instrumental in developing President George H.W. Bush’s National Transportation Policy (NTP) and the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). Skinner developed the “Open Skies” policy that significantly increased the number of international flights arriving in and departing from the United States.

He also developed and shepherded through the legislative process initiatives to reduce aircraft noise, expand airport capacity, and authorize a landmark federal surface transportation program.

While he achieved these legislative successes, he also had to deal with a series of disasters. These included the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Eastern Air Lines strike, the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, Hurricane Hugo, the 1991 national rail strike, and the northern California earthquake. His role in successfully coping with these emergencies earned Skinner the nickname the “Master of Disaster.”

Skinner became White House chief of staff in December 1991.

After President George H.W. Bush left office, Skinner became president of Commonwealth Edison from 1993 to 1998. He became chairman, president, and CEO of U.S. Freightways from 2003-2005, and currently serves on several boards. He is currently with the law firm of Greenberg Traurig, LLP. The town in which you grew up – Wheaton, Illinois – can trace its heritage and birth directly to the railroad lines it was built around. Wheaton is also served by the Metra, which links it directly to Chicago. In what way did growing up in Wheaton with its multimodal transportation system fuel your interest and prepare you for your role as U.S. secretary of transportation?

Samuel K. Skinner: My interest in transportation in my earlier years was mainly aviation and automobiles. In Wheaton, we had two mass transit options. My first real exposure was in my first day to work, after graduating from the University of Illinois in June of 1960, when I boarded the CNW rail car at the College Street station going to the IBM office in Chicago.

I continue to use Metra to this day.

In 1989, President George H.W. Bush appointed you as secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

At the time, what were the greatest areas of concern related to infrastructure and transit? How did events like the Exxon Valdez spill, the Lockerbie bombing, and various airline and rail

strikes affect efforts of the DOT and the administration as it went forward with its plans?

Unfortunately, the two big issues that continue to this day are infrastructure funding and [Highway] Trust Fund insolvency. New issues that came into focus in 1989 included airport security, marine environmental protection, airport capacity, and funding.

You were instrumental in developing President George H.W. Bush’s National Transportation Policy. The policy was supported by both sides of Congress as well as industry, and the administration held more than 100 public meetings where citizens voiced their support for investment in the nation’s transportation system. Today, citizens are clearly concerned with the state of the nation’s infrastructure, but Congress has been unable to pass a long-term transportation bill. What has to give?

We have to learn to work together. The NTP set some visionary goals and helped form the movement to intermodal

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cooperation. Unfortunately, the competition for funding increased when we had to fund the wars in the Mideast, health care reform, and the Department of Homeland Security effort on immigration and security. The long-term answers to the transportation challenges continue to be to finding a dedicated source of revenue and obtaining public/private funding for real projects. Technology may make usage more efficient, but it does not replace highways, bridges, airports, rail stations, and tracks.

We have to protect and repair our existing infrastructure first.

Can you describe why the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) was so revolutionary in the way it planned for and funded the nation’s infrastructure?

It required mass transit, airports, and highway planners to work together, and gave them incentives to do so. It also encouraged them to work together along with private-sector developers. It recognized the need to prioritize investment based on demand as well as population density.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower correctly predicted that the Interstate Highway Program “would change the face of America.” In 1991, President Bush, at the time of the signing of the ISTEA, said “The future of American transportation begins today.” Have the ISTEA and the acts that followed met the desired goal of creating an efficient transportation system? If so, how? If not, why?

I think great strides have been made by all administrations that followed us in demanding and encouraging efficiency in funding and planning. Congress has been supportive in these efforts. The major roadblock has been the lack of funding.

Your implementation of an “Open Skies” policy of the United States liberalized air services between foreign countries and the U.S., generating significant opportunities for consumers and shippers, which consequently led to economic growth and job creation. Today, industries are looking at the deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in our National Airspace System. What would a liberalized UAV air program look like if you were leading those efforts? As a licensed pilot, what is your greatest concern?

I am very concerned about the proliferation of UAVs. Secretary [Anthony] Foxx and his team have made great strides in their efforts to protect the airspace, but the low price points for UAVs and the simplicity of their usage make them possible threats to safety and security in the air or on the ground.

What changes and improvements must be made to our transportation systems to make us safer, more efficient, and more competitive?

We need to rebuild the key elements of the transportation system as soon as possible. We have to make sure we are

T H E LO N G - T E R M A N S W E R S TO T H E T R A N S P O R TAT I O N C H A L L E N G E S C O N T I N U E TO B E TO F I N D I N G A D E D I C AT E D S O U R C E O F R E V E N U E A N D O B TA I N I N G P U B L I C / P R I VAT E FUNDING FOR REAL PROJECTS. T E C H N O LO G Y M AY M A K E U S A G E MORE EFFICIENT, BUT IT DOES N OT R E P L A C E H I G H W AY S , B R I D G E S , A I R P O R T S , R A I L S TAT I O N S , A N D TRACKS. WE HAVE TO PROTECT AND REPAIR OUR EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE FIRST. embracing technology to make our systems more efficient as well as safer. I am very encouraged by the efforts that are being made in automobile, rail, aircraft, and marine systems with early warning technology.

What are your thoughts on the Obama administration’s GROW AMERICA Act? I support Secretary Foxx and the president’s initiatives, and believe they encourage discussions on funding allocation as well as new initiatives.

I am hopeful that the new Congress will work together to make progress. The success we had while I was secretary has to be attributed to our willingness to work with Congress on a bipartisan basis, and their willingness to work together with DOT. Which non-U.S. based transit system has most impressed you, and what can we learn from that city’s or country’s success?

I am very impressed with several of the major new airports in the Mideast and Far East. I also was in London in 2012, at the Olympics, and thought that the London Underground system’s performance was flawless. The willingness of governments to fund these visionary projects is truly amazing. We must learn to think big as well.

Can you describe your overall feelings as to your experience as secretary?

I had the honor to serve as secretary with a great team of political and career employees, and we strived to operate effectively our execution. Empowerment of the DOT employees was the key to any success we had.

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

THE “TYRANNY OF DISTANCE” From the Cumberland Road to the Department of Transportation

BY DWIGHT JON ZIMMERMAN

“I am convinced of the validity of the argument that if we are to develop consistent, integrated transportation policies and a balanced national transportation system, we must have in place organizational arrangements which make this possible.”

— FAA Chief Najeeb E. Halaby letter to President Lyndon B. Johnson, June 30, 1965

Historian Daniel Walker Howe called it the “Tyranny of Distance.” And what a distance! The seemingly limitless vastness of the New World continent on which the young United States was born fired imaginations, inspired dreams, and confronted government officials, businesses, farmers, and ranchers with an equally daunting multitude of natural challenges. Paramount among them: How to create a practical transportation network to move people and goods? The answers were as varied as the landscape and would result in engineering marvels that were the pride of the nation as well as revolutions in society. Binding the nation through transportation began with ship and barge, continued with horse drawn wagon and coach, dramatically expanded thanks to the iron horse of the railroad, was transformed by the horseless carriage, and finally went aloft with the airplane.

Historian J.R. Perkins wrote that during the 19th century “road building was all but in its infancy.” Most routes followed animal and Native American trails. Major arteries were post roads, so named because they were used for postal deliveries, former wilderness trails blazed by fur companies and their agents, or private toll roads known as “turnpikes” after the toll gate’s design: a pole mounted with pikes that was turned to permit travelers to proceed.

The years following the end of the Revolutionary War saw a boom in road construction designed to connect coastal cities with settlements in the interior. States took the lead granting charters to private companies. The first such charter was issued

by Pennsylvania in 1790 to the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Road Company for a paved road connecting those two cities. Construction began in 1792 and was completed in 1795. Turnpikes were usually located every five to 10 miles

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and fees ranged from 10 cents to 25 cents, at a time when an average annual income was less than $500.

The success of the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike inspired the company to extend construction further west, and hundreds of other turnpike companies were formed throughout the new nation. Originally paved with crushed stone, turnpikes were later covered with macadam. To cross wetlands and small streams, the companies placed logs side by side, a method that resulted in so-called “corduroy roads.”

The first national road was the National Pike, also known as the Cumberland Road. Authorized by Congress in 1806, construction began in 1811. The first major segment was a 130mile road connecting Cumberland, Maryland, to Wheeling, then a part of Virginia. When construction officially ended in 1837, its western terminus reached Vandalia, Illinois.

The high quality of turnpikes greatly improved overland transport of people and freight in the early 19th century.

Concord stagecoaches capable of carrying up to 12 passengers and Conestoga wagons with up to 6 tons of freight were regular sights on these roads. A typical journey by stagecoach on the National Pike from Washington, D.C., to Wheeling, a distance of 275 miles, averaged 30 hours.

But the success of the early turnpikes proved shortlived. Battered by the financial crisis of the Panic of 1837 and competition by canals and, more importantly, railroads, by 1840 new rural road construction had collapsed and conditions of existing roads deteriorated when turnpike companies went bankrupt.

As with roads, states also issued charters to private companies for canals. Arguably the most important, certainly the most famous, was the Erie Canal. Authorized in 1817,

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The National Pike/Cumberland Road. The first national road, its construction was authorized by Congress in 1806. it was the first canal financed by bonds for the public good.

Completed in 1825, the 363-mile canal connected Lake Erie with the Hudson River, creating a navigable waterway for the transport of people and goods from the port of New York City to the Great Lakes. The cost of freight transport dropped 95 percent. Canal construction boomed, and between 1816 and 1840 more than 3,326 miles of canals were built. The United States became the world’s leader in canal mileage and tonnage transported. But despite their commercial advantage, canals had two important disadvantages: They were expensive to build and maintain, and they had to have a reliable source of water.

The antebellum success of canals would soon be eclipsed by a means of transportation that defined 19th century America: the railroad.

Once again states provided the means for developing this new mode of transportation though the issuance of charters.

Though small railroad lines had existed as early as 1826, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which connected Baltimore to the Ohio River and went into service in 1830, was the first major carrier, initially using horses to pull its train cars. The South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company was the first to use steam-powered locomotives.

The signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, in which Mexico ceded to the United States all its territory roughly north of the 33rd parallel, completed the continental transformation of the country. Connecting the two coasts with a transcontinental railroad was one of the two great issues that dominated life during the antebellum era, the other being slavery. The man responsible for overcoming both was President Abraham Lincoln. During his legal career in Illinois, he was regarded as “one of the foremost railroad lawyers in the West.” In 1859, Republican presidential candidate Lincoln was introduced to Grenville Mellon Dodge following a speech in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Dodge was a 28-year-old engineer who had done surveys on the best route west for the Rock Island Railroad Company. Introduced to Lincoln as the man who knew more about railroads than any “two men in the country,” Lincoln got to the point. “Dodge, what’s the best route for a Pacific railroad to the West.”

Dodge replied, “From this town out the Platte Valley.” He went on to explain that the route of the 42nd parallel was the “most practical and economic.” Lincoln peppered Dodge with so many questions that Dodge later commented, “He shelled my woods completely and got all the information I collected.”

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Authorized in 1817, the Erie Canal was the first canal financed by bonds for the public good, and cut the cost of freight transport by 95 percent.

Upon becoming president, Lincoln used that knowledge to push through legislation for the construction of a transcontinental railroad. On July 1, 1862, the same day that the Union Army of the Potomac was slugging it out with the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, Lincoln signed into law the bill authorizing the first transcontinental railroad.

Lincoln would not live to see its completion, having been felled by an assassin’s bullet in 1865. The honor of receiving news of its completion on May 10, 1869, at Promontory Summit, Utah, would fall to his greatest general, Ulysses S. Grant, the nation’s 18th president.

When the Civil War began, the South had about 9,000 miles of track and the North about 22,000 miles. During the war the North built an additional 4,000 miles of track and 451 new locomotives, the more resource-poor South added less than 400 miles of track and only 19 new locomotives. Upon war’s end, the reunited nation was able to accelerate the pace of railroad construction.

By the dawn of the 20th century, with 193,000 miles of track that included five transcontinental lines and a network of trunk lines connecting all the major cities, the United States could boast the world’s most extensive, and arguably best, railroad network – and some of the world’s worst roads.

Prior to the 20th century, in the United States the building and maintaining rural roads was not considered a responsibility of government. Instead, the financial burden of doing so in rural areas was borne by the people whose land abutted the road.

Together with the fact that train travel in the 19th century was faster, cheaper, and less hazardous than that over dirt trails that raised choking clouds of dust when dry and were rutted quagmires when wet, quality roads in rural areas were not a national concern. As a result, paved roadways invariably ended at city’s edge.

But change was on the horizon thanks to the development of two novel forms of transportation that would spur the development of the road network that we know today. One was the automobile, particularly Henry Ford’s Model T. But it debuted about 30 years after the one that actually jumpstarted the movement to develop good roads: the bicycle.

Bicycling as a popular leisure pastime and practical means of transportation began in the late 1870s and really took off in the 1890s thanks to improved designs that made them both safer and easy for women to ride. Bicyclists formed clubs and, because they wanted to have quality surfaces to travel on, became leading advocates in what became known as the Good Roads Movement, a nationwide grassroots effort

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

to raise awareness for the need for a network of paved, allweather highways.

The movement officially started in May 1880 when bicycle enthusiasts, riding clubs, and manufacturers met in Newport, Rhode Island, and formed the League of American Wheelmen (LAW). Efforts by LAW and like-minded organizations who saw that lack of a good road infrastructure was holding back the development of rural regions soon began to bear fruit. In 1891, New Jersey became the first state to adopt a “state aid” plan, appropriating funds to counties for road construction. Other states soon followed. Though the constitutional issue of whether or not the federal government was permitted to construct highways had yet to be settled, in 1893, it created the Office of Road Inquiry (ORI), the forerunner of what would eventually become the Federal Highway Administration, to advise state and county officials on how best to build rural roads.

Two of the most influential men during this period were Horatio Sawyer Earle and Martin Dodge. Earle, a Detroit businessman, joined the LAW’s Michigan branch in 1896 and in 1898, became its chief consul. He was elected to the state senate and, in 1903, became Michigan’s first highway commissioner.

As a result of his tireless and pioneering advocacy, he would become known as the “Father of Good Roads.”

Earle crisscrossed the state delivering lectures on the need for good roads. He repeatedly encountered resistance,

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sometimes bitterly so. In his autobiography, published in 1929, he wrote that attitudes broadly split along two lines with rural audiences stating “if the cities want good roads to use for their pleasure, let them build them” and city dwellers countering “if farmers want good roads, let them build them.” To overcome this bedeviling resistance, Earle, Dodge, and others recognized that skeptical audiences first needed to be educated. And the best education was a practical demonstration. But before that could happen, the government needed to know what sort of road network it had.

In 1904, the Office of Public Road Inquiry took the nation’s first inventory of highways. Of the 2,151,570 miles of rural public roads, a whopping 93 percent – 1,997,908 miles – were dirt. Of the 153,662 miles that had surfacing, only 38,622 were stone or macadam. The rest were covered in gravel, shells, or other material.

In 1898, Dodge, an Ohio state legislator and a good roads advocate, became the acting head of the Office of Road Inquiry. In 1899, Dodge became its director and served until 1905 when it was reorganized as the Office of Public Roads and incorporated as a division within the Department of Agriculture.

Under Dodge’s tenure, the ORI became an information conduit and disseminator that furnished advice about roadbuilding techniques to state and local officials. He also established a post-graduate school for civil engineers so they

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PHOTO

Railroad construction through a residential area in Georgia.

PAINTING BY CARL RAKEMAN, FHWA FLICKR

The Lincoln Highway was one of the earliest transcontinental highways for automobiles across America. It was dedicated in 1913. could receive advanced road-building training. And, he created the Bureau of Chemistry to study, test, and recommend roadconstruction materials.

In 1899, Earle, then chief consul of the LAW’s Michigan Division, announced a contest for a city in the state to host an international good roads congress to be held in July 1900. Port Huron won the contest and the First Annual LAW Festival and Good Roads Congress was scheduled for July 2-5, 1900.

After failing to gain the governor’s support for the congress, Earle turned to Dodge who enthusiastically signed on and sent hundreds of invitations to good roads advocates in the United States and Canada as well as to Michigan legislators, journalists, and local officials. Response was enthusiastic.

Using as a template the entertainment and culture program of the popular Chautauquas, Earle scheduled a mix of races, concerts, shows, speeches, and a banquet to educate and drum up support for good roads. Historian Kenneth Earl Peters wrote that “Earle sought to establish the idea that with wise investment of money and modern techniques, men could build roads at a reasonable price. Earle sought to demonstrate his ideas though two devices: his good roads train and the objectlesson road.”

The good roads train, suggested by ORI official Maurice O. Eldridge, consisted of a traction engine, a road roller, a sprinkler, dump wagons, and farm wagons that were loaded with several

hundred people riding to the festival’s major event, the objectlesson road.

The Port Huron object-lesson road – a mile-long project begun and completed during the congress – was a demonstration designed to give the delegates the opportunity “to observe the methods and details of construction and to see the principles, taught by the road builders present, actually put into practice.” The train and demonstration proved an inspired move. Applications for similar demonstrations throughout the country poured in. The event yielded another important result: Resolutions were adopted that called for the federal government to provide liberal assistance in road building and to expand the ORI’s responsibilities.

More object-lesson roads were built in Michigan, with the longest one, 8,017 feet, constructed at Saginaw. In 1900, running on a good roads platform, Earle was elected to the Michigan State Senate where, as head of the State Highway Committee, he became a leading advocate for good roads.

In 1901, Earle took his good roads train concept to the next level by actually using a railroad train. With financial backing from railroads, with some going as far as allowing the train to use their tracks free of charge, the Earle Good Roads Train Company had an engine, several railroad cars for hauling roadbuilding machinery, and a Pullman car for experts and road machine operators. Instead of seeing it as a threat to their

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ACS Infrastructure Development congratulates the USDOT on 50 years of Moving America Forward SH 288 Toll Lanes - Houston, Texas (Financial Close May 2016)

Southern Ohio Veterans Memorial Highway - Columbus, Ohio (Under Construction)

I-595 Corridor Improvements Project, Florida (In Operations as of March 2014)

ACS is proud to be partners with the USDOT in celebrating the accomplishments of the past and working together on innovative projects that will keep America moving safely in the future.

ACS Infrastructure Development, Inc. | (305) 424-5400 (usa@acsinfra.com) | www.grupoacs.com

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The U.S. Department of Transportation did not select or approve this advertiser and does not endorse and is not responsible for the views or statements contained in this advertisement.

The U.S. Department of Transportation did not select or approve this advertiser and does not endorse and is not responsible for the views or statements contained in this advertisement.

Redefining the traffic controller

In an era of ever-evolving technology, change in our industry is inevitable. However, it’s not often that a change in technology redefines an industry. When Peek Traffic set themselves to design a new traffic controller, they launched the most advanced concept in a generation.

The premise was ambitious: Let’s imagine a traffic device that would fit on any traffic cabinet size.

Let’s make sure that the device can be programmed from a mobile phone or a tablet. The device would need a multitude of ports to act as a hub for any existing and future traffic devices. It would also be ideal for the device to control a traffic intersection while monitoring the voltage and current flow and a to have an integrated conflict monitor.

All these ideas became a reality with the launch of Peek’s C5000 ATC Controller.

The product was inspired by the success of Peek’s advanced traffic controller engine, installed in over thirty-thousand intersections worldwide and driven by their renowned software Greenwave, a powerful Linux-based multi-process traffic engine and environment. The solution combines a traffic cabinet, a traffic controller a traffic monitor and much more in a single unit. These devices fit on a standard nineteen-inch detection rack while being only seventeen inches tall.

The C5000 ATC Controller is ready for future ITS applications today. The need for a centralized control makes the use of on-site programming of the intersections obsolete. As information flows from the C5000 ATC Controller intersection to a central location, a keyboard or a multicolor screen are unnecessary and costly embellishments. The C5000 deals with this predicament in an innovative way: The unit can be programmed by either the use of any mobile device or with an optional detachable programming panel. The greatest thing about the C5000 ATC controller is that we can witness the future of traffic control devices today. For more information, please visit www.peektraffic.com.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PHOTO BY HARRIS & EWING

Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, second from left, poses with others in front of a U.S. Air Mail Fokker Trimotor. business, railroad executives viewed road improvement as a boon because better highways would facilitate the movement of goods from farm to depot and vice versa, competition from long-haul truckers being years away.

Earle’s plan was for the train to stop at designated communities in 25 states. There experts would deliver lectures on good roads and the operators would follow through with the construction of a road, ranging in length from half a mile to 1.5 miles.

On April 20, 1901, the first Good Roads Train departed Chicago for New Orleans. Along the way it made stops at communities in Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Response to the train was overwhelmingly enthusiastic.

Typical was praise by Harry H. Hodgson, secretary of the Louisiana State Good Roads Association who wrote, “the piece of road built had greatly benefited several road committees in our parishes, resulting in their making a number of improvements.”

Other good roads trains followed, the “most spectacular” one being the Southern Railway Goods Roads Train. Starting on Oct. 29, 1901, and ending on April 5, 1902, it traveled

though Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama, covered 4,037 miles and gave lectures and demonstrations at 18 different communities. Consisting of 12 cars of equipment and two for officials and crews, it built a total of 15 miles of roads.

Meanwhile, other events were helping change people’s attitudes about the nation having a good road network. Farmers had been the largest bloc resistant to good roads, believing that taxes paid for roads would more benefit bicycle-riding “peacocks” from the city than them. That attitude significantly changed with the passage of Rural Free Delivery (RFD) legislation in 1893. Prior to that, people in rural areas had to travel to post offices in towns to pick up their mail. By 1902, the RFD system was instituted nationwide. Now, instead of farmers traveling to get their mail, their mail would be delivered to them at their farms. Since reliable mail delivery depended on having good roads, farmers had an incentive to become advocates.

In 1905, Logan Waller Page, a geologist and chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, became the director of the newly created Office of Public Roads. His introduction of a scientific movement in road construction, free of the taint of politics and corruption,

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

gained him national fame. Among his accomplishments was the use of standardized physical tests of road-building rocks that quickly became routine procedure.

Though bicycles were, in Earle’s words “the father” of the good roads movement, it was the invention of the automobile that had the biggest influence. The tipping-point was the impact of Ford’s everyman car, the Model T. Introduced in 1908, Ford created a revolutionary mass production system that enabled him to produce tens of thousands of cars at prices that made the Model T financially accessible to almost anyone.

The explosive popularity of the Model T, and other cars, led to the creation of the American Automobile Association, which became a powerful advocate for good roads.

On Jan. 7, 1907, the Supreme Court resolved the constitutional question of the federal government’s role in highway construction, ruling in the case Wilson v. Shaw, “Under the commerce clause of the Constitution, Congress has power to create interstate highways, including canals, and also those wholly within the territories and outside of state lines.”

After a number of abortive legislative attempts, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916. It was an historic piece of legislation that established the first federal highway funding law. It was succeeded by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921 that expanded the federal highway program.

Mobilization requirements following the United States’ entry into World War I revealed the inadequacy of the nation’s railroad network to supply its military logistical needs and that the nation’s highway network was even more inadequate to picking up the slack. What quality paved roads that existed were for the most part feeder lines serving railroads.

The country had only one transcontinental road, the 3,389mile Lincoln Highway, and its quality varied as much as the landscape it traversed.

After the war, in 1919, the War Department announced the creation of the First Transcontinental Motor Convoy of 1919.

Part publicity stunt, part feasibility study, the War Department stated the expedition was “to search out the military capabilities of auto and truck.”

Composed of 81 vehicles ranging from motorcycles to trucks and carrying 24 officers and 258 enlisted men, it departed from Washington, D.C., on July 7, 1919, with great fanfare. Sixty-two days later it arrived to even greater acclaim in San Francisco, just five days behind schedule. The convoy survived vehicle breakdowns, mud, quicksand, dust, inadequate bridges, and absence of road signs. In some respects, the only difference between the 1919 convoy on the Lincoln Highway and the wagon trains of the California and Oregon trails was the mode of transportation. In the immediate wake of the convoy’s success, several states authorized road construction bills.

The convoy’s most immediate affect was the so-called “Pershing Map,” named after General of the Armies John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force during the war. Requested by Thomas H. MacDonald, the head

44

of the Bureau of Public Roads, it was a map that identified highways that were of “prime importance in the event of war.”

Thirty-seven years later, Dwight Eisenhower, a member of the convoy and now president of the United States, signed into law the Interstate Highway Act of 1956. Many of the roads identified in the Pershing Map would be incorporated into the Interstate network.

The Wright brothers’ successful powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in December 1903 finally opened the atmosphere to human transportation. Though its technology was still nascent, over the skies of Europe in World War I the airplane was proving its worth and revealing its potential as an instrument of destruction and transportation.

The Air Mail Act of 1925 and the Air Commerce Act of 1926 set the stage for the dramatic, hand-in-glove creation and growth of air mail service and the commercial airline industry.

The Air Mail Act authorized the postmaster general to issue contracts for domestic air service. Within weeks of its passing, automaker Ford’s airline service submitted the first private carrier bid to haul the mail. Others soon followed. To help spur airline passenger service, the postmaster general favored large companies that promised to buy the largest passenger aircraft.

The Air Commerce Act established the Aeronautic Branch within the Commerce Department, vesting it with regulatory powers regarding air safety. For the first time, pilots had to be tested and licensed, and aircraft had to be certified as airworthy. It also oversaw the development and maintenance of aids to air navigation, air route establishment, and aviation accidents and incidents.

In part spurred by the high-profile death of popular Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne in an airline accident in 1931, in the 1930s Congress passed additional airline safety legislation to reflect the growing national importance of private and commercial aviation. This culminated with the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 that established the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA), giving it the power to investigate accidents and recommend preventative measures, air traffic control, and other air safety measures. In the months leading up to World War II, the CAA extended its air traffic control authority to include airport towers. The latter became a permanent federal responsibility after World War II. The fatal collision on June 30, 1956, of a TWA Super Constellation and a United Airlines DC-7 over the Grand Canyon that killed all 128 occupants highlighted that much remained to be done to make the airways over the nation safe. In 1958, Sen. A.S. “Mike” Monroney introduced a bill to create the Federal Aviation Agency. Two months later Eisenhower signed the Federal Aviation Act that made the new Federal Aviation Agency responsible for all aspects of civil aviation.

By the mid-1960s, transportation over the country’s waterways, highways, and airways was administered by a cornucopia of independent agencies and department bureaus.

The variety and complexity of transportation challenges caused outgoing Federal Aviation Agency Chief Najeeb Halaby

PAINTING BY CARL RAKEMAN, FHWA FLICKR

A Carl Rakeman painting of a rural Interstate as a vision of the future, painted in 1945. to express his concerns in a letter dated June 30, 1965, to President Lyndon B. Johnson.

After summarizing the situation and problems, he then proposed “a two-stage program which would (1) first improve both domestic and international transportation policy formulation and interagency coordination though the establishment of a National Transportation Council; and (2) subsequently provide for the creation of a Department of Transportation under an official of Cabinet rank.” What made this proposal so bold was that Halaby had long defended the FAA’s independence and now, as he later wrote he was “an independent agency head proposing to become less independent.”

Halaby’s letter could not have come at a better time nor to more appropriate eyes. Johnson had already requested that Secretary of Commerce John T. Connor and Under Secretary of Commerce for Transportation Alan Boyd give him a bold and imaginative transportation program. Halaby’s letter was an even bolder move.

Staff work identifying what needed to be done commenced.

In his January 1966 State of the Union address, Johnson proposed the creation of a Cabinet-level Department of Transportation that consolidated 31 different federal elements ranging from the U.S. Coast Guard to the Environmental Science Services Administration under its umbrella.

On Oct. 15, 1966, Johnson signed into law the Department of Transportation, creating the fourth-largest federal agency and the most sweeping reorganization of the federal government since the National Security Act of 1947 that created the Department of Defense.

The Department of Transportation’s mission statement proclaimed: “Serve the United States by ensuring a fast, safe, efficient, accessible and convenient transportation system that meets our vital national interests and enhances the quality of life of the American people, today and into the future.” That statement then is as relevant now as it was 50 years ago.

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

ARE WE THERE YET? Transportation Past, Present, and Future

BY DOUG OBERHELMAN, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, CATERPILLAR INC.

Caterpillar is proud to have helped build the infrastructure that has built America. We estimate, adding together the Work Projects Administration of the 1930s, post-World War II projects, the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System, and many other state and federal projects, that Caterpillar equipment has cleared, built, and paved more than 700,000 miles of U.S. roads. That’s, at the very least, one-third of all paved roads in America today. And we’re not including other critical infrastructure Caterpillar equipment has helped build, like the Golden Gate Bridge, the Hoover Dam, and the Saint Lawrence Seaway, to name just a few.

From our founding in 1925, we saw opportunity in building America’s highways. With the production of our first motor grader and diesel engine tractor in 1931, we entered the construction and earthmoving industries, and that has fueled much of our success ever since.

Interestingly, Caterpillar is only a year older than one of our nation’s original highways – U.S. Route 66. We were founded in 1925 and U.S. Route 66, “America’s Main Street” was established in 1926. Then, for more than a generation, Americans traveled the two-lane scenic “Mother Road” between Chicago and Santa Monica.

I can share the nostalgia for the small towns, diners, and full service gas stations that flourished along historic Route 66, because every year my parents would load up our old Plymouth. My sister and I would climb in the back seat for the nearly 1,000-mile journey from our hometown north of Chicago to visit our grandparents in Riley County, Kansas.

For all of its charm, though, as a young boy I thought the long miles along Route 66 would never end. It could be slow going, with hazards and traffic lights; nothing like the speed and ease of the interstate highways I travel now.

A drive that would take about nine hours today took us just about two days. More than once I’d lean over the top of the front seat and ask my parents, “Are we there yet?”

Now, from my position leading Caterpillar, I want to ask the same question of our elected officials and policymakers

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responsible for investing in U.S. infrastructure to secure our future: Are we there yet?

The enactment of the five-year, $305 billion federal highway bill, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, in December 2015 was a welcome bipartisan achievement.

We also see states across the country stepping up to raise and invest state revenue for infrastructure investment. All of these efforts are a great start toward what is a shared, long-term goal: A sustainable, predictable, growing source of revenue to repair and replace our ailing infrastructure and modernize our transportation system to meet the needs of American families and businesses today and tomorrow.

It should be no surprise that Caterpillar is a big supporter of infrastructure investment. I’ve already talked about our pride in helping to build America’s roads and highways.

But for us, it’s about much more than selling machines to pave the first and the last mile!

It’s about how aging infrastructure slows down our business and the U.S. economy. It’s about whether we can efficiently export our products from our U.S. factories and efficiently transport the parts and components we need from across the country.

If we can’t get our components and parts in time, we can’t build our products in time, and our customers could buy elsewhere.

If an excavator, an engine, or a work tool is delayed or detoured because of weight, traffic or height, our customers could buy elsewhere.

But if we can move our goods at a consistent, high rate of velocity, we can deliver a competitive advantage to our customers. They win, their employees win – and so does Caterpillar, our employees, and the U.S. economy.

We stand ready to work with the Department of Transportation, the new presidential administration, and the new Congress to find the long-term, sustainable solutions we know are possible.

CATERPILLAR PHOTOS

As Caterpillar joins the celebration of the Department of Transportation’s 50year anniversary, I want to say congratulations and ask you to join me in looking forward and looking back.

Caterpillar equipment has cleared, built, and paved more than 700,000 miles of American roads in addition to core infrastructure projects across the United States.

And we do know it’s possible because from the first day of operations 50 years ago, and every day since, the men and women of the Department of Transportation have played a vital role coordinating and supporting the infrastructure projects that keep us the world’s leading economy. Thank you, and let your work never be finished!

We can’t rest when manufacturers, shippers, and families rely on transportation for every part of their day. We can’t rest in a competitive world economy, when other nations are replicating the U.S. economic advantage of infrastructure investment as fast as possible.

So the answer to, “Are we there yet?” is no; the journey stretches far beyond today. Like my family’s travels on Route 66, we may have turned west to enter Kansas, but the road continued on.

We must constantly bolster, innovate, and invest in infrastructure, so families and businesses can make their journeys safer, faster, and more efficiently, and our economy can grow and thrive.

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

UP AND RUNNING Start-up Challenges and Select Road, Rail, Maritime, and Aviation Highlights

BY DWIGHT JON ZIMMERMAN

“Transportation is this nation’s biggest industry. It accounts for $1 out of every $5 in the American economy. It employs more than 2 1/2 million people. To ensure that this great industry serves the needs of our people, satisfies the demands of our expanding economy, we will look to the secretary of transportation.”

– President Lyndon B. Johnson, speaking at the Nov. 6, 1966 news conference announcing Alan S. Boyd as the first secretary of transportation In the Oct. 15, 1966 press conference in which he announced the creation of the Department of Transportation (DOT), President Lyndon B. Johnson said that the new department “will have a mammoth task – to untangle, to coordinate, and to build the national transportation system for America that America is deserving of.”

Johnson was not speaking hyperbole.

In the six decades leading up to his 1966 announcement, transportation in the country had grown at a breathtaking pace and, thanks to the automobile and the airplane, achieved levels of mobility beyond mankind’s wildest imaginings. Its impact is indicated in a breakdown of the employment total mentioned by Johnson in his announcement of Alan S. Boyd as the DOT’s first secretary. In 1966, transportation services and industries employed about 737,000 railroad workers, 270,000 local and interurban employees, 230,000 in air transport, and almost a million in motor transport and storage. When people working in pipeline and water transportation industries are included, the total reaches Johnson’s number, and constituted almost 5 percent of the workforce population.

As difficult as it was for him to get DOT legislation passed, in one respect Johnson had the easy part: signing the

48

legislation that authorized the Department of Transportation.

The truly hard part of making the new Cabinet-level department work was the responsibility of Alan S. Boyd and his team. The to-do list before them was enormous. A cornucopia of questions not only had to be answered, but they had to be answered under the grueling pressure of a tight deadline.

Thirty-one different federal bureaus, administrations, and agencies were now a part of DOT, handling responsibilities from the air (Federal Aviation Administration – FAA) to the sea (U.S. Coast Guard – USCG). With almost 100,000 employees, that made it the fourthlargest Cabinet-level department.

Some components, like the FAA, had been independent. The Coast Guard had a military and law enforcement ethos. How would they, and the agencies formerly from other departments, adjust and assimilate?

Then, looking to the future, how would the DOT utilize and coordinate existing and nurture developing technology and transport, making them efficient and safe? Among the immediate issues on the new department’s list were how to make appropriate accommodation for the supersonic passenger airliner, the Concorde, and to decide what role, if any, nuclear-powered merchant ships like NS Savannah

PHOTO BY NARA

would have as cargo haulers. (As it turned out the former had a limited role that ended in 2003, and the latter never became a factor.) New safety standards for consumer and commercial vehicles that were faster and more powerful than their predecessors had to be drawn up, along with new standards for larger airliners and better air traffic control systems. Then there were the assorted needs of a railroad industry in decline and the nation’s expanding pipeline network that had to be hammered out. To say that Boyd had his plate full was the understatement of the decade. And, because he was not sworn in as secretary until Jan. 17, 1967, instead of shortly after Johnson’s October 1966 announcement, he would have less time than normal to get the department organized for its official start date of April 1, 1967. But Boyd’s history in the government had gained him a reputation as a man who could get things done.

The Florida-born Boyd was a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II, and was called up for service in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. He was practicing law in Florida when President Dwight D. Eisenhower asked

The nuclear ship Savannah passing under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, on its way to the World’s Fair in Seattle. him to serve on the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) in 1959. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Boyd the CAB’s chairman. In 1965, Johnson appointed him under secretary of commerce for transportation, and it was in that capacity that he headed the task force assigned to work up a practical concept for a department of transportation, giving him invaluable background knowledge for what needed to be done.

Upon being sworn in, Boyd went to work. Legislation had given him structure, now he put the finishing touches on assembling a team of trusted individuals to help him fill out the job descriptions of senior staffers, because before he could hire people, he had to know what they’d be doing.

As Boyd recalled, “So the first thing we had to do was try to see how we could devise and define the functions of the

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four assistant secretaries.” As for why the department would have four assistant secretaries, the decision was imitative.

Boyd said, “We looked around at the other departments to see how many assistant secretaries they had.”

Since DOT had to be operational on April 1, he recalled, “One of the things that had to be addressed immediately was where did jurisdiction end?” In other words, though all the assistant secretaries would have clear job descriptions laying out their primary functions, where was the imaginary line drawn to demarcate overlapping responsibilities? As this was a brandnew department, Boyd recalled that with the exception of one assistant secretary, the people appointed were anxious to push the line “as far as it could be pushed.” Despite some ill will that inevitably occurred, Boyd saw this dynamic as a positive. “[It] seemed to me that it’s a lot better to have people who are pushing than people who have to be kicked.”

“Transportation is a service industry,” Boyd said. What he tried to do was imbue the programs and the people who operated them with the idea that cities were for people, that transportation is for people. “And that, to me, is the most important aspect in the establishment and the operation of the Department of Transportation,” he said.

Boyd noted that unlike other departments, the DOT couldn’t set its own objectives. “Transportation … is a very

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Highway Beautification Act of 1965. DOT Secretary Alan S. Boyd described implementing the act as “traumatic.” powerful tail, but it can’t wag the dog,” he said. “Land-use planning is what dictates the kind of transportation that should be provided, and transportation can’t be used to dictate what kind of land-use there will be.”

He added that he saw DOT’s “goal as one of making the transportation system conform to the needs and desires of people, rather than requiring people to conform to the transportation system. … It’s a simple concept. Difficult to put into effect.”

In addition to assimilating the agencies responsible for all aspects of transportation, with its creation DOT established the ascendency of a federal policy of promotion over that of regulation. This ascendency would be reinforced in the deregulation climate of the 1970s.

Among Boyd’s many start-up concerns was how he was going to give the newly assembled parts a sense of moraleboosting departmental identity. He decided to hold a contest in which the DOT’s employees could submit a design that would be used as the DOT’s logo and symbol. The winner

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A gas rationing system (odd-even plan) is announced in an afternoon newspaper being read at a service station with a sign in the background stating no gas is available during the 1973 gas crisis. would receive a $500 savings bond as a prize. He recalled, “I don’t believe I set forth any standards or criteria for submissions, other than something that would identify the department, but I made it clear that I wanted something of an abstract nature.” In other words, he didn’t want a design that after a few decades would become dated, or worse, outdated.

About 1,500 designs were submitted. A woman in the Federal Aviation Administration’s public relations office was made the gatekeeper. She winnowed the designs to about 400 submitted to a panel of judges that included an art consultant to the State Department, the chief of the Heraldry Institute, and the director of the National Gallery. The winning design was a triskelion, submitted by an employee at the FAA’s office in Oklahoma City. “The triskelion, I thought, suited our purposes well, because it lends itself to the whole concept of transportation,” Boyd said, adding that interpretations included the circle as a wheel, that the three points at the tips of the

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curves reminded some “of land, sea, and air,” and even a man running. “I thought it was an eminently satisfactory result.”

Hand in glove with hammering out the responsibilities of his staff was what resources they would have to do their jobs – in short, the department’s budget. And with that, Boyd confronted a problem that would overshadow the Johnson administration: the Vietnam War. “The war in Vietnam … had an effect on the budget,” he recalled. “And this made it impossible for me to get the kind of money which I felt was essential to make any sort of a breakthrough in the transportation area.” The two areas he felt suffered the most because of budget constraints caused by the war were in the areas of highway safety and transportation research and development. With respect to transportation R&D, Boyd recalled that they “just weren’t in a position to do it. I have to confess that I didn’t have my organization too well set up to spend a lot of money on research, but it’s sort of a chicken-and-an-egg proposition.

I couldn’t get the people to outline and administer research, because I couldn’t get enough money or research to justify the people.” And, he confessed that he and his staff, “spent the first year at the department stumbling around all over ourselves” with respect to establishing a satisfactory budget and implementing goals.

As might be expected, start-up problems inevitably arose. One in particular turned into a larger-than-expected headache: the highway beautification program, authorized by the Highway Beautification Act of 1965. It had a noble aesthetic purpose: clean up the interstate and primary highway roadsides of the chaos and clutter of signage and such things as unsightly junkyards. But implementing it, Boyd confessed, “was the most traumatic experience I ever went through in Washington.” The reason was simple: Despite its noble intent, it was not a popular program with legislators and bureaucrats for a number of reasons. Boyd recalled, “One … we were trying to get the money out of the Highway Trust Fund … and most of the highway community was against it.

Second, there were a lot of projects that various members of Congress had which they figured were of a higher priority than beauty.” And, finally, there was the president. Not only did he see this as an important part of his administration’s legacy, but also because the first lady “was very much interested in it.” The bill was passed and DOT implemented, but Boyd recalled, “What a price we paid in ill will!”

Though it was outgoing FAA head Najeeb Halaby who suggested that the FAA would find it more advantageous to be a part of a Cabinet-level department than an independent agency, integration within the DOT during those first years did not go smoothly, as some senior staffers resented having now to justify decisions, particularly in budgetary matters, to their new bosses. Perhaps surprisingly, one federal branch that embraced the change was the Coast Guard.

Many people wondered how the Coast Guard, which had previously been a part of the Treasury Department since

PHOTO BY DAVID FALCONER, NARA

THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

USCG PHOTO

its founding in 1790, would react to the transfer. In January 1969, outgoing Secretary Boyd recalled that following the transition period, the Coast Guard was “delirious with joy” to be a part of DOT. Unlike at the Treasury Department, where he reported to an undersecretary and was rarely involved in interdepartmental meetings and affairs, at DOT the commandant of the Coast Guard reported directly to and was in regular contact with the secretary of transportation. Boyd said the commandant sat in “on all major policy decisions of the department, whether or not they had anything to do with the Coast Guard” and was free to comment on any subject discussed.

In addition, Boyd aggressively supported the expansion of the Coast Guard, authorizing the creation of a Coast Guard research department “and pushed like hell to get more aircraft and more ships for them because we believed they needed them.”

Inevitably there was jockeying and interdepartmental pushback on various issues during Boyd’s tenure as the department’s first secretary. But, recalling that experience, he said, “I would say that if I could go through life with relations as good as I had with the president, the White House staff, and the Cabinet, I’ll have no complaints.”

From the 1930s, when commercial passenger air service became practical, to the 1950s, the public and industry’s focus on air travel was on safety rather than security. Air traffic control that began with bonfire beacons to guide night

The Coast Guard icebreaker Staten Island. The service found its status and expansion vigorously supported by DOT leadership. mail flights grew in sophistication. In 1970, the FAA had in place the Central Flow Control Facility. Located in Herndon, Virginia, for the first time ever it provided a real-time, bigpicture view of air traffic flow and conditions, allowing the FAA to respond instantly to changing conditions.

The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 eliminated the FAA’s fare-regulating authority and opened the door for low-cost carriers, who began proliferating in the skies. This placed increasing stress on the aging system and controllers. This reached a breaking point in 1981 when the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) staged an illegal strike to force the issue of better working conditions and the need to update the system.

Aging technology continued to be an issue, and by the mid-1990s, the Air Transport Association of America (now known as Airlines for America) estimated delays cost $3.5 billion in wasted fuel, passenger time, and under-used aircraft.

In response, Congress passed legislation that enabled the FAA to begin an across-the-board modernization program and better rationalize pay scales to work skills.

Far more visible to the public at large was the growing concern of airline security. Before 1960, worldwide airline

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hijackings were so rare (1958, a peak year, experienced eight hijackings) as to be a non-factor. Hijackings began to increase in the 1960s. Then, in 1968, the lid blew off. In that year, 18 domestic flights were hijacked. In 1969, that number almost doubled, to 31. In the five-year period from 1968 to 1972, 130 American planes were hijacked. The skyjackers, as the hijackers came to be called, for the most part demanded the airliner be re-routed to Cuba, where the skyjacker sought asylum. The spectacular hijack/ransom of Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 by D.B. Cooper on Nov. 24, 1971, changed the equation, with 19 copycat attempts.

Fourth Amendment concerns regarding search and seizure initially limited the FAA’s response to the use of trained Air Marshals on flights identified as possible high risks, and cooperative efforts with airlines and airports. It would not be until 1973, in the 9th Circuit Court ruling on U.S. v. Davis (upheld in 1986), that the FAA would have the legal authorization to set up screening protocols that included scanners and other security measures.

At 8:24 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, a Boston air traffic controller heard an ominous message from American Airlines Flight 11 shortly after it had lifted off from Logan International Airport, headed for Los Angeles: “We have some planes.

Just stay quiet, and you’ll be OK. We are returning to the airport.” At 8:46, AA Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower

The air traffic control tower, McGhee Tyson Airport, Knoxville, Tennessee, 1971. of the World Trade Center. At 9:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 175 smashed into the World Trade Center’s South Tower. At 9:37 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon, and at 10:07 a.m., United Airlines Flight 93, instead of also attacking a Washington, D.C. target, crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, thanks to passenger intervention.

As the nation watched in shock and horror, air traffic controllers received orders to land all aircraft in U.S. airspace ASAP, and began clearing the nation’s skies of aircraft. In less than three hours and without any additional loss of aircraft or accidents, they had guided 4,500 planes carrying 350,000 passengers in U.S.-controlled airspace to safe landings.

About 75 percent of those planes were landed within the first hour. More than 1,100 of those flights were re-routed within the first 15 minutes (about one every second). It was a proud accomplishment in what was otherwise one of the darkest days in the country’s history.

When DOT became operational, the department’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) assumed responsibility for the nation’s rail system that had previously been handled by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Where once the industry

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

A NASA Landsat satellite captured smoke rising from the site of the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 12, 2001. The FAA’s ground stop of all aircraft in the national airspace was a proud accomplishment on a hard day.

had been a world leader, it was now not just lagging; it was a basket case in deep trouble on all fronts. Widespread travel in privately owned automobiles had made passenger service unprofitable. The long-haul trucking industry had also put pressure on rail lines to keep rates low. The canceling of mail contracts placed further financial stress. Track and equipment upkeep and maintenance were neglected. Commuter rail service was inadequate. High-speed rail service that was either under construction or operating in other countries was not even on the drawing board. If something wasn’t done, and soon, the once-vibrant industry would collapse.

The Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 gave the DOT broad authority to set national standards, conduct research and development regarding railroad safety, and issue civil and criminal fines and penalties to violators. Additional legislation passed over the next 18 years significantly added to FRA’s authority to set national standards for rail safety.

For example, where previously individual rail lines had been

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responsible for certifying locomotive engineers, now they had to have FRA certification.

As a result of FRA’s actions, in the period from 1979 to 1991, overall railroad accidents dropped almost 63 percent, track- and equipment-related accidents fell more than 75 percent, and railroad employee in-service deaths declined more than 46 percent.

DOT oversaw an overhaul of rail service in the nation that included the creation of Amtrak in 1971 to take over passenger rail service from private carriers and Conrail, the government freight carrier in the Northeast founded in 1976 and sold in 1999, the expansion of light-rail commuter service; and work on developing the nation’s first high-speed rail network.

Safety on the country’s highways has been DOT’s concern from the beginning. The 1973 oil crisis sparked by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) embargo that saw domestic gasoline prices skyrocket caused DOT to also focus on fuel efficiency. DOT instituted fuel efficiency standards that have escalated over the years and led to steadily improving engine and aerodynamic design for cars. Additionally, DOT efforts have led to significant development in vehicle use of alternate fuels and electric cars.

At DOT’s prodding, auto manufactures included as standard equipment such safety features as seatbelts, airbags, the high center-mounted rear brake light (also known as the Dole, or Liddy, light after DOT Secretary Elizabeth Dole), and anti-lock brake systems. Recent advances in computer technology have added even more safety features that now include the first generation of driverless cars.

Over the years, DOT has seen a shuffling of its agencies responsible for the nation’s inland and coastal waterways and facilities. The two original agencies were the U.S. Coast Guard and the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC). In 2003, the USCG was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security. In 1981 the Maritime Administration (MARAD) joined DOT. Among MARAD’s

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An Amtrak UAC TurboTrain at Ann Arbor, Michigan, shortly after the founding of the rail service.

responsibilities is maintaining the National Defense Reserve Fleet, the logistic fourth arm of defense for use in national emergencies.

A milestone in DOT history was reached on May 13, 2016, when President Barack Obama proclaimed May 20, 2016, as National Defense Transportation Day and May 15 through May 21, 2016, as National Transportation Week. He furthermore declared the third Friday in May of each year to be National Transportation Day and that the week during which that Friday falls to be National Transportation Week. In his remarks, Obama said, “Embodying both optimism for the future and a clear understanding of the work needed to shape that future, the founding of the Department of Transportation reminds us that America’s progress has never been inevitable, that it has always depended on our people deciding, with boldness and vision, to renew our country’s promise.”

“ E M B O D Y I N G B OT H O P T I M I S M FOR THE FUTURE AND A CLEAR U N D E R S TA N D I N G O F T H E W O R K N E E D E D TO S H A P E T H AT F U T U R E , T H E F O U N D I N G O F T H E D E PA R T M E N T O F T R A N S P O R TAT I O N R E M I N D S U S T H AT A M E R I C A ’ S P R O G R E S S H A S N E V E R B E E N I N E V I TA B L E , T H AT I T H A S A L W AY S D E P E N D E D O N O U R PEOPLE DECIDING, WITH BOLDNESS A N D V I S I O N , TO R E N E W O U R C O U N T RY ’ S P R O M I S E . ”

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

DOT ORGANIZATIONS OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY The secretary of transportation leads the Department of Transportation (DOT) and advises the president on all matters relating to federal transportation programs, receiving assistance from the deputy secretary. The Office of the Secretary develops national transportation policy and promotes intermodal transportation. Among the office’s other responsibilities are negotiation and implementation of transportation agreements with other nations, issuance and enforcement of regulations to protect consumers and users of transportation systems, and preparation of transportation legislation.

A mixed BNSF freight train between Kennewick and Wishram, Washington.

OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION The safety and security of civil aviation in the United States falls under the purview of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). As such, the FAA ensures the fitness of aircraft, personnel, and facilities: It issues and enforces standards and regulations concerning aircraft manufacture, operation, certification, and maintenance; manages the rating and certification of air crew; manages certification of airports; and regulates shipments by air in line with the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act. The FAA has a range of other responsibilities that, in part, include: operating a network of aviation-related infrastructure that encompasses airport control towers, air route traffic control centers, and flight stations; developing air traffic rules; determining how airspace is allocated; providing secure air traffic control to meet national defense requirements; constructing or installing visual and electronic aids to air navigation; and promoting aviation safety on an international scale. Additionally, the FAA regulates the U.S. commercial space transportation industry, licensing commercial space launch facilities and private-sector launches.

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FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) works with states and other partners to administer highway transportation programs that strengthen the country’s safety and economy and support quality of life and the environment.

Three programs it oversees include: the Federal-Aid Highway Program, which provides states with federal funds to perform general improvements to as well as construct safe urban and rural roads, bridges, and the National Highway System; the Federal Lands Highway Program, through which it prepares plans and contracts, supervises construction of facilities, and conducts bridge inspections and surveys to provide access to such public lands as national parks, national forests, and Indian reservations; and a research, development, and technology program.

FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY ADMINISTRATION The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, formerly part of the FHWA, was established as a separate entity within the DOT on Jan. 1, 2000, as a result of the passage of the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999. The administration works with federal, state, and local enforcement agencies, the motor carrier industry, and labor safety interest groups, among others, to prevent commercial motor vehicle-related fatalities and injuries by strictly enforcing safety regulations targeting high-risk carriers and commercial motor vehicle drivers; improving safety information systems and commercial motor vehicle technologies; strengthening operating standards for commercial motor vehicle equipment; and raising safety awareness.

PHOTO BY KABELLEGER

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) works within the Department of Transportation to promote effectiveness and prevent or end waste, fraud, and abuse in DOT programs. OIG accomplishes its mission of achieving a safe, efficient, and effective transportation system through audits and investigations. The inspector general is chosen by the president, and OIG by law has autonomy to do its work without interference, but much of its work is accomplished with the aid and cooperation of the officials whose programs are being reviewed.

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Trans-Alaska pipeline FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION It is the responsibility of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to ensure the nation’s railroad transportation system is safe, reliable, and efficient. To this end, the FRA enlists inspectors to monitor industry compliance with federal safety standards for such aspects as track maintenance and operating practices. The FRA also evaluates and develops projects that support its efforts to maintain and improve rail networks.

FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) provides assistance in the development of improved mass transportation systems – which commonly include buses and rail, but can also incorporate commuter ferries, trolleys, subways, inclined railways, and people movers – in the nation’s cities and communities. The FTA, through its grant programs and prioritizing convenience, cost, and accessibility, helps plan, build, and operate transit systems. The financial, technical, and planning assistance that the FTA provides translates into valuable leadership and resources for safe and technologically advanced local public transportation systems that, in turn, help to reduce local and regional traffic.

MARITIME ADMINISTRATION The Maritime Administration (MARAD) strives to develop and maintain a U.S. merchant marine capable of both carrying the country’s waterborne commerce and a significant portion of waterborne foreign commerce as well as serving as a naval and military auxiliary in time of war or national emergency.

Additionally, MARAD works to make sure the nation has sufficient shipbuilding and repair service, efficient ports, seamless intermodal land and water transportation systems, and reserve shipping capacity in the event of a national emergency.

PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS SAFETY ADMINISTRATION The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) manages the safety of more than 800,000 daily hazardous materials’ shipments in the United States as well as the 64 percent of U.S. energy products transported via pipeline, and works toward eliminating deaths and injuries related to the transport of such materials.

SAINT LAWRENCE SEAWAY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION The Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC) is tasked with operating and maintaining the seaway such that it provides safe, reliable, and efficient passage for commercial and noncommercial vessels between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes. The SLSDC works with the Saint Lawrence Seaway Authority of Canada to manage operations safety, vessel inspections, traffic control, and aids to navigation on the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes. The SLSDC contributes to the region’s economic development by creating trade opportunities to benefit the area’s port communities, shippers and receivers, and related industries.

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD

PHOTO BY GILLFOTO

NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) aims to reduce the number of deaths and injuries and the economic losses that result from motor vehicle crashes. NHTSA undertakes research on driver behavior and traffic safety to determine the most efficient and effective ways to improve safety. It sets and enforces safety performance standards for motor vehicles and equipment and awards grants to state and local governments to run local highway safety programs. It also investigates safety defects in motor vehicles, assists states and local communities to reduce the threat of drunk drivers, and promotes the use of seat belts, child safety seats, and air bags. Additionally, NHTSA is responsible for setting and enforcing fuel economy standards, investigating odometer fraud, and establishing and enforcing vehicle anti-theft regulations.

The Surface Transportation Board (STB), an independent, bipartisan, adjudicatory body, oversees economic regulation of interstate surface transportation – primarily railroads – within the United States. The STB aims to make sure that shippers’, receivers.’ and consumers’ needs for competitive, efficient, and safe transportation services are met. Where appropriate, the STB promotes substantive and procedural regulatory reform in surface transportation economic regulation, and is responsible for providing an efficient and effective forum for dispute resolution.

The STB works to develop – through rulemakings and case disposition – new and better ways to analyze unique and complex issues, to more quickly come to fully justified decisions, to reduce regulatory oversight-related costs, and to support private-sector negotiations and resolutions to issues where appropriate.

Compiled from DOT sources.

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION AND SAFETY ISSUES AND INITIATIVES From Colonial times through the mid-1950s, America’s road system was a hodgepodge of widened, then paved, horse and wagon trails, generally leading from one major population center to another. Travel was slow, difficult, and often dangerous, making the transport of goods quite expensive compared to the newer, more logically planned and faster rail system.

That began to change in 1956 when President Dwight Eisenhower successfully pushed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 through Congress, confounding predictions that a Democrat-controlled Congress would never approve such a major undertaking sought by a Republican president in an election year, especially after similar legislation failed to pass the previous year.

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The concept for a “National System of Interstate Highways” was first described in a 1939 report to Congress by the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads and authorized by Congress in the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944. Coming at the height of World War II, however, no initiating program to build such a system was authorized, much less funded. Eisenhower, who had seen the poor state of the nation’s roadways while

PAINTING BY CARL RAKEMAN, FHWA FLICKR

BY J.R. WILSON

PHOTO BY CAROL M. HIGHSMITH

accompanying a military convoy across the United States in 1919, then Germany’s well-engineered autobahn while serving as commander of Allied forces in Europe, was determined to bring the idea to fruition.

Spending much of his second term searching for ways to solve problems that plagued the early years of the program, his determination and leadership earned Eisenhower the title of “Father of the Interstate System.” In October 1991, President George H.W. Bush signed legislation changing the official name of the interstate system to the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, to honor his leadership in its creation.

Although the former five-star general initially saw it primarily as a critical addition to the nation’s military capability, the interstate highway system, now covering 46,876 miles from coast to coast, north and south, quickly became the heart of interstate commerce. It also helped convert America from an agrarian nation of people who rarely traveled, much less moved, more than a few miles from where they were born to one of the most highly mobile, industrialized, and urban nations on Earth.

By FY 1996, legislation totaling $119 billion had been authorized to pay the federal share of interstate highway construction, while the states – which own the highway systems within their individual borders – paid the remaining $15-plus billion. The federal portion was paid through gasoline and oil taxes and the sale of government bonds.

According to a Federal Highway Administration (FWHA) report issued in May 2016, U.S. motorists drove 746 billion miles during the first three months of 2016, shattering the previous record of 720.1 billion miles set the previous year.

That is nearly 287 times the distance the International Space Station (ISS) has traveled since it began orbiting the Earth in 1998. The FWHA report states American drivers travel twice as far before noon on any given day than the ISS has ever flown. The record was nationwide, with all five U.S. regions reporting increased mileage in March by passenger vehicles, buses, and trucks.

That massive traffic volume on a highway system that – aside from periodic repairs by the states – is largely from 20 to 60 years old, has bolstered supporters of the FAST Act, which will invest $226 billion in road and bridge repairs in the next five years.

In addition to funding support, FAST Act makes a number of changes to Department of Transportation (DOT) safety programs and increases the department’s authority to require and enforce authorities to protect the traveling public. These include: • Increasing civil penalties against auto makers for safetyrelated motor vehicle defects • Enhancing National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) authority to recall unsafe vehicles and prohibiting rental companies from keeping motor vehicles subject to safety recalls in their active fleets until they are fixed • Streamlining the Federal Motor Carrier Safety

Opposite: Carl Rakeman’s painting of the Golden Gate Bridge evokes the promise and achievement of the nation’s transportation system.

Above: Sign for the Interstate Highway System, saluting President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who initiated the system in the 1950s.

Administration’s (FMCSA) truck and bus safety grant programs • Establishing a new competitive grant program for passenger and freight rail safety projects • Raising urban area oversight of railway safety performance and increasing individual state accountability • Improving emergency response and relief efforts by allowing flexibility in the transport of hazardous materials during major disasters and emergencies In addition to making critical repairs to the highway infrastructure itself, DOT continues to invest in individual highway safety initiatives, such as “Traffic Incident Management” training for emergency first responders. In August, FHWA announced the 200,000th responder had completed the course, designed to help build teams of welltrained police, firefighters, highway workers, emergency medical and towing personnel around a common set of practices to improve communications, and quick clearance techniques to reduce the amount of time needed to remain on scene and reopen the highway segment to full traffic flow.

“This training is vital to the men and women who arrive at the scene of a highway crash, who often risk their own lives bringing safety and care to others,” according to DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx. “Besides protecting emergency workers and ensuring crash victims receive immediate

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Icy roads and crashes slow traffic on Interstate 5 north of Albany, Oregon. FMCSA’s Our Roads, Our Responsibility campaign seeks to raise general awareness about sharing the road and operating safely with large trucks and buses, whose numbers will only increase in the future due to demand. attention, these practices reduce the chance of secondary crashes and prevent traffic jams by keeping traffic moving for other drivers.”

DOT’s highway transportation and safety initiatives also extend to roads and other transportation facilities crossing Native American tribal lands under the Tribal Transportation Program Safety Fund. Congress created the program for safety planning, engineering improvements, enforcement, and emergency services related to tribal roads, among the most hazardous and poorly constructed and maintained in the nation. In April 2016, DOT announced awards of more than $8 million to 35 tribes for 54 such projects.

“Road safety is important to communities everywhere – and especially on tribal lands,” FWHA Administrator Gregory Nadeau commented. “From improving intersections to building bicycle or pedestrian paths, these new funds will help to make tribal communities safer and better equipped for the needs of the traveling public.”

The actual awards, however, were dwarfed by the 130 applications from 73 recognized tribes requesting more than $36.8 million in assistance. DOT hopes to address many of those through other programs and funding sources.

DOT also has proposed a new rule – National Performance Management Measures: Assessing Performance of the National Highway System, Freight Movement on the Interstate System and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program – under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). Major provisions include requirements that the states provide more effective and consistent evaluations and reports on transportation system performance, including travel time reliability, delay hours, peak-hour congestion, freight movement, and on-road mobile source emissions.

“The department is taking a major step to improve accountability and address the costly congestion problem that is plaguing our nation every day,” Foxx said. “Commuters and truck drivers from every state and region will be able to learn

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

valuable information about how transportation investments are performing in delivering reliable highway travel with minimal delays and less air pollution.”

MAP-21 also called on DOT to study issues associated with trucks operating both within and in excess of current size and weight limits on U.S. highways. The April 2016 “Comprehensive Truck Size and Weight Limits Study” report to Congress surprised lawmakers by concluding “additional data analysis is necessary to fully understand the impacts of heavier and larger trucks on the transportation system. Importantly, the department finds that the data limitations are so profound that no changes in the relevant laws and regulations should be considered until these limitations are overcome.”

“Safety continues to be our top priority. And we have taken a number of steps to implement FAST Act provisions in this area as quickly as possible. For example, in March, we issued

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a rule that raises maximum fines against non-compliant auto manufacturers from $35 million to $105 million,” Foxx told the Senate Commerce Committee in June.

“We also moved quickly to solicit nominations for FMCSA’s [Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration] Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program working group to analyze the formula for the program, which provides much-needed support to state agencies. In the coming months, we will seek public comment on new authority to prohibit rental car companies from knowingly renting vehicles that are subject to safety recalls. This provision gives NHTSA an important tool to protect the safety of U.S. motorists, as rental agencies operate some of the largest fleets in the country.”

In August 2016, FMCSA launched a new public education campaign – Our Roads, Our Responsibility – as part of its ongoing initiative to reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities by

PHOTO BY CAROL M. HIGHSMITH

Sunset over the Soda Mountains – and the Barstow Freeway (Interstate Highway 15) – east of Baker, California.

raising general public awareness about operating safely around and sharing the road with large trucks and buses.

“Understanding the safety challenges commercial motor vehicles face, along with some simple adjustments in driving behavior, can help drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians avoid dangerous situations and improve safety,” according to FMCSA Administrator T.F. Scott Darling III. “Large trucks and buses are more difficult to maneuver than average passenger vehicles due to blind spots, greater weights and lengths and longer stopping distances. Our Roads, Our Responsibility uses consumer-friendly illustrations to highlight some of these safety challenges.”

Despite DOT’s numerous safety programs, however, the large and rapidly increasing volume of traffic on the nation’s roadways led to an accompanying 7.7 percent increase in fatalities in 2015 – an estimated 35,200 compared with 32,675 reported in 2014.

“We are analyzing the data to determine what factors contributed to the increase in fatalities and, at the same time, we are aggressively testing new safety technologies, new ways to improve driver behavior and new ways to analyze the data we have, as we work with the entire road safety community to take this challenge head-on,” Foxx said when preliminary data was released in July 2016.

Despite the increase in traffic volume, the report also showed a significant increase in motorcycle (9 percent), bicycle (13 percent), and pedestrian (10 percent) deaths.

“As the economy has improved and gas prices have fallen, more Americans are driving more miles,” NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind, Ph.D., noted. “But that only explains part of the increase. Ninety-four percent of crashes can be tied back to a human choice or error, so we know we need to focus our efforts on improving human behavior while promoting vehicle technology that not only protects people in crashes, but helps prevent crashes in the first place.”

In response to early estimates showing fatality increases, NHTSA is developing new tools to help improve behavioral challenges, including drunk, drugged, distracted, and drowsy driving; speeding; failure to use safety features such as seat belts and child seats; and new initiatives to protect vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists.

The general public, when considering highway/traffic safety, typically thinks in terms of trucks, buses, and personal vehicles, often ignoring the most vulnerable users of the nation’s streets and highways – cyclists and pedestrians.

These groups, however, are the sole focus of a Washington, D.C.-based, group advocating for more bike and pedestrian trails – Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

The idea is simple: Provide separate, safe areas in urban locales where joggers, walkers, bicyclists, etc., can operate without exposure to vehicular traffic, thus significantly reducing injuries and fatalities.

DOT as a whole also is creating new guidance to promote automated safety technologies development with a goal of

decreasing the number of crashes. And NHTSA and FHWA are working to implement new safety performance measures, requiring states and metropolitan areas to set targets for reducing deaths among motorized and non-motorized road users.

“We lose the equivalent of a 747 crashing every week on our roadways. So where should we be? In my opinion, the only acceptable goal is zero,” Rosekind told a July 14, 2016, congressional briefing by SADD SPEAKs (Students Against Destructive Decisions [formerly Students Against Drunk Driving], Students for Policy, Education, Advocacy, and Knowledge).

“Zero may be a little number, but it is a big figure in traffic safety. If we’re serious about traffic safety, we need to be serious about getting to zero. There have been many road safety successes over the last decades, but we can’t just keep doing more of the same and expect a different result. We need to do more of the same and we need to try new things.”

NHTSA is addressing the problem in three primary areas.

“The first area is Proactive Vehicle Safety, [which is] a huge component of NHTSA’s mission. But for a long time, our focus has been almost entirely reactive. We wait until a problem becomes apparent, we investigate it, and then we recall vehicles. That’s an important safety tool … but we also would far prefer avoiding vehicle problems in the first place,” Rosekind said. “Earlier this year, we announced the adoption of Proactive Safety Principles with 18 automakers … a set of broad-ranging actions to help make our roads safer and help avoid the sort of safety crisis that generates the wrong kind of record-setting and headlines.

“The second is Advanced Safety Technologies, [including] embracing the potential of automated vehicle technologies that could have massive lifesaving potential. We’re working hard on new automated safety technology guidelines, which we believe will guide the next generation of lifesaving technological developments. Too often we talk about a tension, or striking a balance, between safety and innovation, as if there is a tradeoff between the two. The way we should be thinking about it is as promoting safety innovation.

“The final area of our work is on Human Choices. While advanced safety technologies will play an important role in reducing the impact of poor human choices or errors, we can’t wait until that technology is here. We know that a driver choice or error can be tied to the cause of 94 percent of crashes. If we’re going to get to zero, we need to put a huge amount of energy and focus onto that 94 percent.”

The continuing and forecast growth in population will mean ever larger numbers of cars and trucks on the nation’s streets and highways, higher demand on railways and inland waterways to move both passengers and cargo, greater need for facility and supporting highway and rail infrastructure at the nation’s ports and airports, improved intermodal connection capabilities, and much higher public understanding of and adherence to both basic and specific transportation safety issues.

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Interstate 75/85 in Atlanta, Georgia, is a typical urban freeway in the United States.

On signing the bill creating the Department of Transportation a half-century ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson shared his vision of how it would impact the nation: “A day will come in America when people and freight will move through this land of ours speedily, efficiently, safely, dependably, and cheaply. That will be a good day and a great day in America.”

To continue moving toward that day, DOT developed a 30-year “framework for the future” – “Beyond Traffic: Trends and Choices 2045” – reflecting long-term goals and needs identified for the short-term in the department’s Strategic Plan for 2014-2018, now at its mid-point. That was followed by “The Future of Transportation: Safety, Opportunity and Innovation” speaker series.

All three addressed various aspects of dealing with what Foxx termed “compelling needs” in transportation – a more diverse and aging population, increased migration to new and emerging economic regions, shifting energy production, and climate change – all requiring “new thinking and an intellectual

reset of how we approach transportation policy development and implementation.”

“The U.S. transportation system is still proceeding under a 20th century model in which our policies, practices, and programs are presumed to be sufficient, as are the resources devoted to them,” Foxx has said in warning time is running out to correct that course. “Funding uncertainty has undermined our ability to modernize our air traffic control system. Diffuse decision-making mechanisms at the state and local level have hampered our ability to address critical freight and trade corridors. And our programs and policies have not been reformed to tackle the challenges of tomorrow.

“The combination of forces – inconsistent, unreliable funding and static policies in an era of rapid change – has left our transportation infrastructure in an increasingly deteriorated and fragile state. It has left the United States on the precipice of losing its historical advantage in moving people and things faster, safer, and more reliably than any other nation in the world.”

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

AIR TRANSPORTATION Impact, Issues, and Initiatives

BY ERIC TEGLER

There are few human instincts as powerful as the inclination to wander. The motivations vary from basic exploration and migration to the pursuit of resources and relationships. For most of our existence, going beyond the horizon has been a self-directed enterprise. It has only been within the last 250 years or so that human travel has been organized on a scale we now refer to as “mass transportation.”

While mass transportation became truly ubiquitous via surface modes, nothing accelerated global mobility like air transportation. Increased mobility and the globalization that has come with it have yielded many positives and a few significant negatives. This balance is reflected in the air transport sector, a field of economic, social, and technological activity with remarkable resiliency. Whether challenged by economic downturns, energy crises, terrorism, or the fallout of its own growth, it has always rebounded.

IMPACT Today, the travel and tourism industry drives 12 percent to 15 percent of the world output of goods and services. Air transportation generates a majority proportion of this activity.

In the late 1990s, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) estimated that across the global economy, every $100 of output produced and every 100 jobs generated by air transport triggered additional demand of some $325 and 610 jobs in other industries.

This ripple effect of air transport takes on more meaning when we consider its expansion over the last 50 years.

Data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) shows that between 1950 and 1970, the dawn of the jet age, global air passenger traffic increased by more than 10 percent per year while technological improvements brought down the cost of jet travel by an average of more than 5 percent a year.

Growth decelerated following 1970, averaging a less frantic 4.4 percent per year. But the real cost of air travel has still fallen by 1.7 percent per year on average in the decades since.

Falling cost coincided with real (if uneven) gains in wages around the planet. This pair of trends had an obvious result: Many more people were flying. In 1970, 310 million people were taken aloft globally, according to the World Bank. By 2015, the flying public numbered 3.4 billion – an 11-fold increase in less than half a century.

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Aviation’s role in most economies is unquestioned. In fact, according to aviationbenefits.org, if aviation were a country, it would rank 21st in the world in terms of gross domestic product.

In 15 nations, the footprint of aviation and tourism measured by the sector’s gross value added as a percentage of GDP was greater than 5 percent in 2013. Even in the United States – the world’s largest, most diversified economy – the value added from aviation and tourism was approximately 4.8 percent of GDP. More than $6 trillion of goods annually were carried by air, some 35 percent of world trade at the end of the last decade.

The quantity of goods not only represents value; it points to a level of worldwide “air connectivity” that literally underpins the business models of companies like Amazon and Apple.

The timely, efficient global supply chains that such firms have constructed and upon which they rely would not work without air transport.

In the United States, the potential economic boon of air transport was recognized early in the 20th century with the increasing involvement of the federal government. The recognition was as obvious as the 1934 renaming of the Department of Commerce’s aeronautics branch as the Bureau of Air Commerce.

It became similarly obvious that the spread of air transport could not be achieved (and its economic benefits realized) without a solid foundation of safety. Safety imperatives drove the prewar creation of the Civil Aeronautics Administration and the Civil Aeronautics Board. As air traffic literally doubled postwar, a string of airline accidents spurred the creation of an independent agency to oversee the safe and efficient use of national airspace. From its birth in 1958, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) took on a series of new roles that reflected the expansion of air transport and its burgeoning role in the American economy.

They touched on most aspects of commercial aviation, from national airspace coordination, modernization, and capacity

FAA PHOTO

improvements to airport growth, safety aboard commercial flights, federal aviation workforce labor relations, and environmental concerns.

Aircraft movements, in and of themselves, signaled the social reach and consequences of air transport. Travel by air is often perceived as taking loved ones away, but until its advent, business people were frequently apart from their families for weeks and even months at a time in pursuit of regional sales and business relationships, let alone across the country. Air travel offered business people unprecedented ability to pursue opportunities more frequently, but it also brought them home much faster.

A study by the Air Transport Action Group found that access to air travel/services contributes to consumer welfare and social benefits in ways from the obvious – increasing understanding of different cultures and nationalities – to less obvious side effects including delivery of seasonal fruit and vegetables available year-round at reasonable prices. Large

An Eastern Air Lines Lockheed Constellation at Washington National Airport in 1941. On June 16, CAA officially opened Washington National for full-time operations. numbers of overseas visitors tend to help widen the range of leisure and cultural activities available in destination countries.

Expanding tourism catalyzed by air travel likewise tends to encourage investment in and protection of natural and cultural resources, driving sustainable development in the United States and globally.

ISSUES The growth described above has just as surely generated challenges from the management of national airspace and infrastructure to the environmental externalities created by air transport.

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Experimental radar equipment at the Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) in 1955.

The sheer numbers of passengers flying and aircraft in the air rapidly became one of the headwinds associated with the success of air transport. In the decade between 1959 and 1969 alone, the number of aircraft operations at the FAA’s air traffic control (ATC) towers had increased by 112 percent. The jump in operations predictably gave rise to schedule delays, which cost the air carriers millions of dollars annually and, along with inconvenience and discomfort, imposed a similar financial cost on passengers.

Congestion was coupled with technological advances in aircraft, allowing them to fly farther at higher altitudes and higher speeds than ever before. Traditional processes managing air traffic from one region to another came under stress.

So too did the tools used for management, from traditional VHF omnidirectional range/distance measuring equipment (VOR/DME) navigation aids to terminal guidance systems like ground-controlled approach (GCA) radars. Their replacement by onboard systems like area navigation (RNAV) and radar

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transponders along with long-range ground-based radars with automatic tracking alleviated some stress. But commercial air traffic numbers continued to grow, particularly after airline deregulation. The advent of GPS offered greater navigation precision/tracking, but also an associated desire for more direct routing and flexibility.

Today, as many as 8,000 aircraft may be operating simultaneously in U.S. airspace during peak traffic times. Such density not only yields delays but environmental pollution in the form of noise and CO2 emissions. As of 2014, total CO2 aviation emissions were approximately 2 percent of the global greenhouse emissions.

The growth of air transport in the United States has increased carbon emissions in aggregate even though relative emissions per passenger mile have decreased since 1975.

America accounts for half of all carbon dioxide emissions from airplanes around the world. Though average fuel efficiency has been increasing by about 1 percent annually, airplanes currently account for 11 percent of transportation emissions in the United States.

The people who manage such issues have from time to time presented their own challenges. Air traffic controllers

FAA PHOTO

THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

FAA PHOTO

first organized in the United States in 1968, and by 1970, a “sickout” by 3,000 members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) led to traffic disruption and subsequent wage and retirement benefit concessions from the FAA. A landmark PATCO strike in 1981 grounded approximately 35 percent of the nation’s 14,200 daily commercial flights, prompting President Ronald Reagan to order termination of more than 11,000 controllers.

A new personnel management system for the FAA’s workforce was implemented in the mid-1990s, but difficult labor contract negotiations continued well into the first decade of the 21st century. In 2015, FAA management remained in a complex relationship with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA).

Labor relations within airlines have been equally complex.

From the 1989 International Association of Machinists strike to numerous flight attendant and pilot strikes over the last five decades, the U.S. air transport industry has seen more collective bargaining actions than its counterparts in the services sector.

These and other issues did not arise in a vacuum, of course.

The geopolitical trends that affect world affairs often affect aviation first because of its international and intra-national nature. None has been more portentous than the advent of terrorism. When al Qaeda terrorists carried out the attacks

A Douglas DC-10 landing over the Instrument Landing System (ILS) at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in the 1970s. of Sept. 11, 2001, breaching security at three major airports, seizing four domestic airliners, and turning three of them into kinetic weapons, they fundamentally changed the future of the FAA and aviation oversight authorities the world over.

Since the early 1960s, the FAA had been responsible for aviation security in the United States. Six months after 9/11, the newly formed Transportation Security Administration took over those responsibilities, ultimately operating within a new Cabinet department (Homeland Security) whose authority would frequently overlap with the FAA. Terrorism changed the way we fly and imposed heavy costs on the air transport industry, from the installation of hardened cockpit doors on airliners to delays arising from increased airport security to enhanced background checks for industry employees.

As burdensome as countermeasures like those above have been, the reduction in air transport services demand following terror events was still more costly. In the aftermath of 9/11, lack of passenger demand and disrupted travel planning forced airlines including US Airways and United to declare bankruptcy. American Airlines laid off 7,000

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WorkSafe

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On April 4, 1994, FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC) officially began operations in its new facility at Herndon, Virginia.

employees. Each new terror event brings with it similar reductions in demand.

And yet, IATA data shows that while drops in passenger traffic were deepest following the combined 2000-2001 shock of the dotcom bust and 9/11, and the 2008 shock of the global financial crisis, in both cases, traffic returned to its positive trend level within four years.

FAA PHOTO

INITIATIVES The bodies that oversee air transport in the United States and abroad have made sustained efforts to deal with the issues described above (and many more) as it has inexorably expanded. They continue today, and while technology has moved on, the challenges remain largely the same.

Accommodating increasing capacity demands on America’s airspace and air traffic control system was the work of FAA modernization initiatives in the 1960s as it is now. For traffic

around airports, the FAA developed the Automated Radar Terminal System (ARTS), and for flights moving from one air route traffic control center to another, it established the national Central Flow Control Facility in 1970.

As airline deregulation came into effect in the early 1980s, the FAA increased ATC automation by marrying radar and computer technology to better track flights and anticipate airspace bottlenecks. A National Airspace System Plan was devised and released for the first time in 1982. Mixed progress led a decade later to a revised Capital Investment Plan, which sought to leverage new radar, communications, and weather forecasting systems.

Air traffic management improvement continues with the FAA’s Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) initiative, which seeks to truly digitize the National Airspace System. It also seeks to take advantage of more powerful yet smaller onboard navigation systems to increase capacity by reducing reliance on ground-based navigation aids and safely placing more aircraft into a given space through newly possible reduced minimum vertical separation.

Employing technology to safely increase density in NextGen is being coupled with new congestion forecasting, which uses big data to display degrees of congestion in airspace to controllers. The higher level of situational awareness allows

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the traditional grade and step base pay method. It introduced ascending pay levels whose value was determined by a market-comparable analysis of similar jobs in government and private industry.

The FAA took further steps to becoming a performance-based organization with the launch of its Air Traffic Organization (ATO) in 2004.

ATO took an enterprise approach to traffic management, breaking service and support functions into distinct units. Efforts to improve workforce efficiency achieved some success but were also accompanied by friction.

In 2015, the FAA’s director of labor and employee relations, David Feder, resigned after only six months on the job. Feder alleged that FAA management was violating the law in Along with safety, the story of air transportation has been one of a constant search contract negotiations with NATCA in for efficiency, embodied in new designs like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner shown here. order to appease the union.

Though the central responsibility for U.S. aviation security devolved to ATC managers to make more effective and efficient flight the TSA in 2002, the FAA has remained critical to ensuring the changes whether route or release related. security of air transport. Its Office of Security works to reduce Industry itself has made a priority of responding risks of sabotage, theft, vandalism, terrorism, and espionage to concerns over emissions. From 1990 through 2012, by vetting FAA contractors, safeguarding classified information global airlines bought 25,000 new aircraft, improving fuel to which they have access, and providing the basis for their efficiency by 46 percent over the period. The reduction in security clearances. The agency’s personnel security program energy consumption saved more than 5 billion tons of CO 2 similarly assesses the risk from internal personnel, clears them emissions, according to IATA. The air transport community for access to classified material, and manages the FAA-wide ID set relatively ambitious goals for itself in 2010, pledging to card program. improve overall fleet fuel efficiency by 1 percent per annum Airlines and air cargo operators have remade their to 2020. To achieve such a target, it was estimated that own security procedures, vetting people and freight more the world’s airlines would need to spend $1.3 trillion to thoroughly than ever. Aircraft have been equipped with purchase 12,000 new aircraft. new (often classified) communications devices and threat But the desire to reduce emissions still further has come warning and limited countermeasures systems. Airline from world governments and environmental groups as well, security procedures – on the tarmac and in the aircraft whose pressure was formalized in 2016. In February, the global have been modified numerous times since 9/11. aviation industry agreed to the first binding limits on carbon In July 2016, American Airlines and the TSA announced dioxide emissions, a set of rules proposed by the United a joint initiative to install new screening technology, Nations’ ICAO, which would require a 4 percent reduction in including automated security screening lanes and computed fuel consumption of new aircraft starting in 2028 compared tomography scanners, at select American Airlines hubs with 2015 deliveries. The rules won’t become binding until nationwide by the fall travel season. The initiative is an adopted and enacted legislatively by member states, but they example of refining security procedures and technology to point the way to increased adoption of everything from new bolster efficiency. The automated screening lanes incorporate aircraft designs and lighter-weight materials to the use of technology and screening station modifications that enhance biofuels and various carbon-trading schemes. security effectiveness while decreasing the time travelers Reaching accord with labor has proven an ongoing challenge. spend in security screening by approximately 30 percent.

By the 1990s, the FAA had put in place a new personnel system Despite its many challenges, air transport will continue intended to speed recruitment and reward outstanding employees, to grow, extending mobility to a wider share of the global while dealing effectively with substandard performance. A revised population whose inclination to wander well beyond the employee compensation plan called core compensation replaced horizon remains as powerful as ever.

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

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RAIL TRANSPORTATION Today and Tomorrow

BY J.R. WILSON

JPMUELLER99 FROM SHENANDOAH VALLEY OF VA, USA

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) supports passenger and freight railroading through a variety of competitive grant, dedicated grant, and loan programs to develop safety improvements, relieve congestion, and encourage the expansion and upgrade of passenger and freight rail infrastructure and services. FRA also provides training and technical assistance to grantees and stakeholders.

A long CSX coal train of empty hoppers crosses the New River as seen from Hawks Nest State Park in West Virginia.

Intercity passenger and freight rail networks are considered a vital component of America’s vast intermodal transportation network.

Amtrak’s intercity passenger rail system carries millions of passengers each year to destinations across the country. Freight rail is a $70 billion industry, connecting U.S. consumers and businesses to agricultural, economic, logistics, and manufacturing centers.

Created in 1970 by the Rail Passenger Service Act as a national publicprivate corporation, Amtrak operates an intercity passenger rail network of more than 21,000 route miles, serving more than 500 destinations in 46 states, the District of Columbia, and three Canadian provinces.

Although passenger trains disappeared long ago in much of the country, Transportation for America chairman and former Amtrak chairman John Robert Smith insists the demand for passenger rail service in the United States not only remains strong but is growing every year.

“There is tremendous interest across the country for extended passenger service. The Southern Rail Commission is working to restore service in the South that was destroyed by [Hurricane] Katrina and never rebuilt,” he said. “And Amtrak has had record ridership and revenue for 10 of the last 11 years.

“I think the future can be very robust for both passenger and freight rail, despite the tension that exists between them. In traveling nationwide, I find mayors throughout America are interested in how they can be connected or reconnected to a passenger rail system or be a partner in growing the service they have.”

According to the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) 2015 “Beyond Traffic” report, trends that will affect the performance of passenger and freight rail systems through the next 30 years include: • increasing demand for speedy and reliable passenger rail service in growing megaregions • ridership growth resulting in continuing improvements to Amtrak’s financial performance; but, absent sustainable federal funding,

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Passengers deboard a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority outbound commuter train at the Auburndale, Massachusetts station.

Amtrak will continue to face challenges meeting the costs of providing national passenger rail service • increasing freight rail demand, adding further pressure to address freight chokepoints and resolve passengerfreight conflicts • continued emphasis on rail safety, leading to sustained safety improvements Noting the nation continues to move into a knowledgebased economy in which jobs are tied to people, not location, Smith said those communities and states that recognize and support the new paradigm – especially through the creation or expansion of passenger rail service – will succeed, while those stuck in the past will not.

“Young people now are determining where they want to live – and the jobs are moving to them,” he said. “So passenger rail is becoming more and more a part of the nation’s [near-term and future] economic development.”

Rail transportation programs were among the first 18 FASTLANE grants awarded under the FAST Act in July 2016, including the Coos Bay, Oregon, Rail Line Tunnel Rehabilitation

Project ($11 million); the South Lander Street Grade Separation and Railroad Safety Project in Washington state ($45 million); and the Cross Harbor, New York, Freight Program ($10.67 million).

The nation’s intercity passenger rail system carries more than 30 million passengers each year, while millions more ride commuter trains over tracks that are often shared with Amtrak and freight trains. Although Amtrak trips comprise less than 1 percent of all domestic intercity travel, ridership has grown by more than 50 percent since 1993, with total passenger trips reaching 30.9 million in FY 2014. “Increasing popularity among young adults and improvements in service, such as e-ticketing and improved broadband access, are helping to drive demand,” the “Beyond Traffic” report states.

The popularity of passenger rail service among young adults continues to grow, especially for trips between 100 and 500 miles. More than 85 percent of all passenger trips on Amtrak are less than 250 miles, while less than 5 percent involve journeys of more than 400 miles. Amtrak ridership is especially strong in megaregions such as the Chicago Hub area, the West

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

Coast, and the Northeast Corridor, where more than 1 out of every 3 Amtrak passengers travels between Washington, D.C., New York City, and Boston.

In addition, every weekday, more than 847,000 passengers depend on critical commuter rail services that employ Amtrakowned infrastructure and shared operations. Individual state operating contracts with Amtrak provide intercity passenger rail corridor services across the country, accounting for nearly half of all Amtrak passengers.

“This arrangement is part of a shift in the passenger rail service industry, away from centralized Amtrak-operated services toward more services funded, managed, and overseen by states and localities. While this shift is only just beginning, it could ultimately result in the creation of intercity operators other than Amtrak,” according to “Beyond Traffic.”

Meanwhile, $10 billion in state grant funding from FRA’s High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program (HSIPR) has gone to states along critical rail corridors. Several projects are currently underway, including nearly $1 billion in investment to upgrade the Northeast Corridor, $3.9 billion to lay the groundwork for high-speed rail in California, and $1.9 billion for track upgrades in

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the Midwest. With the exception of high-speed rail in California, these projects have largely focused on upgrading existing track and vehicles to improve speeds and reduce delays.

The HSIPR, using the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA) as its foundation and the interstate highway system as a template, envisions a modern nationwide passenger rail system, with individual states able to seek funding for projects that best reflect the needs and characteristics of their unique markets.

Thirty-nine states, the District of Columbia, and Amtrak submitted nearly 500 applications to FRA that requested more than $75 billion worth of projects – far exceeding the $10.1 billion available. The award to the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) was in furtherance of plans to build its highspeed rail system between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

“The challenge of moving more people and goods in a safe, efficient, and environmentally sustainable way will only continue to grow. During the last five years alone, California gained nearly 1.7 million people – nearly the population of my home state of West Virginia,” read FRA Administrator Sarah E. Feinberg’s written statement for the House Transportation

PHOTO BY NCDOTCOMMUNICATIONS

Amtrak’s American View carriage on the Piedmont passenger train operated by Amtrak and the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials on Aug. 29, 2016. “And by 2050, California is expected to have 50 million residents. This growth is equivalent to adding the entire population of Ohio to California’s current population.

“Without high-speed rail, a study found that ‘California would have to add between 2,300 and 3,000 miles of highway lanes, approximately four to five new airport runways, and between 90 to 115 airport gates,’” the statement continued. “High-speed rail will add a significant amount of transportation capacity to the state’s current, congested system and help alleviate the pressure on California’s runways and highways. This, in turn, will yield public benefits through economic development that spurs regional productivity and competitiveness, improved safety, reduced emissions of greenhouse gas and other pollutants, and a reduction of wear-and-tear on other infrastructure in the state.”

The “Beyond Traffic” report predicts the U.S. population will grow by 23 percent in the next 30 years, increasing demand for personal travel across all modes, including rail. That growth also is expected to be centered on major metropolitan areas, where passenger rail could become a more attractive option for many travelers.

“Increasing highway and airport congestion could also make passenger rail a more competitive alternative. Other social and cultural changes, such as changing attitudes toward driving, especially among young adults, may also influence future ridership,” the researchers noted. “In the future, higherspeed rail service in dense population corridors could increase travel options for intercity travelers and help to relieve growth in congestion on highways and at busy airports in major metropolitan areas.”

Funding has always been a problem for America’s railroads, which from the beginning have been built and maintained largely by the railroad industry and other private stakeholders.

The federal government does provide some funding, mostly in the form of grants distributed through FRA, but far short of what goes to other modes of transportation.

“Highways, transit, aviation, inland waterways, ports, and harbors all benefit from dedicated trust funds. Rail is unique in that it lacks a committed source of federal revenue. As a result, passenger rail capital investments have generally failed to keep up with the needs of existing fleet and infrastructure, leading to a backlog of state-of-good-repair and other basic infrastructure needs,” according to “Beyond Traffic.”

“There is currently a multi-billion-dollar backlog of projects required to maintain a state of good repair on our nation’s rails, as well as a significant deficit in the capital funding available for maintaining assets and adding capacity for anticipated increases in demand. The Northeast Corridor alone requires investments of nearly $1.5 billion per year over 15 years to bring the corridor into a state of good repair and maintain it in that condition.”

Many short-line railroads cannot afford the necessary investments to maintain the lines they use and, with limited

annual revenues from a small number of industry customers, they also may struggle to meet current and future freight demand. It’s a more positive story for Amtrak, whose ticket sales on the Northeast Corridor and other popular routes provide an operating surplus that defrays – but does not fully meet – long-distance route operating costs.

“Although Amtrak’s 15 long-distance lines comprise only a small percentage of all intercity trips by rail, they offer the only intercity transportation alternatives in many areas. Five percent of Amtrak riders travel to or from communities that are under-served by intercity bus and airline operators,” according to the DOT report.

One of the fastest growing segments of rail freight, accounting for about 11 percent of current totals, is intermodal container traffic – the long-haul movement of shipping containers and truck trailers by rail, combined with a (usually much shorter) truck movement at one or both ends. Railroads, ocean carriers, trucking companies, and freight customers using intermodal can benefit from the best attributes of different shipping modes to improve efficiency and overall cost-effective freight movement.

In 2015, intermodal was the largest single source of U.S. freight rail revenue.

“Rail intermodal – transporting shipping containers and truck trailers on railroad flat cars – has been growing rapidly for many years,” according to a May 2016 report by the Association of American Railroads. “U.S. rail intermodal volume in 2015 was a record 13.7 million containers and trailers, breaking the previous record set in 2014.

“Intermodal represents a competitively priced, environmentally friendly alternative to excessive reliance on highways to transport freight. It has grown in large part because railroads have invested billions of dollars on new intermodal terminals, track upgrades, and other infrastructure projects that have made rail intermodal more reliable and cost effective.”

The components of passenger and cargo transportation within FRA’s area of responsibility are seeing a major growth in demand from customers and from local and state officials seeking federal help in building – or rebuilding – the infrastructure to support it.

“It’s remarkable we’re running our version of high-speed passenger service on tracks built during the Civil War. For a country really built by the railroads, we’ve done a poor job of maintaining them. Passenger rail is really teetering and most of it is micromanaged, forced to run certain routes regardless of need or use,” Transportation for America Director James Corless said.

“We had a notion that everything would pay for itself, combined with a notion that transportation is for the public good, and our infrastructure has suffered as a result. The rail track was laid by private companies on free land provided by the states. Those companies got out of the passenger business and concentrated on freight, becoming quite successful as a

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Four BNSF locomotives move a double-stacked train of containers down Tehachapi Pass, between Caliente and Bakersfield, California. result. And they are building new infrastructure in some areas because it is profitable to move freight by rail. So freight rail does well while passenger rail is on the ropes.”

Corless is not as sanguine as some others about the current status and future of passenger rail service in America, saying what once was the centerpiece of mass transport in the United States is, today, “fragments, at best.”

“Commuter rail has provided a good service where it exists. But I think the U.S. has turned its back on rail as a viable transportation mode. We are an urban nation and our metropolitan regions will continue to grow. The ability to move a lot of people quickly – whether rail or highways – will require more tools very soon, and we haven’t done a good job of doing that,” he said, adding part of the problem is a lack of coordinated planning and funding, which has led to a loss of services in some communities.

“First we lost rail passenger service, then bus service, and now airline service in many smaller communities, especially rural areas. And they are really suffering as a result. The tracks east of New Orleans were washed out by Katrina and are slowly

being rebuilt. They took a test train down there at the beginning of 2016, stopping at all the little towns that used to have rail service a century ago, and they were greeted enthusiastically everywhere, by both local officials and ordinary citizens.”

Smith believes America has lagged behind the rest of the world in high-speed rail due to a lack of will, especially at the federal level.

“I am seeing signs of that changing, [but] we must have a dedicated source of funding at the federal level that then is matched by state governments and local governments making it accessible. Until you have that federal funding, you won’t build the kind of robust passenger rail system the nation needs,” he concluded.

“Our rail infrastructure has never been taken out by a hostile source, as it was in Europe, but by internal sources, with huge segments of rail pulled up and, in many cases, the rightsof-way lost, as well. It would take $13 billion just to replace Civil War and post-Civil War tunnels and bridges. The good news is, both presidential candidates have supported spending more on the national infrastructure – and specifically on rail.”

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The littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) and M/V Capt.

Henry Jackman transit through one of many locks on the Welland Canal. The Welland Canal connects Lake Ontario with Lake Erie, and is part of the St. Lawrence Seaway, a major MARAD responsibility.

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U.S. NAVY CREDIT HEREPHOTO BY MASS COMMUNICATION 3RD CLASS SPECIALIST KENNETH R. HENDRIX

THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

MARINE TRANSPORTATION Upgrading and Enhancing to Meet 21st Century Needs

BY J.R. WILSON

Established in 1950 to foster and promote the U.S. Merchant Marine and the American maritime industry, the mission of the Maritime Administration (MARAD) is to strengthen the nation’s maritime transportation system — including landside infrastructure, the shipbuilding and repair industry, and labor — to meet the economic and national security needs of the United States.

“Over the past 30 years, U.S.-international trade has increased at a much faster rate than our nation’s overall economic growth, as measured in annual GDP growth. In the next 30 years, increasing imports and exports will lead to greater congestion at America’s coastal ports,” according to the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) 2015 “Beyond Traffic” report.

“Looking to the future, several critical trends will have a major impact on the performance of the critical marine links in our transportation system, they include: • Increasing imports and exports and containerized freight will lead to greater congestion at America’s coastal and inland ports.

• Investments in ports, harbors, and waterways will be essential to meet the demand of increased global trade and competition.

• Automation will improve the productivity and efficiency of marine transportation and ports.”

“We find ourselves at a critical moment in our nation’s transportation history. In the next 30 years, our nation will need to accommodate 70 million more people and a 45 percent increase in freight. This growth will especially increase demands on our ports and waterways – which are integral to our nation’s economic well-being and security,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx wrote in a post on April 6, 2016, on the DOT’s Fast Lane blog.

“It doesn’t take much to see that the vitality of our roads and ports are interconnected. We need to be able to move the goods to and from our ports. Our ports must modernize – and expand – to remain viable in this intensely competitive, international shipping environment. And federal resources are an available tool to help close the gap that is growing.”

While most port facilities are owned by state and local government or the private sector, MARAD is responsible for improving port facilities,

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PHOTO BY TIM KISER

A coal barge on the Ohio River, as viewed downstream from the Parkersburg-Belpre Bridge between Parkersburg, West Virginia, and Belpre, Ohio. expanding the use of the nation’s waterways, promoting the development of the United States Merchant Marine, and ensuring the United States maintains adequate shipbuilding and repair services and effective intermodal connections to marine transportation systems.

MARAD also coordinates with several other agencies with considerable responsibility for elements of the marine transportation system. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is charged with deepening and maintaining navigation channels; the U.S. Coast Guard for maritime security, law enforcement, and the maintenance of aids to navigation; and U.S. Customs and Border Protection for clearing goods into and out of the United States.

Since 2009, more than a half billion dollars in TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grants have been put into 43 port projects across 24 states.

Through seven rounds of annual funding, ports have accounted for about 8 percent of the applications, but have received more than 11 percent of the awards.

In addition, DOT’s Build America Transportation Investment Center (BATIC) is working with ports to improve and streamline applications for the department’s credit assistance programs, such as the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) and the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) program.

“Our nation’s economy depends on the efficiency of port facilities to keep goods moving in and out of the country.

However, growth in international trade and the expanding capacity of container ships will lead to greater congestion at America’s seaports and intermodal facilities,” “Beyond Traffic” predicted.

“American port authorities are taking steps to prepare for expected increases in demand. For example, the Port of Seattle, which recently formed a Seaport Alliance with the Port of Tacoma, just received a $20 million TIGER grant from the U.S. DOT to make strategic investments that will help Seattle maintain its competitiveness with American and Canadian ports.”

Marine-related transportation programs were among the first 18 FASTLANE grants awarded in June 2016 under the FAST Act, including $44 million for the Port of Savannah, Georgia, International Multi-Modal Connector and $7.7 million to the Maine Intermodal Port Productivity Project. FASTLANE grants are available to maintain and modernize a variety of marine facilities across the United States, from ports to aging inland waterway infrastructure.

Significant inland waterways include the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, the Ohio River Basin, the Mississippi River System, the Columbia River, and the Gulf Coast Coastal Waterways. The nation’s largest inland ports, such as Duluth, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Huntington, handle tens of millions of tons of grain, steel, cars, and coal.

“A water facility can include one where freight is transshipped between water and surface modes, even if not formally

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

categorized as a port,” according to the DOT’s FASTLANE Grants FAQs. “A public port is a functional entity of a state or local government with facilities used to move or transfer goods or people between either two or more land modes of transportation or land and water modes of transportation. Water ports can be located along coasts, inland rivers, or the Great Lakes.

“Project eligibility is limited to landside components of the facilities and, with the exception of highway, bridge, railway-highway grade crossings, and grade separations within the facility’s boundaries, is subject to restrictions provided in 23 USC 117(d)(2) that require that: (1) the project must make significant improvements to freight movements on the National Highway Freight Network and (2) only the components of the project that generate public benefits are eligible for federal funding.”

From a stronger focus on safety to helping push the development and implementation of advanced technologies, DOT’s efforts to revitalize, upgrade, and enhance the efficiency of U.S. public transit – both people and goods – spans the entire spectrum of transportation, from private cars and commercial trucks to railroads and subways to inland river barges and ocean ports and how those modes are connected.

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“In the Federal Highway Administration’s latest series of Freight Economy roundtables … we heard about the importance of investments in our waterways, rails, and highways to get goods and products where they need to go and move our economy forward,” Gregory Nadeau, head of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), wrote on Aug. 10, 2016, in a post on the Fast Lane blog.

“In Texas, Oklahoma, and Virginia, port infrastructure is key to the freight economy. However, the supply chain, taken in its entirety, is multimodal and interconnected – the same goods and products that are off-loaded from ships and barges will need trains or trucks to reach their final destinations. Inevitably, rail and highways will come into play to complete the journey or chain.”

In Oklahoma, the McClelland-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System – which turned Tulsa, the waterway’s starting point, into the nation’s largest inland port – has become critical to freight movement, relieving the region’s already strained road and rail infrastructure. Each barge can transport the equivalent of 60 truckloads of freight from the nation’s heartland to the Gulf of Mexico in an area where about 75 percent of all freight already moves by truck. In addition to reducing highway gridlock, moving goods by barge can save time and money for

PHOTO BY CLIFF FROM ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA

The container ship Maersk Virginia entering the port of Savannah, Georgia, which won a FASTLANE grant for intermodal improvements.

some industries, making them a key component of domestic and international trade.

“Prioritization of projects is necessary when available funding is less than what’s required to deliver transportation projects. It also helps to ensure investments lead to a transportation network that moves commerce and people more efficiently,” Nadeau wrote.

“Our conversations on the freight economy confirm that communities across America must decide very carefully how to invest their limited resources to deliver much-needed projects that can make freight movement more efficient and safer. They also underscore the need for ongoing and expanded federal investment in the freight system infrastructure nationwide [including ports and waterways].”

“Beyond Traffic” emphasized the importance of thoroughly linked, modern, efficient ports to international trade and the health of the U.S. overall economy: “American port authorities are already investing billions of dollars to modernize their facilities and accommodate increasingly larger ships. Raising bridges, dredging harbors, widening channels, and purchasing bigger ship-to-shore cranes are key steps to preparing for expected increases in demand and ensuring safe and efficient intermodal freight movement into the future.

Ports do not stand alone. Port authorities and their partners are also participating in many efficiencyimproving road and rail projects to eliminate freight bottlenecks and facilitate the movement of freight from ports to distribution centers. Although our ports are becoming increasingly busy, opportunities for innovation may be able to improve our port infrastructure even as the international economy places greater strains on the marine component of our transportation system.”

“Port infrastructure itself has not historically received federal funding assistance. However, with ports struggling to keep pace with increasing demand, TIGER Discretionary Grants have provided nearly $500 million for port projects. In light of the increasing need for ports infrastructure to keep pace with demand, MARAD’s Strong Ports Program is also helping ports modernize their infrastructure by providing planning expertise and assistance to U.S. port authorities.

However, this program does not yet include a dedicated funding vehicle.

A major MARAD effort is the St. Lawrence Seaway, a 2,340-mile-long binational system of locks, canals, and channels enabling ocean-going vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, directly serving eight U.S states and two Canadian provinces.

About 40 million metric tons of cargo move through the Seaway annually between North American and international markets, including bulk, breakbulk, and general cargo, including iron ore for the U.S. steel industry, limestone for construction

and steel industries, coal for power generation and steel production, grain exports from U.S. farms, and finished steel and heavy-lift products for industry.

Maritime commerce on the Seaway System has created some 227,000 U.S. and Canadian jobs, $35 billion in transportationrelated business revenue, $14 billion in personal income, and $5 billion in federal, state, provincial, and Great Lakes taxes each year. Overall, more than 2.5 billion tons of cargo, estimated at $375 billion, have moved to and from Canada, the United States, and more than 50 other nations since the Seaway was opened to deep draft navigation in 1959.

In May 1954, Congress created the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation as a wholly owned government corporation to construct, operate, and maintain that part of the Seaway between the Port of Montreal and Lake Erie, within the territorial limits of the United States. It works with its Canadian counterpart – the Canadian St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation – to fully coordinate Seaway operations.

While ports and barges have been crucial to the development of the United States for more than 200 years, modernization and expansion of those facilities may be even more important in the 21st century.

“Automation technologies are having major impacts at foreign ports and may spread to American ports. With the advent of standardized containerization, cargo transfer functions have become increasingly automated. At major container ports around the world, the process of transferring containers from ships to docks, trucks, or rail is becoming highly automated, reducing reliance on human operators,” according to “Beyond Traffic.” “If this trend continues, the human role in cargo handling could be greatly altered and reduced, thereby reducing the cost of shipping, providing the needed capacity to handle increased vessel sizes, and changing the nature of work in the marine transportation sector.

“At sea, automation is also increasing efficiency, allowing vessels to operate with fewer crew members than ever before.

This trend has the potential to reduce the costs of freight, but may also create new risks as larger ships are crewed by fewer mariners. Managing and maintaining these new vessels will, in some cases, require advanced mechanical and data analysis jobs that demand higher skills and offer higher pay than traditional freight work, but may also displace the traditional mariner workforce.”

The DOT report also listed a number of policy Implications in both maintaining the nation’s ports, rivers, waterways, and coastal routes and making the necessary investment to ensure a critical component of America’s intricate transportation network keeps up with increased globalization and technology advancements: • Develop a nationwide strategy to improve capacity at U.S. ports, where appropriate, with emphasis on those ports that are or will be able to accommodate larger container ships; • Investing in America’s port and related infrastructure, where this would be highly effective in reducing the

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A barge and tugs in the twin port of Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin. America’s inland ports handle tens of millions of tons of cargo annually. congestion and environmental impacts of trucks on our nation’s roadways; • Consolidating the roles and responsibilities of the many agencies with jurisdiction over port facilities, which will streamline goods movement and increase safety and security; • Addressing performance of our port and related infrastructure as an integral component of our nation’s freight transportation system; and • Encourage automation in ports and on ships that increase efficiency and create jobs for highly skilled workers.

MARAD also plays a key role in the U.S. and international effort to combat maritime piracy around the world, working with the U.S. Coast Guard, State Department, other federal agencies, the U.S.-flag maritime industry, labor, and international shipping associations. The administration also coordinates with the U.S. Military Sealift Command on the Anti-Piracy Assistance Team (APAT) program. A team comprises one or two Navy Criminal Investigative Service representatives and one from MARAD who, on request, visit and assess U.S.-flag vessels in U.S. ports and provide security recommendations to the master and company security officer.

“The Marine Transportation System is a core component of the United States’ economic and national security. While

it has proven to be strong and resilient, there is a need to improve and grow the industry to ensure the availability and viability of a U.S. merchant marine in the future,” according to MARAD. “The Maritime Administration is developing a National Maritime Strategy that will provide recommendations aimed at supporting the growth of the U.S. maritime industry and ensuring the availability of U.S.-flag vessels for our nation’s economic and national security.”

Ports and waterways, merchant ships and personnel, antipiracy, multimodal passenger and cargo systems – all are part of MARAD’s portfolio within the U.S. transportation system and maritime impacts on the U.S. economy.

“It is clear our nation will drastically change and we’re taking it seriously. History has shown that ports across the country have – and can – spur regional economic growth. As we go forward in modernizing our transportation infrastructure, we must challenge ourselves to be thoughtful and inclusive with our design,” Foxx wrote in his Fast Lane blog post on April 6, 2016.

“Projects must aim to simultaneously improve our infrastructure and economy, foster innovation, and create access to opportunity. The steps we take today will serve us in the very near future, as we work together to build the kind of modern, 21st century transportation system that our country needs.”

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

PUBLIC TRANSIT ISSUES AND INITIATIVES

BY J.R. WILSON

Former U.S. House Speaker Tip O’Neill once said “all politics is local.” In more ways than not, the same can be said of public transit. Airplanes may move passengers across the nation or the world, but their airport destinations are in cities. The same is true of railroads, bus lines, ocean-going ships, river barges, and highways. Within those cities, public transit becomes increasingly local – buses, light and commuter rail, trolleys, cablecars, ferryboats, delivery trucks, taxis, monorails, private cars, bike paths, sidewalks, etc.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT), in concert with local governments, are responsible for ensuring the safety of those modes of transportation, including the infrastructure on which they rely – roads, bridges, rails, etc. The only exclusions to the definition of “public transportation” include Amtrak intercity passenger rail, intercity buses, charter and school buses, and other services provided solely by individual businesses.

In addition to financial and technical assistance to local public transit systems, FTA, along with numerous other federal programs and components, oversees safety measures and promotes research into next-generation technology. Since 1964, those partnerships have seen thousands of grants, averaging more than $10 billion annually – each requiring local matching funds, typically exceeding the value of the grant – issued to support and expand public transit services. Federal funding also has helped modernize public transportation and extend service into small cities and rural communities that previously lacked transit options.

In August 2016, DOT announced it was making available $7 million in Safety Research & Demonstration (SRD) funding for projects demonstrating innovative ways to improve safety for both public transportation workers and passengers.

“The research we are funding will not only highlight new ways to ensure safety throughout our public transportation systems, but it is also intended to improve the safety culture at transit agencies,” FTA Acting Administrator Carolyn Flowers said. “We believe this grant opportunity will lead the way on developing technological innovations and design modifications in areas of critical safety needs, particularly for bus operators.”

SRD is one of FTA’s public transportation innovation programs authorized under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, which established requirements to improve the safety of public transportation systems nationwide. In 2015, prior to passage of the FAST Act at year’s

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end, FTA provided $29 million to 13 organizations for Innovative Safety, Resiliency, and All-Hazards Emergency Response and Recovery Demonstration research.

Unlike most parts of government, which depend on year-toyear authorizations, congressional funding authorization for FTA covers several years, giving the agency the legal authority to begin and continue programs without annual budget concerns. For example, on July 6, 2012, President Barack Obama signed Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) Act, which took effect at the beginning of fiscal year 2013, reauthorizing surface transportation programs through FY 2014.

MAP-21 also made FTA responsible for the creation and enforcement of a new, comprehensive framework to oversee the safety of all modes of public transportation throughout the United States, as well as developing minimum safety performance standards for vehicles not regulated by other federal agencies and creation of a public transportation safety certification training program for individuals involved in transit safety.

Overall, projects eligible for FTA grants include: • historic preservation, rehabilitation, and operation of historic public transportation buildings, structures, and facilities (including historic bus and railroad facilities) intended for use in public transportation service • bus shelters • landscaping and streetscaping, including benches, trash receptacles, and street lights • pedestrian access and walkways • bicycle access, including bicycle storage facilities and installing equipment for transporting bicycles on public transportation vehicles • signage • enhanced access for persons with disabilities to public transportation

PHOTO BY JASON DOSS

A streetcar in Kansas City, one of several public transit modes supported by the FTA. Since passage of the National Mass Transportation Assistance Act of 1974, federal legislation authorizing funding for urban mass transit programs has been replaced or amended at least 10 times, each time expanding the government’s efforts to repair and maintain existing infrastructure and build new.

Nonetheless, what once was one of the most modern surface transportation systems in the world – despite an aging rail system – is in a serious state of deterioration. “[In December 2015], Congress passed a surface transportation bill, the FAST Act, which was a good down payment on the future of our nation’s infrastructure. But there is much more work to be done to reshape and build a 21st century transportation system,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx told the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January 2016.

“Even with Congress’ action late last year, the system’s future is in jeopardy. Here at the auto show we are seeing great innovations, but if we in government don’t change our ways, drivers in the future will not be moving on our highways – they will be crawling in traffic.”

Citing DOT’s “Beyond Traffic: Trends and Choices 2045” report, he noted an expected increase of 70 million in the U.S. population in the next 30 years, with 75 percent of Americans living in 11 megaregions, “which we all know do not have the infrastructure to accommodate this growth.” That added population – and ensuing personal vehicle and mass transit

traffic – is forecast to be accompanied by a 45 percent increase in freight traffic.

“We are on course for a future in which congestion will get worse than it already is … Our nation needs an approach that rises to the challenges before us, that is as good as the ambitions of American people and industry,” he said. “We have been talking about the tremendous potential benefits of technology in transportation for more than a year now – and we recognized that we had some catching up to do …

And we know technology is rapidly getting better with each passing month.”

In addition to the measures outlined above, the government and transportation industries are looking to rapid advances being made in technology to help, especially for local public transit.

To meet the challenge of transforming the nation’s existing infrastructure requires an expansive new approach and a more diverse set of choices for fast-growing communities to reduce congestion, going beyond the old method of just repaving to make better use of existing lanes and capacity, he added.

DOT’s 2015 analysis of needs and trends that will shape the nation’s transportation system through mid-century contained what Gregory Nadeau, administrator of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), terms an oncoming tidal wave created by the predicted increases in population and freight volume – with an estimated value for the latter of more than $40 trillion – by 2040.

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“If you think most of those people will be teleworking and most of that freight will be delivered by drones, think again,” he told a “heavy highway” panel in Dallas, Texas, on June 10, 2016. “But the need to repair, rebuild, and prepare our system for that tsunami of people and freight gives us an opportunity to do ‘right’ some of the things we may have gotten wrong the first time.

“While we can’t undo the past, we can work to make sure current and future transportation decisions connect and strengthen communities. An important discussion is taking place, one that doesn’t just focus on transportation, but on the link between transportation, neighborhoods, and opportunity.”

“Beyond Traffic” estimated at least $120 billion will be needed to repair highways (65 percent reported to be “in less than good condition”) and bridges (25 percent of which “need significant repair or can’t handle today’s traffic) through 2020 and another $43 billion for public transportation. Overall, the report gave U.S. transportation infrastructure a D+, with road quality ranking 16th in the world – down from eighth in 2008.

Many of the first 18 Fostering Advancements in Shipping and Transportation for the Long-term Achievement of National Efficiencies, or FASTLANE, grants awarded under the FAST Act went to projects directly or indirectly related to FTA areas of responsibility. Other actions during the first half of 2016 included an updated policy statement from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recognizing technology advances in automated vehicles. That, in turn, led to development of a proposed model policy to help the states make their own advances toward creating a nationally consistent automated vehicle system.

NHTSA also has proposed “best practice” guidance to industry on establishing principles for the safe operation of fully autonomous vehicles. And DOT is proposing new regulatory interpretations to help automated vehicle manufacturers implement safety innovations within the scope of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

The proposed refocusing of federal policy and funding for transportation was welcomed by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a Washington, D.C.-based, group advocating for more bike and pedestrian trails built along out-of-service rail lines. While the organization, celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2016, is not directly concerned with streets and highways, President Keith Laughlin believes automated cars can create a far safer environment for bicycle riders and pedestrians (including joggers, power walkers, hikers, and skaters) – or they could make an already hazardous situation far worse.

Self-driven cars already are starting to see commercial use and probably will expand to the general population in the next five to 10 years, he predicts, with a major disruptive effect on the streetscape.

“It’s no longer science fiction and will have big impacts in the next five years,” Laughlin said. “For us, as the streetscape is redesigned, the question is how will the safety needs of pedestrians and cyclists be taken into account. If done well, it

could be a great improvement in safety; if it is not done well and the issues related to pedestrians and cyclists are not taken into account, it could be a nightmare.”

The biggest single factor will be whether new technologies become central to a “sharing economy” – vehicles primarily used on an as-needed basis, such as cabs, versus everybody owning one, which could make today’s already congested streets and highways even worse.

“If it is done in a way in which the technology is largely shared and the percentage of Americans who actually own a car declines, moving personal vehicles toward a rented utility, it could have a dramatic impact on the streetscape,” Laughlin explained.

“Today, cars are parked about 90 percent of the time. In a shared economy, you could dramatically reduce the amount of streetscape used for parking, which then could be used for new, separated corridors for pedestrians and cyclists. If these new vehicles are totally autonomous and have high-level safety factors, they could travel much closer to each other safely, resulting in more throughput per lane mile, meaning we might not need to build new or wider highways.”

But getting to the end result, whether safety boon or nightmare, will involve a complex effort on multiple fronts.

“It’s not just the vehicle, but an intelligent transportation system overall, with lights, for example, integrated into it as well. The question is how the system will evolve and will it be possible to make driverless cars the only ones on the roads,” he continued. “The biggest cause of accidents now is human error.

Economically, reducing annual traffic fatalities and injuries also could dramatically reduce health care costs – not just in terms of pedestrians and cyclists, but auto deaths, as well.”

In August 2016, FTA published a Final Rule for the Public Transportation Safety Program, providing an overall framework for FTA to monitor, oversee, and enforce safety in the public transportation industry.

“The Safety Program Rule was authorized by Congress in MAP-21 and FAST, [both of which] reinforce FTA’s and the industry’s joint commitment to keeping public transportation the safest mode of transportation,” according to Flowers. “Under the new rule, FTA formally adopts the Safety Management System (SMS), a comprehensive approach to public transportation safety. SMS uses data from existing safety best practices to identify potential areas of risk and to mitigate adverse events.

“Because SMS is designed to be scalable and flexible, this safety practice can be implemented at transit agencies across the country, regardless of size or infrastructure. FTA will utilize inspections, investigations, audits and examinations to assess every federally funded public transportation system’s safety performance and compliance with safety rules.”

Calling the Safety Program Rule “the umbrella rule for all other FTA safety rulemakings and guidance”, she said it marks the capstone of a concerted effort to make American transit systems even safer.

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

“FTA is making steady progress in establishing the regulatory foundation needed to implement and strengthen federal safety transit oversight and enforcement. As we move forward into a new era of public transportation safety, FTA’s focus will remain on the safety of those who ride, operate and maintain the systems,” Flowers said.

“If necessary, FTA may issue safety directives and, if FTA determines that a transit agency is engaging in any serious safety violations, we may require it to use federal funds to correct safety issues or withhold up to 25 percent of designated formula funding until the issue is resolved. If FTA determines that an unsafe practice or condition creates a substantial risk of death or personal injury, we may impose prohibitions or restrictions on a transit agency’s operations.”

Transportation for America, a national coalition of elected officials and transportation organizations, lobbies the federal government for investments in “smart, homegrown, locally driven transportation solutions.” To that end, the group has identified seven broad policies they believe will help reboot the national transportation program and put the system on a sound footing for the future: 1. Strengthen the nation’s transportation fund

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2. Spur local initiatives through competition and incentives 3. Reduce freight bottlenecks 4. Leverage innovative financing for taxpayer benefit 5. Connect workers with employers 6.

Improve return on investment and recognize good performance 7. Nurture the next generation of innovation “People say we ‘invest’ in highways and aviation, but ‘subsidize’ passenger rail. In truth, we invest in and subsidize all three,” Transportation for America Chairman John Robert Smith said. “I don’t think we’ve made the economic impact case, especially at the federal level. All forms of transportation play out in someone’s hometown and senators and congressmen are hearing from their mayors and citizens about getting serious about fixing the system.

“Whether a highway or rail or other transportation system, the public’s interest is in how it will affect their lives and jobs today and their children and grandchildren in the future. When the public understands that, then you get their confidence and ultimately their financial support. In transportation, we all too often make it an issue of steel or asphalt when we should be making it about human beings.”

METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY PHOTO BY PATRICK CASHIN

One of the most recognizable, and popular, forms of public transit remains the subway. New York City’s subway is the world’s largest single rapid transit service provider by length of track and number of stations.

Oil storage tanks and petroleum pipeline at the onshore storage facility at Ellwood Beach, Goleta, California.

SAFEGUARDING THE PUBLIC AND THE ENVIRONMENT PHMSA Focuses on Health, Environmental Safety

BY CHARLES DERVARICS

FLIICKR IMAGE BY DREAMYSHADE

When a natural gas explosion in a working-class neighborhood of Allentown, Pennsylvania, took five lives and destroyed eight homes, the city looked to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for help. In response, DOT worked with state investigators to identify problems with an 80-year-old cast iron pipe, and a federal grant helped the city develop safety protocols and promote community awareness about pipeline safety.

When a pipeline breakdown in Refugio, California, spewed 142,000 gallons of fuel oil into a coastline area near Santa Barbara, the federal agency investigated and found the likely culprits: a corroded pipeline from an offshore platform and operator errors in assessing risk. With this information, the department issued a corrective order and proposed new rules to tighten the inspection process.

These are two of many examples of the work done by DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), created in 2004 to develop and enforce regulations for safe operation of 2.6 million miles of pipelines nationwide. It also has jurisdiction over the safety of nearly 1 million daily shipments of hazardous materials via land, sea, and air. Other duties are to conduct research on these issues and help train first responders.

Americans benefit substantially from pipelines, which annually deliver more than 16 billion barrels of crude oil and other energy products, including gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, and propane.

But these underground entities often get little attention from the public until a problem arises.

“The vast network of transmission pipelines in this country are essentially ‘out of sight, out of mind’ for most Americans,” said U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., D-N.J., a senior member of the House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee. “But when something goes wrong, these facilities can make themselves known in devastating and sometimes deadly ways.” Recent examples include the Refugio oil spill on the California coast, and a gas storage facility leak in Los Angeles that sent fumes into neighborhoods and forced residents to evacuate their homes.

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Members of an area Emergency Medical Technician team undergo training required for certification as rescue (gray suits) and decontamination (green suits) unit responders to hazardous material and toxic contamination situations. Two popular PHMSA grant programs help train first responders in how to deal with hazardous material emergencies.

That’s when the nation looks to PHMSA, created under the Norman Y. Mineta Research and Special Programs Improvement Act signed into law in November 2004. PHMSA is chief enforcer of the 1968 Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act, which set stiffer regulations on the natural gas industry in response to a disaster in Indiana that year. It also enforces a variety of laws linked to hazardous material pipelines, the most recent of which is the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty and Job Creation Act of 2011.

“PHMSA operates in a dynamic and challenging atmosphere.

The demand for our work has increased, as has the complexity and scope of our mission and responsibilities,” said Marie Therese Dominguez, the agency’s administrator and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Army and senior administrator at the U.S. Postal Service. “The development of new energy resources, advancements in technology, and the use of hazardous materials in everyday products impact transportation safety,” she told Congress recently.

Since the early 2000s, DOT has undertaken 125 corrective action orders when PHMSA determines that a pipeline represents a serious hazard to life, property, or the environment. Typically, these cases are the result of a spill, accident, or other sudden event. In these cases, PHMSA identifies actions to be taken to promote safe pipeline operations.

DOT during this time also has issued 904 notices of probable violations, often resulting from routine inspections, incident investigations, or other oversight activities. Pipeline operators can respond to these notices and request a hearing. Another enforcement option is a notice of proposed safety order, in which PHMSA notifies an operator about conditions that may compromise a pipeline and cause significant problems. In addition, the agency may issue warning letters for alleged violations.

PROMOTING IMPROVEMENT “Safety is a process of continuous improvement,” Dominguez said. This process includes setting requirements for pipeline operators on how to collect and interpret data. “As part of our requirements, we look to make sure that the integrity of any particular pipeline is assessed and we put that onus on the operators to actually assess their own pipelines. And then we go and inspect to make sure that they are actually complying with the requirements that we put forward.”

Specific goals for 2016 are to cut pipeline incidents involving major injuries and reduce the number of hazardous materials incidents to fewer than 33 per year. Other goals are to build a stronger safety culture in the agency and invest in employees

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I-90 – Snoqualmie Pass East (Phase 1A through Phase 2A) Washington State Department of Transportation This USD 551 million project improves the safety in avalanche-prone areas and eases congestion for a 15-mile section of I-90 just east of Snoqualmie Pass in Washington State.

SR 826/SR 836 Interchange Improvements – Section 5 Design-build BCC Engineering, Inc. Miami, Florida, United States Referred to as Palmetto Section 5, this USD 559 million project is the final and largest segment of 12 sections of the Palmetto Expressway Improvements program developed by the Florida Department of Transportation. The team created and managed complex and inter-related roadway alignments and developed cost-saving innovations.

PHOTO BY ROY LUCK

through the creation of individual development plans for all PHMSA staff, which number about 500. In response to recent incidents, Congress has added more funds for PHMSA personnel, with 100 new positions funded in pipeline safety during the past year, Dominguez said.

Although most pipelines in the United States are owned by the private sector or local utilities, federal safety regulations require regular assessments and maintenance. States can play a significant role in the process. “I think we have a very good working relationship with the states across the board,” Dominguez said. “PHMSA is the federal regulator. The states often across the board have authority and through a certification process with PHMSA to conduct inspections within their respective states. We work cooperatively on that entire process. It is one where we are constantly exchanging information.”

Another focus is a strategic plan known as PHMSA 2021, which calls for long-term improvements such as more consistent responses to environmental challenges and a greater emphasis on safety management. “PHMSA 2021 will allow us to better prioritize our work and be proactive in informing, planning, and execution,” she said. “It will also allow us to be more predictive in our efforts to mitigate future safety issues and to implement data-driven, risk-based inspections, leading our regulated communities in a direction that powers our economy, cultivates innovation, and prioritizes safety.”

Yet short-term issues include a responsibility to conduct comprehensive investigations of major spills. In the case of the Refugio, California, incident, the agency’s wide-ranging investigation quickly pointed to problems with a corroded pipeline.

An eastbound BNSF railway train pulls tank cars near Rosenberg, Texas.

“This pipeline failure had devastating impacts, spilling more than 120,000 gallons of crude oil along a pristine stretch of Gaviota Beach in California and into the Pacific Ocean,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in presenting the findings. “The spill has had profound effects on people and the environment – from an ecological perspective, to impacts on wildlife, recreation, and the local economy.” In May 2016, a Texas company responsible for the pipeline was indicted on criminal charges in the disaster.

GRANTS FOCUS One other major priority for PHMSA is to provide competitive grants that promote safety. Two popular initiatives help localities train first responders and others to deal with hazardous material emergencies, typically through train-thetrainer models. In 2016, the agency awarded $3.7 million under two of these initiatives, including the Hazardous Materials Instructor Training program that trains instructors to work with hazardous materials employees in the private sector.

The second, the Supplemental Public Sector Training program, targets nonprofit fire service organizations with grants so that instructors can provide hazardous materials response training to local responders.

“Well-trained first responders play a critical role in any hazardous materials incident,” Foxx said in announcing recent

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

PHMSA’S TWO SAFETY DIVISIONS To conduct key tasks, PHMSA operates with two safety divisions – the Office of Pipeline Safety and the Office of Hazardous Materials Safety. Staff work in five regions nationwide in addition to a headquarters office in Washington, D.C. PHMSA also has its own training center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The Office of Hazardous Materials Safety oversees transportation of hazardous materials via highway, rail, air, and water. It reviews safety risks, develops and enforces standards for transporting hazardous materials transportation, educates shippers, conducts research, and investigates hazmat incidents and failures. The office can provide grants to improve emergency response. More information is available at www.phmsa.dot.gov/hazmat/ about/org#HQ. The Office of Pipeline Safety oversees 2.3 million miles of natural gas pipelines nationwide, and it supports state efforts – providing 80 percent of the funds spent by states on pipeline safety. For this work, the office also partners with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Transportation Security Administration at the Department of Homeland Security. More information is available at www.phmsa.dot.gov/pipeline. awards. “These grants are part of our comprehensive approach to improving the safe transportation of hazardous material by highway, rail, water, and air.”

The new grants support a variety of awardees, from Texas A&M University Engineering Extension Service to the International Chemical Workers Union Council and the National Partnership for Environmental Technology Education.

Dominguez described these grants as “a force multiplier in getting more local first responders and employees prepared for when HAZMAT transportation incidents happen.” Grants are funded by annual fees paid by shippers and carriers of certain hazardous materials.

Another popular offering is TAG grants, which fund public education and prevention issues for localities. This grant has helped cities such as Allentown step up their education and advocacy efforts after major disasters. An additional grant is helping to create a Mayors’ Council on Pipeline Safety, with participation from Allentown, San Bruno, California, and elsewhere to help communities avoid disasters. This national council seeks to give gas-leak victims a stronger voice in regulatory change while emphasizing community education.

TAG grants “are truly valuable investments to local communities and they have helped educate communities on safety pipeline issues. They have helped emergency responders across the board,” Dominguez said.

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Through such grants, cities and towns also can purchase new technology, said Carl Weimer, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust, a Bellingham, Washington-based group active in pipeline safety. For example, communities may use grants to purchase geographic information systems so that they “better understand where pipelines are, implement programs to better prepare emergency personnel to respond to releases of fuels, and examine ways they can use their planning and zoning authority to increase the safety of people and pipelines,” Weimer said.

TAG helped Louisiana communities gain greater awareness of underwater pipelines, he added. A grant to Fredericksburg, Virginia, enabled the city to purchase software packages to help in management of a possible release of hazardous materials, while Lorain County, Ohio, received funds to work with contractors on a detailed mapping of existing pipeline routes through the county.

Below is a summary of other major PHMSA grant opportunities: • The Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness grant program provides financial and technical assistance to state, tribal, and local entities for emergency planning and training.

• Pipeline Safety Base Grants cover 80 percent of the cost of personnel, equipment, and activities to undertake enforcement actions and inspections for intrastate pipelines. Recent awards ranged from $96,000 to Rhode Island to $4.6 million for California and $4.8 million for Texas and New York.

• Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Grants provide states with funds for safety and inspections. These funds went to 14 states in 2015, including $39,000 to Alabama and Maryland, $305,000 to Oklahoma, and $1.2 million for Texas and California.

• One Call grants are designed to prevent damage caused by excavation during construction projects. The grants support state enforcement efforts for safe excavations.

• The Technology Development Grant program was a onetime initiative, now complete, to develop technologies that promote the prevention of pipeline damage caused by demolition, excavation, tunneling, or construction projects.

Recipients included The Gas Technology Institute and Rutgers University.

• State Damage Prevention Grants fund efforts to prevent major damage to underground pipelines. Grants help create prevention programs in some states and support improvements in states with existing initiatives. They also can support communication among stakeholders, public education, reviews of pipeline operator performance, and effective employee training programs for operators.

Given such a large portfolio of grant and investigative roles, PHMSA has significant responsibilities but also technical expertise to address an extensive workload. “PHMSA operates in a dynamic and challenging environment, which has increased the complexity of the agency’s mission and responsibilities,” Dominguez said. Through strategic planning and other efforts, she said PHMSA’s future plans are to become “a more forwardlooking, proactive, innovative and data-driven agency.”

SECRETARY AND INSPECTOR OFFICES DRIVE DOT’S CORE WORK TASKS

BY CHARLES DERVARICS

DOT PHOTO

Leading a federal agency with 55,000 employees and an annual budget of $77 billion, the U.S. secretary of transportation has a lot on his or her plate every year.

Whether focused on highways, railroads, aviation, or mass transit, the secretary takes the lead role in promoting safety, awarding grants, and even conducting negotiations for international transportation agreements. With such a huge portfolio, the Office of the Secretary of Transportation (OST) requires staff with expertise on everything from legislation to civil rights and emergency response.

“Our transportation and infrastructure matter more than many realize at first view. It’s one of the key drivers to our economy,” says U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, a former mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, who became secretary in 2013. But for Foxx to do his job effectively, the office of the Department of Transportation (DOT) secretary is precisely organized to centralize administration, provide strategic planning, and support efficient decision making. Overall, 14 sub-offices within OST carry out distinct tasks vital to the department’s work.

One example is OST’s Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance office, which takes a lead role in promoting the safety of motor carrier drivers and others responsible for cargo and passengers.

“Pilots, truck drivers, subway operators, ship captains, pipeline controllers, airline mechanics, locomotive engineers, armed security personnel, and bus drivers – among others – have an awesome responsibility to the public and we cannot let their performance be compromised by drugs or alcohol,” Foxx stated in outlining the responsibilities of this office. Yet this office also works closely with employers, enforcing policies that can reduce the number of accidents due to substance use.

Another key component of OST is the Office of the Under Secretary for Policy, who serves as principal adviser to the secretary by developing proposals and guidance across all modes of transportation. One priority for policy experts is the department’s 2014-2018 strategic plan, which has ambitious goals to improve safety, address infrastructure challenges, and use technology and innovation to modernize U.S. transportation.

“We know that our nation will grow by an estimated 100 million

Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx is sworn in on July 2, 2013. people by 2050 and that freight volume will more than double over that period,” Foxx said of the plan. Yet, “Transportation in this country should not just be about getting us to places better, it should make places better too.”

For example, in proposing to modernize infrastructure, Foxx’s plan is to use transportation to create more “ladders of opportunity” through which individuals can easily access jobs and economic development opportunities. Gone, he said, is the era when new inner-city highways caused fundamental and often negative changes on urban neighborhoods. “A few generations ago, we built highways and railways and airports by carving up neighborhoods, leaving bulldozed homes and broken dreams and sapping needy families of the one connection to wealth they had, which was their homes,” Foxx said at the Conference of Mayors’ Transportation Committee Meeting on Jan. 21, 2016. But, he noted, “We can’t afford for transportation to simply be functional anymore.”

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

Here are other critical divisions within DOT’s Office of the Secretary: • Chief information officer: The secretary’s main adviser on information and technology, this officer has a portfolio of more than $3 billion annually. Operational responsibilities include all local and wide area networks, desktop computers, and backend services for all DOT offices except aviation.

• Office of Civil Rights: This sub-agency enforces civil rights laws and regulations.

• Office of Intelligence, Security and Emergency Response: This sub-agency coordinates and manages department policies for security and preparedness.

• Governmental Affairs: Part of the OST office, the assistant secretary for governmental affairs and other senior staff manage relations with Congress as well as with state and local governments and public or private interest groups.

Additional offices within the Department of Transportation’s OST office cover administration, budget and financial management, Freedom of Information Act, general counsel, public affairs, research and technology, and small and disadvantaged business.

“TRANSPORTATION IN THIS COUNTRY SHOULD NOT JUST BE ABOUT GETTING US TO PLACES BETTER, IT SHOULD MAKE PLACES BETTER TOO.” During the past two years, OST has spent considerable time on several high priorities, such as implementing the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, which provides $300 billion over five years for surface transportation improvements. In 2015, the secretary also launched “Beyond Traffic: 2045,” a collaborative research and outreach effort to identify major U.S. transportation challenges facing the nation during the next three decades. With 70 million more U.S. residents expected over that time, the initiative included public hearings in many urban areas to help develop a framework for improvement. “Our programs and policies have not been reformed to tackle the challenges of tomorrow,” Foxx noted.

In a related move, the secretary conducted the Smart City Challenge, in which more than 70 cities vied for $40 million in federal funds to develop far-reaching plans to better use technology, close access gaps between rich and poor and develop new transportation solutions. Columbus, Ohio, won the competition in summer 2016 for a comprehensive plan that includes robust neighborhood transit hubs, smarter traffic signals, greater use of driver-less cars, expansion of bus rapid transit, and collision avoidance technology for its bus fleet. The private sector is providing $10 million for the effort. “The commitment

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by Columbus to explore new ways to use technology to reach beyond the tech savvy and easily accessible is commendable, and it underscores the reasons why we started this challenge,” Foxx said.

PROMOTING EFFICIENCY: ROLE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL But while the Office of the Secretary develops and implements new policies, another major driver for improvement within US DOT is the Office of Inspector General (OIG). In contrast to the secretary’s office, which creates and carries out policy, the inspector general promotes efficiency and combats fraud and abuse. It’s also an office with a huge rate of return: For every $1 investment in 2015, OIG generated $32 in savings uncovered via discovery and rectification of fraud, abuse, and inefficiencies.

Through audits, reviews, and investigations, the inspector general’s work during fiscal 2015 resulted in 60 indictments, 39 convictions, and 36 years in prison for offenders, according to the OIG’s most recent semiannual report. “Our audits and investigations provide independent and objective reviews and aim to detect and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse throughout the department,” said Calvin L. Scovel III, who has served as transportation’s inspector general since 2006. The office can investigate all DOT programs, from highway safety to aviation.

From October 2015 to March 2016, OIG issued 57 audit reports, questioning $8.2 million in costs and recommending more efficient allotment of $108 million in spending.

The office does far more than investigations, however, as another goal is to promote efficient and effective federal services. In 2015, for example, it outlined problems in the way the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) calculates the number of air traffic controllers needed at some of its most important facilities. Sudden retirements are a weakness in this system, it concluded.

“Many of FAA’s busiest and most complex air traffic control facilities have a shortage of fully trained controllers,” Scovel said.

“Controllers can retire with little notice, and it can take more than three years to train replacements.” In a related investigation, FAA also could not locate about 15,000 personal property assets such as personal computers, digital cameras, and utility vehicles that had a combined value of $32 million.

Aviation was not alone in drawing OIG’s attention. The office proposed improvements in how the Federal Transit Administration oversees procurement practices of grantees after reviewing inefficient practices to repair salt water damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. And the National Highway Transit Safety Administration agreed to implement stronger internal controls and a more detailed training program so the agency can better identify and investigate vehicle safety issues.

The department’s large scope of programs gives the inspector general’s office a large potential portfolio. “Each year, the department spends over $70 billion on a wide range of programs to meet its top priority of transportation safety and to maintain

“ O U R T R A N S P O R TAT I O N A N D I N F R A S T R U C T U R E M AT T E R M O R E T H A N M A N Y R E A L I Z E AT F I R S T V I E W . I T ’ S O N E O F T H E K E Y D R I V E R S TO O U R ECONOMY,” and modernize transportation systems,” Scovel said. “We remain committed to assisting DOT as it works to improve how it manages programs and resources.”

OIG’S SCOPE AND RESPONSIBILITIES Created in 1978, the Office of Inspector General is to focus on objective audits and investigations. The office’s 2016 strategic plan contains several specific strategies and performance goals, including core objectives to: • Improve the effectiveness of department programs to better ensure public safety, protect federal taxpayer investments, and promote livability; • Increase the effectiveness of DOT’s mechanisms for providing oversight of federal transportation infrastructure and other transportation-related investments and assess the adequacy of funding sources; • Strengthen the department’s business operations through improved financial management, information technology, and contracting and procurement practices; • Protect the integrity of DOT programs and operations from fraud, waste, abuse, and violations of transportation-related offenses; and • Promote organization and workforce excellence.

A 29-year veteran of the Marine Corps who retired as a brigadier general, Scovel takes pride in conducting comprehensive reviews of federal spending and programs.

“Our audit and investigative work continues to reflect our commitment to fully inform Congress, the department, and the public of pressing transportation concerns and to aggressively pursue individuals intent on putting the public at risk,” he said.

In addition to investigations, OIG monitors a toll-free hotline that typically receives about 2,500 inquiries per year. It also responds to requests from Congress, with an eye toward preventing and detecting waste and abuse. During 2016, the office provided testimony to the House and Senate on motor vehicle safety recalls, delays in creating a centralized database of U.S. pilot records, and efforts to regulate the growing number of unmanned aircraft systems. These are among other recent OIG accomplishments: • Following an OIG investigation, a New York air traffic controller was sentenced to one year of probation, $200,000 in restitution, and forfeiture of $100,000 for manipulating time and attendance reports to receive pay for unworked overtime, nightshift, and holiday hours.

• Investigations into fraud involving disadvantaged business enterprises affected more than $87 million in federal- and state-funded contracts.

• OIG special agents returned possessions to 20 victims of household goods fraud after its investigation of a moving company resulted in prison sentences for the firm’s owner.

• A Rhode Island landscaping executive pleaded guilty in a scheme to avoid paying union benefits to union employees working on a contract awarded by the Federal Highway Administration for improvements along Interstate 95.

Such cases illustrate the wide reach of the inspector general to uncover fraud and promote proper use of federal dollars. “Regardless of specific budget levels requested or approved,” Scovel said, “effective oversight and management of safety efforts, major transportation projects, and DOT assets are critical to ensure the greatest return on the taxpayers’ investment.”

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

FIXING AMERICA’S SURFACE TRANSPORTATION: THE FAST ACT

BY J.R. WILSON

When the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) was signed into law on Dec. 4, 2015, it marked the first implementation of long-term funding for U.S. surface transportation in more than a decade, giving state and local governments the confidence to move forward on critical transportation projects.

“After hundreds of Congressional meetings, two bus tours, visits to 43 states and so much uncertainty – and 36 shortterm extensions – it has been a long and bumpy ride to a longterm transportation bill,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said at the time. “It’s not perfect – and there is still more left to do – but it reflects a bipartisan compromise I always knew was possible.”

While maintaining current program structures, albeit with a number of changes and reforms, FAST Act is touted by Department of Transportation (DOT) as a “down-payment for building a 21st century transportation system.” According to DOT and its congressional supporters, FAST Act is intended to streamline the approval processes for new transportation projects, provide new safety tools, and establish new programs to advance critical freight projects.

“Since the FAST Act was enacted last December, we have been laser-focused on distributing as much available funding as possible to states and other grantees through formula dollars and discretionary grant opportunities,” Foxx told the Senate Commerce Committee in June 2016. “We have also identified five key program areas to focus our implementation efforts – safety, project delivery, freight, innovative finance, and research.

“There are a number of freight programs and related provisions in the FAST Act that address challenges outlined in our ‘Beyond Traffic’ [“Beyond Traffic: Trends and Choices 2045”] study released last year. As our study indicates, it is estimated that by the year 2045 freight volume will grow to 29 billion tons – an increase of 45 percent from 2014 levels. The freight programs in the FAST Act now provide, for the first time, dedicated federal funding that will allow us to fund freight and highway projects, including multimodal projects, to deal with these growing needs.”

In May 2016, DOT closed the application period for freight and highway competitive grants under a FAST Act component – FASTLANE – that will provide $759 million in grants for critical projects.

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FAST Act priorities identified by DOT include: • SAFETY: FAST Act gives the government authority to prohibit rental car companies from knowingly renting vehicles that are subject to safety recalls and increases maximum fines against noncompliant auto manufactures from $35 million to $105 million. The law also bolsters DOT’s safety oversight of transit agencies and streamlines the federal truck and bus safety grant programs, giving states more flexibility to improve safety in those areas.

• PROJECT DELIVERY: Cutting through more bureaucratic red tape to further speed the permitting processes while still protecting environmental and historic sites, as well as codifying the online system to track projects and interagency coordination processes.

• FREIGHT: FAST Act will seek to establish both formula and discretionary grant programs to fund critical freight transportation projects and, for the first time, provide dedicated federal funding for freight projects, including multimodal projects.

DOT has said it will use the act to “emphasize the importance of federal coordination to focus local governments on the needs of freight transportation providers.”

• INNOVATIVE FINANCE BUREAU: FAST Act established a new National Surface Transportation and Innovative Finance Bureau (NSTIFB) as a one-stop shop for state and local governments to receive federal funding, financing, or technical assistance. Building on the department’s Build America Transportation Investment Center (BATIC), the new bureau provides additional tools to improve intra-departmental coordination to promote innovative finance mechanisms.

NSTIFB also is responsible for increasing efficiency in the permitting process.

• TIFIA: FAST Act makes organizational changes to the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan program, creating important structural improvements intended to accelerate the delivery of innovative finance options for large projects and public-private partnerships.

PHOTO BY CAROLYN FRANKS

The FAST ACT establishes and funds new programs to support critical transportation projects to ease congestion and aid the movement of freight on the Interstate system and major roads.

• TRANSIT: FAST Act reinstates the bus discretionary grant program and strengthens the Buy America requirements for vehicle and track purchases, thus promoting domestic manufacturing.

• LADDERS OF OPPORTUNITY: The act includes a number of items to strengthen workforce training and improve regional planning, including allocation of slightly more formula funds to local decision-makers and providing planners with additional design flexibilities. That includes making TransitOriented Development (TOD) expenses eligible for funding under highway and rail credit programs. TOD promotes dense commercial and residential development near transit hubs in an effort to shore up transit ridership and promote walkable, sustainable land use.

“As the long, tortured debate about how to put together a long-term surface bill has shown, transportation bills are no longer ‘lay ups.’ If we do the hard work now, it will save us stress when the FAST Act expires. While the FAST Act helps, we are still playing catch up and the same demographic and economic pressures are coming. Our survey of future challenges, ‘Beyond Traffic,’ tells us that we’ll be stuck in even worse traffic than we have today,” Foxx told the North American International Auto Show in January 2016.

“Our funding and funding distribution models for America’s transportation are rearview mirrors and the massive demographic and economic pressures are front windshields … This plan not only increases spending on infrastructure, it also looks to spend

the money smarter – pushing it to the local and regional levels where system integration is most needed and where projects can be built much faster.”

Not everyone sees the FAST Act in such positive terms, however. Washington, D.C.-based, Transportation for America, a national coalition of elected officials and transportation organizations, for example, issued a report titled, “Falling Forward: A Guide to the FAST Act.” “While there were a few positive changes, the FAST Act doubled down on the status quo of federal transportation policy and failed to make virtually any of the changes so urgently needed by our rapidly urbanizing and changing country,” the organization maintains.

“For example, the bill is virtually silent on the issue of emerging tech-enabled mobility options or other coming innovations, provides no increase in local control over funding – continuing to defer almost all authority to states – and fails to move the ball forward on performance measures after the first steps made by MAP-21 in 2012, among other shortcomings or omissions.”

Transportation for America Director James Corless was equally blunt in his assessment of the legislation: “FAST Act really was a sort of status quo bill, in terms of policy and not really meeting the challenges of the 21st century. The way it was funded was irresponsible and ludicrous and will result in an even bigger fiscal cliff by 2020. It speaks volumes about our lack of innovation. Selling strategic petroleum reserves, one-time Treasury funds – these are not smart, stable, long-term funding

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PHOTO BY ORAN VIRIYINCY

The inaugural in-service northbound bus on Washington State Community Transit’s Swift Bus Rapid Transit line departing Aurora Village Transit Center Nov. 29, 2009. The FAST ACT reinstates the Bus Discretionary Program and strengthens the Buy America requirements for vehicles such as the New Flyer Bus shown here.

solutions. They are a Band-Aid on the federal transportation system. It will be even harder to deal with that the more they kick the can down the road.”

In March 2016, Foxx encouraged states and cities across America to take advantage of the new FAST Act by applying for direct loans, loan guarantees, and standby lines of credit through TIFIA, which will have $1.435 billion in credit assistance funds through the next five years. Based on historic data showing every dollar in TIFIA program funds has supported $14 in loans and a resulting infrastructure investment – including state, local, and private-sector monies – of up to $40, that could pump up to $56 billion into highway, passenger and freight rail, public transit, intermodal freight facility, and international bridge and tunnel repairs and upgrades through 2020.

Since helping finance its first program in 1999, TIFIA has provided $22.7 billion in credit assistance to support more than $82.5 billion in transportation infrastructure investments for 56 major transportation projects around the country.

“The TIFIA credit program has a strong record of success in stimulating local economies and bringing critical transportation projects to communities that need them,” Foxx said. “This year, the added flexibility and streamlined review process should make it easier for a variety of applicants to take advantage of

the funding opportunities and to bring significant infrastructure developments to their neighborhoods.”

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a Washington, D.C., group advocating for more bike and pedestrian trails built along outof-service rail lines, was disappointed by the lack of emphasis on non-vehicular travel and safety in FAST Act. “I’m not sure how much is there that would really change things for cyclists and pedestrians,” organization President Keith Laughlin said. “So much of the focus has been on financial shortcomings and financing, I’m not sure how much innovative thinking is going on in terms of a policy standpoint in these bills.

Basically, it seems to be more about scraping together enough money to maintain the status quo.

“TIGER [Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery] does a much better job of focusing on both mobility and safety in those regards. And I would hope they have some efforts underway to pull some best practices and results from those.”

Transportation for America Chairman John Robert Smith agreed: “FAST Act didn’t go nearly as far as we wanted it to go.

TIGER has been hugely successful – and is vastly oversubscribed.

Only 5 percent of the requests coming in have been funded, but the fact is it continues [to] show its value, [largely because] those are locally created and driven projects, not something

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Car 2037 leads Amtrak’s 6:00 Acela north through Odenton, Maryland. Capital Investment Plan funding will increase to $2.3 billion annually by the end of the FAST Act. coming down from Washington, D.C. TIGER’s success is because it has been so open – they put up the money and, aside from basic guidelines, is open to solutions. And that’s the way all transportation programs should be.”

Since its creation in 2009, the TIGER grant program has provided $5.1 billion to 421 projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and tribal communities. The federal money leveraged funds from privatesector partners, states, local governments, metropolitan planning organizations, and transit agencies.

“For the eighth year running, TIGER will inject critical infrastructure dollars into communities across the country,” Foxx said in announcing nearly $500 million in 2016 grants to 32 states, 40 communities, and two U.S. territories.

“This unique program rewards innovative thinking and collaborative solutions to difficult and sometimes dangerous transportation problems. A great TIGER program doesn’t just improve transportation; it expands economic opportunity and transforms a community.”

The highly competitive TIGER grant program supports innovative projects, including multimodal and multijurisdictional projects that are difficult to fund through traditional federal programs. The 2016 awards focused on capital projects to generate economic development and improve access to reliable, safe, and affordable local transportation, both urban and rural.

As with FASTLANE, competition for TIGER grants far exceeds available funding. For 2016, DOT received 585 eligible

applications from all 50 states, several U.S. territories, tribal communities, cities, and towns for projects totaling more than $9.3 billion. That was in keeping with the previous seven rounds, which saw a combined total of more than 7,300 applications requesting in excess of $143 billion for transportation projects across the country.

Despite acknowledged shortcomings, Foxx told lawmakers he is proud of what DOT has accomplished in the last few years leading up to its golden anniversary. For him, FAST Act represents a first step toward a new federal perspective on dealing with the nation’s decaying transportation infrastructure.

“But this is just the beginning. We will continue our aggressive schedule to execute the reforms you put into place, because if our nation is going to have the type of transportation system tomorrow that is better than it is today, wasted time is something we cannot afford.”

To outside observers such as Smith, reaching that goal will require more than much-needed additional funding – it will require a major restructuring in how DOT and the rest of government, down to small town councils, look at and understand a changing American landscape – and transportation needs – on a scope at least as significant as the post-World War II era.

“Highways always have been and always will be important, but other forms of transportation are, as well,” he said. “We’ve moved from an agricultural to industrial to knowledgebased economy. And the states and communities that make transportation decisions that support that are benefitting from that change.”

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Columbus, Ohio, winner of the Smart City Challenge.

SMART CITY CHALLENGE

BY ERIC SEEGER

“… It’s been said that the 21st century will not be dominated by any one country – it will in fact be dominated by the city, by urbanization. Along these lines, the entire world is now having a conversation about smart cities, which is really a conversation about what our cities should look like in the future. And now our cities will need to show us.

They’ll need to define what a smart city is.”

PHOTO BY DEREK JENSEN

– Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx When Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced the Smart City Challenge in early December 2015, he was putting a call out for America’s mid-sized cities to consider the possibilities: their population growth, how their transportation needs will change in the next 30 years, the needs of underserved communities, and how emerging technologies can be deployed to address them.

To get the ball rolling, Foxx announced that the Smart City Challenge would award $50 million in grants ($40 million from the federal government and $10 million from Microsoft CoFounder Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Inc.) to the city that delivered the most innovative proposal. The goal, from the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) perspective, was to collect and highlight the best ideas coming from local governments. Cities were asked to consider how data and new technology could be used to solve very local problems. The winning city would receive grant funds to jump-start some of these programs and become something of a test bed for the next generation of transportation solutions.

“We do not have a top-down transportation system. We have a bottom-up system,” Foxx added. The former mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, Foxx appreciates that cities of this size can be laboratories for innovation.

When the Smart City Challenge was announced, members of Foxx’s staff expected that about 30 entries would be a sign of success. By the close of application deadlines in the following February, almost 80 cities – from Anchorage, Alaska, to Miami, Florida – had submitted proposals. Clearly the Department of Transportation had struck the right chord with its constituents.

GO WHERE THE GROWTH IS The foundation for the Smart Cities Challenge derived from a 2014 report DOT released called “Beyond Traffic: U.S. DOT’s 30-Year Framework for the Future.” It looked forward to figure out how to move people and goods better – how to address tomorrow’s problems today. “That is the underlying

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In addition to actively helping drivers, Shield+ also provides the option to display the exact time and location for each driver alert in real time. This critical information enables decision makers to identify potentially dangerous areas and infrastructure deficiencies that are causing safety issues. Once these areas have been identified, improvements can be made to make city streets safer.

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GOALS OF THE SMART CITY CHALLENGE INCLUDE:

Top: Gay Street in downtown Columbus.

Above: Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) Bus 9920. A big part of Columbus’ Smart City Challenge proposal focused on improving bus access and service. premise for the Smart City Challenge and the reason why we focus on medium-sized cities,” said Mark Dowd, DOT senior advisor and deputy assistant secretary for research and technology. “One out of 5 people in the U.S. currently lives in a medium-sized city. They are growing at a 30 percent higher rate than anywhere else in the United States. They produce a billion metric tons of carbon every year. And as we add 70 million more people in the U.S. over the next 25 to 30 years, 75 percent will end up in medium-sized cities.”

As this urbanization trend continues, and as medium-sized cities grow faster than they are able to dig themselves out of the problems, they have to look at technology and try to address problems. “The solutions [many cities tried in the past] were solutions that worked in the 20th century,” said Dowd. “So the higher goal is to try to get cities to refocus themselves on the 21st century.”

The massive response to this challenge shows that many cities have been looking for an opportunity to pivot toward the future. They were given only 60 days to submit a 30-page proposal (that’s less time than a typical high school kid gets to submit a college application).

• Identify the transportation challenges and needs of the citizen and business community and demonstrate how advanced technologies can be used to address issues in safety, mobility, and climate change, now and into the future.

• Determine which technologies, strategies, applications, and institutional arrangements demonstrate the most potential to address and mitigate, if not solve, transportation challenges identified within a city.

• Support and encourage cities to take the evolutionary and revolutionary steps to integrate advanced technologies – including connected and automated vehicle technologies – into the management and operations of the city, consistent with the U.S. Department of Transportation vision elements.

• Demonstrate, quantify, and evaluate the impact of these advanced technologies, strategies, and applications toward improved safety, efficiency, and sustainable movement of people and goods.

• Examine the technical, policy, and institutional mechanisms needed for realizing the potential of these strategies and applications – including identifying technical and policy gaps and issues – and work with partners to address them.

• Assess reproducibility and qualify successful smart city systems and services for technology and knowledge transfer to other cities facing similar challenges.

Of the 78 submitted proposals, DOT narrowed down to seven finalists: Austin, Texas; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Kansas City, Missouri; San Francisco, California; Portland, Oregon; Denver, Colorado; and Columbus, Ohio.

In the second round, DOT sought collaboration among the seven finalist cities: They worked together and shared ideas. The result of that process, Dowd said, is that Columbus particularly excelled at demonstrating both the technology and who they are as city – and where they want to go.

AND THE WINNER IS: COLUMBUS OHIO “Who they are as a city” is not the sort of thing that comes easily when making lengthy transportation development proposals for a federal grant. But it does come across when talking about Columbus. It set its sights on bigpicture projects, but also kept a focus on explaining how it would use transportation technology to uplift communities that were being left behind by the current system.

Columbus has maintained a steady population growth trajectory for many years, and it is one of the fastest-growing

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A boarded-up building in South Linden. The city of Columbus plans to improve the metro area but also will focus on fixing longstanding problems for four districts, such as the Linden community shown here. cities in the Midwest. It was named the No. 1 Opportunity City

by Forbes because of its mix of employment opportunities, low unemployment, and affordable housing.

“The city of Columbus has a diversified economy, is home to one of the largest state universities in the country, and is the seat of state government,” said Jeffrey Ortega, assistant director of Columbus’s Department of Public Service, adding that the city is also a major shipping logistics center as well. “For all those reasons, there is an expectation that there will continue to be growth in the future.”

When Columbus began developing its strategy, the city government wanted to use this process to identify how transportation could solve problems for its communities. Ortega said that the city reached out to the community for input.

Its main goals in the Smart City Challenge were: to position Columbus as a Silicon Valley (a city of new ideas and early adopters) for next-generation transportation technology, to use transportation technology to help residents gain better access to jobs and education, to address community problems, and to develop transportation solutions that could be exported to other cities.

The city came up with strategies that could benefit the entire metro area, but it also put a focus on fixing long-standing problems for four districts, the first being its Linden community.

“It’s an area where many residents have experienced social and economic challenges: higher rates of unemployment, higher rates of incarceration,” said Ortega. Other districts included downtown

Columbus, Easton (a business/commercial/shopping district farther northeast of downtown), and the Rickenbacker area, which tends to be the city’s logistics and shipping region.

Ortega described the Linden area as a hard-working community that struggles with low income. He noted that residents lean toward cash-based transactions and adoption of smartphones is less common than in other parts of the city.

That excludes many Linden residents from being able to use services like Lyft and Uber, which typically require credit card accounts and smartphones to schedule a ride. Columbus would like to install bus pass kiosks that could be used to also call ride sharing or car sharing services and issue smart cards that can also be used to pay for them. This could help solve the “last mile” problem for many commuters who would like to use mass transit, but need help getting from the bus line to their final destinations.

Part of the impetus for the solution came from the realization that Linden had a higher infant mortality rate than other parts of the city. Some of that was attributed to the fact that there are few OB-GYN offices in the neighborhood, making prenatal care difficult to attain for pregnant mothers. Ortega envisions a future where mothers in Linden have transportation – buses, rideshares, or eventually automated vehicles – already planned as part of the doctor’s visit. And if mother’s plans or transportation fall through, the system can automatically start rescheduling the next possible visit.

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“This is an example of how they used the problem to show how they are going to use transportation as a solution to some social issues,” said Dowd. “I think that is exactly the type of demonstration that we need.”

Another technology Columbus would like to deploy involves getting buses to run faster. The city already is developing business rapid transit routes aimed at shuttling commuters even faster. The next step would be to install smart traffic signals that not only sense the needs of traffic flow, but could actually sense the approach of the commuter buses. By doing so, the traffic signals could clear the way for the buses and make them an even more attractive proposition to get commuters out of their cars. “We’re talking about shaving a considerable amount of time for commuters to get to their jobs, for people to get to health care appointments … things of this sort,” said Ortega.

On the subject of lights, Columbus is exploring the possibility of high-efficiency smart streetlights. These LED streetlights would cut down on electrical usage by using sensors that tell them when they are needed. They would speak to each other as a network. And since they would all require their own IP addresses, they could also double as Wi-Fi routers that bring high-speed internet access to communities where availability and adoption of this technology has been lacking.

FUTURE FORWARD At press time, Ortega was not able to confirm which programs will be deployed first. The city is coordinating with its partners to determine the time lines for each. But as Ortega is quick to point out, the funding for these projects is coming over the next four years. So things will be changing fast for Columbus.

Also, DOT is awarding grant funds to the other six finalist cities to allow them to continue developing their innovative ideas.

“All of them were equally committed to implementing their program – or part of their programs – regardless of if they won,” said Dowd. “And I think that commitment is compelling.”

The competition represents part of a significant shift in the Department of Transportation, which is emphasizing a focus on innovation, embracing American ingenuity, and making its work more inclusive for the 21st century.

QUICK LOOK: PROPOSALS FROM THE OTHER FINALISTS Austin, Texas – Austin is a city that has seen explosive growth over the past 20 years, and its transportation infrastructure has struggled to keep pace. Its proposal involved creating an app that would allow residents to create, plan, and purchase trips throughout the city that could combine traditional mass transit as well as new systems like ride sharing. “They were also very effective [in] bringing together all their stakeholders and used social engagement to get to their solutions,” said Mark Dowd, DOT senior advisor and deputy assistant secretary for research and technology.

San Francisco, California – The tech-savvy city is only 49 square miles, but it is very densely packed and its public transportation and roadways are already under heavy use.

“San Francisco had a very compelling approach; a regional city and a neighborhood approach,” said Dowd. The city is looking into technologies and road sharing strategies to reduce traffic at the neighborhood level. It is also looking at using high-occupancy ride-sharing vehicles to reduce the number of single-passenger vehicles traveling into the city.

Portland, Oregon – “They were trying to connect east Portland with the rest of the city,” said Dowd. Portland’s city center has excellent public transportation and options for bicycle commuters. But bus rides from the suburbs can be long.

The city is developing UB Mobile PDX, a mobile platform that lets users compare transportation options at any given time by speed, cost, safety, and environmental tolls for each one.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – Topography and last-century urban planning has chopped Pittsburgh into more than 90 distinct neighborhoods, which can make traveling in town difficult. The city has already started working with smart traffic signals that adapt to roadway congestion, and it has been the test bed for automated driving technologies. Its focus has been to address transportation needs for historically underserved neighborhoods.

Kansas City, Missouri – Every day, this city’s population quadruples as commuters make the trek to work. Kansas City proposed widening that pipeline with a new electric commuter line that would include underprivileged neighborhoods along its route. This would be augmented by autonomous public transportation. Kansas City also envisioned giving its commuter kiosks the added functionality of serving as job boards and Wi-Fi access points.

Denver, Colorado – “Denver has some pretty cool stuff,” said Dowd. The city’s proposal leaned heavily on data collection and management to guide transit vehicles, autonomous vehicles, and commercial freight traffic. It also aimed to ramp up the number of electrical vehicles in the city and create a smart grid of sustainably produced energy to power them.

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

FASTLANE

BY J.R. WILSON

For FY 2016, Congress authorized $800 million in FASTLANE grants under the FAST Act’s Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects (NSFHP) program. Of that, 25 percent was reserved for rural projects (urban areas with populations of fewer than 200,000 and all areas outside urban areas) and 10 percent for smaller projects (less than $100 million), which are eligible for a minimum $5 million award. Through 2020, NSFHP is authorized for FASTLANE grants totaling $4.5 billion.

“Our nation needs a strong multimodal freight system to both compete in the global economy and meet the needs of consumers and industry,” according to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “We now have an opportunity to fund high-impact projects that address key challenges affecting the movement of people and freight.”

By the April 14, 2016, deadline for submitting applications for the first round of FASTLANE grants, the Department of Transportation (DOT) had received 212 applications – 136 for urban area projects, 76 for rural – totaling nearly $9.8 billion, 13 times the available funding.

“Transportation creates jobs and makes jobs of the future possible. We know there is pent-up demand for projects that will speed up the delivery of goods and make America even more competitive. Today, we have even more evidence,” Foxx said of the massive response to FASTLANE. “We’re going to do our best to support high-impact transportation projects that will lay a new foundation for job creation and exporting American-made goods throughout the world.”

FASTLANE grants or credit assistance will be made available to nationally and regionally significant freight and highway projects that align with program goals to: • improve the safety, efficiency, and reliability of the movement of freight and people • generate national or regional economic benefits and increase U.S. global economic competitiveness • reduce highway congestion and bottlenecks • improve connectivity between modes of freight transportation • enhance the resiliency of critical highway infrastructure and help protect the environment • improve roadways vital to national energy security • address the impact of population growth on the movement of people and freight DOT touts FASTLANE as representing the first program in the department’s 50-year history to establish “broad, multi-year eligibilities for freight infrastructure, including intermodal projects.” U.S. Code Title 23, Section 117,

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Arizona’s I-10 Corridor was one of 18 projects receiving a total of $759 million in FASTLANE funding in FY 2016.

ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PHOTO

FASTLANE (Fostering Advancements in Shipping and Transportation for the Long-term Achievement of National Efficiencies) is a key component of the 2015 FAST Act (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation). Its goal is to provide grants to help states and communities achieve a massive national objective: Funding critical freight and highway projects.

sets out the terms for FASTLANE funding. According to DOT, those include: • FASTLANE grants may be used for up to 60 percent of future eligible project costs. Federal assistance other than a FASTLANE grant may be used to satisfy the non-federal share of the cost of a project receiving a FASTLANE grant, but the total federal assistance may not exceed 80 percent of future eligible project costs.

• For Federal Land Management Agencies (FLMAs), any federal funds other than those made available under titles 23 or 49, U.S.C., with some exceptions, may be used to

pay the non-federal share of the cost of a project carried out under the FASTLANE Grant Program by an FLMA that applies jointly with a state or group of states.

• Since the law specifically establishes the federal share for FASTLANE grants, the maximum federal share is not subject to adjustment based on other statutory provisions. As examples, neither “sliding scale” adjustments authorized under 23 U.S.C. 120(a) and (b) nor the 100 percent federal share for certain projects on highways and access roads on the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS) apply under this program.

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The Arlington Memorial Bridge Reconstruction Project received $90 million in FASTLANE funding.

“FASTLANE grants will address many of the challenges outlined in the USDOT report “Beyond Traffic,” including increased congestion on the nation’s highways and the need for a strong multimodal transportation system to support the expected growth in freight movement, both by ton and value,” DOT stated in a March 2016 release. “It is also in line with the Department’s draft National Freight Strategic Plan released in October 2015, which looks at challenges and identifies strategies to address impediments to the efficient flow of goods throughout the nation.”

On July 5, 2016, DOT revealed the first 18 projects selected to receive a total of $759 million in FASTLANE funding in fiscal year 2016, by state: Arizona: I-10 Phoenix-Tucson Corridor Improvements – $54 million California: SR 11 Segment 2 and Southbound Connectors – $49.3 million DC: Arlington Memorial Bridge Reconstruction Project – $90 million Florida: Truck Parking Availability System – $10.7 million Georgia: Port of Savannah International Multi-Modal Corridor – $44 million Iowa: Cedar Rapids Logistics Park – $25.65 million Idaho: U.S. 95 North Corridor Access Intermodal Project – $5.1 million Louisiana: I-10 Freight CoRE – $60 million Massachusetts: Conley Terminal Intermodal Improvements and Modernization – $42 million Maine: Maine Intermodal Port Productivity Project – $7.7 million New York: I-390/I-490/Route 31 Interchange, Lyell Avenue Corridor Project– $32 million New York: Cross Harbor Freight Program (Rail) – $10.67 million Oklahoma: U.S. 69/75 Bryan County – $62 million Oregon: Coos Bay Rail Line – Tunnel Rehabilitation Project – $11 million Virginia: Atlantic Gateway: Partnering to Unlock I-95 Corridor – $165 million Washington: South Lander Street Grade Separation and Railroad Safety Project – $45 million Washington: Strander Blvd. Extension and Grade Separation Phase 3 – $5 million Wisconsin: I-39/90 Corridor Project – $40 million

125

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Boston’s Conley Terminal container yards, Reserved Channel and Dry Dock number 3. FASTLANE funding of $42 million is being devoted to intermodal improvements and modernization of the terminal.

“The demand for the FASTLANE program has already far exceeded expectations, receiving 212 applications for projects totaling roughly $10 billion, more than 10 times the available amount,” congressional transportation committee leaders said in a joint statement. “This program is an important achievement of the FAST Act and the response illustrates how critical freight and highway investments are to improving the movement of goods and reducing congestion.”

While FASTLANE’s funding authorization for FY 2016 was $800 million, the authorization is planned to increase by $50 million each year, reaching $1 billion by 2020.

“If we want to keep our economy moving and our people safe, we need to act. If we want our transportation system to accomplish these goals with less impact on the environment, we need to act. We’ve got to promote cleaner and better alternatives – like transportation systems that harness technology and innovation to move us in a safer, smarter, and more sustainable way,” Foxx said. “So we’ve been doing a lot of research and outreach to the leaders in the auto and tech industry to ask them what they’re working on and to figure out how government can work with them toward progress.”

Although critical of the FAST Act, Transportation for America Director James Corless is far more positive about its primary funding component: “FASTLANE is an innovative program and we applaud it as we did the Smart City Challenge [a 2015 DOT competition, won by Columbus, Ohio, for up to $40 million in funding to help fully integrate innovative technologies – selfdriving cars, smart sensors, etc. – into their transportation network]. Those are good concepts, putting money on the table for more innovative solutions.”

Transportation for America Chairman John Robert Smith agreed that FASTLANE is a step forward – just not forward enough.

“FASTLANE should be open to more than the limited choices it currently has. But, again, there is massive competition for those dollars, which shows the desire and demand from local communities. If you put up dollars for communities to compete for, you will see imaginative ideas and creative solutions to transportation problems coming out, not just for highways, but also rail and air,” he said, comparing it to DOT’s TIGER program.

“TIGER’s success is because it has been so open – they put up the money and, aside from basic guidelines, is open to solutions.

And that’s the way all transportation programs should be.”

127

THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

CONNECTED AIRSPACE The FAA’s Next Generation Air Transportation System

BY JAN TEGLER

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is in the midst of a 25-year effort to modernize the American air transportation system. Known as the Next Generation Air Transportation System or “NextGen,” the plan aims to make national airspace more efficient by leveraging technology and updating infrastructure.

Launched by the Department of Transportation (DOT) in 2004, NextGen arose due to strains on the National Airspace System (NAS) – an aviation infrastructure developed and fielded in the 20th century. Looking into the future, the FAA recognized that this decades-old architecture would not be able to keep pace with 21st century traffic growth.

Over the first 100 years of commercial aviation (between 1914 and 2014), the NAS moved 65 billion passengers, according to the FAA. With a current average of 64 million takeoffs and landings annually, the agency expects another 65 billion passengers will take to the sky in just the next 15 years.

Accounting for 5.4 percent of U.S. gross domestic product and 12 million jobs, aviation is a critical part of the economy.

An overhaul of the NAS is critical for the safe, economic, and environmentally responsible movement of people and goods, says the FAA. Once fully implemented, it predicts that NextGen will result in $160.6 billion worth of benefits for an investment of $35.8 billion through 2030.

The new platform transforms American airspace by connecting users and air traffic managers as never before.

NextGen will change the way aviators “See, Navigate and Communicate,” the FAA maintains. Underpinning the changes is a transition from ground radar-based air traffic management to satellite-based air traffic control. With this shift comes improved surveillance (coverage) of airspace and airport surfaces and significantly better aircraft position information due to the precision of satellite-enabled GPS systems.

The greater coverage and precision of the technologies used in the NextGen platform gives airspace managers (air traffic control) and users (pilots) a far more detailed, timely picture of the NAS. That data can be leveraged in multiple ways, from providing more direct time- and fuel-saving flight paths to reducing the separation of aircraft for higher traffic volume at a given airport.

It can be employed to streamline and de-conflict movements in the air and on the ground and to improve communications and

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flight planning/deviations with non-voice delivery of data to aircraft and pilots.

But it’s the sharing of information between managers and users of the NAS that is NextGen’s most significant upgrade, the FAA says. This creates a truly “connected airspace” with better situational awareness for all involved and the opportunity to optimize flight procedures and policies.

The effort is not without risk in today’s security environment, however, where network-centric systems are challenged daily. But the FAA maintains that the programs and equipment that enable NextGen are being made as robust and efficient as possible. For a more detailed picture, here’s a brief summary of these.

AUTOMATIC DEPENDENT SURVEILLANCE-BROADCAST (ADS-B) ADS-B is the NextGen successor to radar, employing GPS satellites to determine an aircraft’s location, ground speed, and other data. The accuracy of ADS-B significantly exceeds that of radar-based position information. It’s a two-pronged Out/In system with an emphasis on the broadcast of realtime aircraft data.

ADS-B Out uses onboard avionics to broadcast an aircraft’s position, altitude, and velocity to nearby aircraft equipped to receive the data via ADS-B In and to a network of ground stations, which relays the information to air traffic control displays. The FAA has mandated that “aircraft operating in most controlled U.S. airspace must be equipped for ADS-B Out

by Jan. 1, 2020.”

ADS-B In is not currently mandated. This part of the system provides ADS-B In-equipped aircraft with traffic information directly to the cockpit. Aircraft receiving data using a universal access transceiver (UAT) also receive real-time weather and other aeronautical information.

The requirement to equip with ADS-B hasn’t been without controversy. The economic burden on users, particularly small

On Jan. 27, 2004, in a luncheon speech to the Aero Club of Washington, then-Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta announced plans for a new, Next Generation Air Transportation System with expanded capacity to relieve congestion, prevent gridlock, and secure America’s place as global leader in aviation’s second century. businesses that operate aircraft and general aviation owners, has been a cause of concern.

Acknowledging that the costs of this NextGen upgrade (approximately $4,000 per aircraft) fall directly on these users, the FAA is offering a $500 rebate for 20,000 owners of single-engine piston aircraft for one year on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The rebate covers only a portion of the users mentioned above. DOT estimates the total equipage requirement “might be about 160,000.”

NASA IMAGE

DATA COMMUNICATIONS (DATACOMM) Data Comm gives air traffic controllers and pilots a new way to communicate via the transmission of flight instructions digitally. Essentially, this is text-based messaging for air traffic control that supplements voice communication. In future, Data Comm will enable other instructions, requests, and reports to be relayed digitally instead of speaking them over the radio.

The FAA says the new system is expected to save operators more than $10 billion over the 30-year life cycle of the program

and will save the agency $1 billion. Airports with Data Commequipped towers allow controllers the option to “enter flight departure clearance instructions into a computer and push a button to electronically send the information to the flight deck.”

Flight crews view the information on cockpit displays, “press a button to confirm receipt then press another button to enter the instructions into the flight management system before leaving and during taxi to the runway,” saving considerable time.

Other benefits include enhanced clarity. Pilots receiving Data Comm text messages don’t have to read back complicated flight instructions as with voice communication, avoiding mistakes and confusion and taking up to a third less time to receive clearances. Safety is enhanced by Data Comm’s ability to send “a complicated message to a single airplane to eliminate any confusion as to the intended recipient” as often happens with voice communication.

EN ROUTE AUTOMATION MODERNIZATION (ERAM) ERAM is a new FAA computer system that replaces the legacy HOST computer system for en route air traffic control.

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

“With the flip of a switch, NVS will enable voice traffic to move from one location to another anywhere in the country,” the FAA says.

That means the agency can fluidly shift workload among multiple air traffic control (ATC) facilities if required. This has a multiplier effect on ATC resources, potentially increasing capacity during unexpected events or poor weather conditions.

Shifting control of airspace sectors between facilities can take as long as two weeks currently. “With NVS, the switchover will likely be completed after a few hours of facility coordination.”

PERFORMANCE BASED NAVIGATION (PBN)

More capable and flexible than HOST, ERAM provides upgraded accuracy and airspace information, enabling controllers to make more informed decisions. It’s critical to the integration of other NextGen capabilities including ADS-B, Data Comm, Performance Based Navigation, System Wide Information Management, and advanced traffic-flow capabilities.

ERAM performs core functions at the FAA en route centers where high-altitude air traffic is controlled, processing flight and surveillance radar data, enabling efficient controller-pilot communications, generating detailed display data to air traffic controllers, and providing the platform for digital data-sharing and trajectory-based operations.

Now covering the majority of the NAS and controlling 30 million flights annually, ERAM increases airspace capacity and improves safety and efficiency.

NAS VOICE SYSTEM (NVS) NVS replaces decades-old analog systems with secure, digital Voice over Intranet Protocol technology, yielding better reliability and flexibility for voice communications at air traffic control towers, terminal radar approach control (TRACON) facilities, and en route facilities.

With current point-to-point voice-switching technology, controllers are restricted to speaking with aircraft in geographical range of their nearby radio site. Deployed over a secure FAA digital network, NVS is not limited by geography.

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SYSTEM WIDE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (SWIM) SWIM is an information-sharing platform, enabling increased common situational awareness throughout the NAS. Essentially, it’s the “digital backbone” of NextGen, improving the FAA’s capability to deliver “the right information to the right people at the right time.”

When fully implemented, SWIM will harmonize the processes and infrastructure needed for NextGen to succeed. Different users and producers of data will be connected with a “common language and a single point of contact.” That means that unrelated computer systems will be able to share information freely over SWIM’s standard data format.

Constituents, from air traffic managers, air traffic controllers, and airline operators to the Department of Defense, the Federal Air Marshal Service, and more will be able to share aeronautical,

NASA IMAGE

Controllers using the Efficient Descent Advisor in a simulation, and a chart of regular and efficient descent profiles.

PBN exploits the capabilities of satellites and onboard Area Navigation (RNAV) and Required Navigation Performance (RNP) equipment to enable navigation procedures that are more precise and accurate than standard avionics and ground-based navigation aids.

This updated method of aerial navigation is known as PBN because the types of routes and procedures an aircraft can fly depend upon the performance level of equipment and pilot training.

Traditionally, pilots flying in U.S. airspace had little choice but to head from one ground-based VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) transmitter to the next, often adding flying time and excess miles.

Now, using RNAV (which enables aircraft to fly any desired flight path within the coverage of ground- or space-based navigation aids, within the limits of aircraft avionics, or with a combination of these) and RNP (a more advanced form of RNAV that includes an onboard performance monitoring and alerting capability), aircraft can fly more directly from departure to arrival by using satellite signals.

Tightly spaced parallel routes and approaches become possible and aircraft can descend to lower minimum heights over high terrain. A PBN network of thousands of precisely defined routes designed by the FAA reduces fuel consumption, flying time, and exhaust emissions. Communication between pilots and controllers is also streamlined, allowing them to focus on other safety-related tasks.

flight, and weather information so users can respond faster and more accurately. The system increases NAS agility, cuts operating costs, and offers collaborative opportunities for the FAA and industry to solve complex problems.

TERMINAL AUTOMATION MODERNIZATION AND REPLACEMENT (TAMR) TAMR is the program under which the FAA will field its Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS). STARS upgrades and fuses multiple air traffic control technologies in one state-of-the-art platform, facilitating the integration of ADS-B and other NextGen programs.

The new platform combines surveillance radar data, and ADS-B and flight plan information from ERAM. Controllers use STARS to provide more efficient air traffic control services to pilots in the airspace immediately surrounding major airports. The services include separation and sequencing of air traffic, conflict and terrain avoidance alerts, weather advisories, and radar vectoring for departing and arriving traffic.

With TAMR, the FAA is modernizing air traffic control technology at 54 sites where STARS is already operational and replacing older automation platforms with STARS at 108 additional facilities. Functioning as a single terminal platform throughout the NAS, STARS reduces costs by eliminating the need to develop, test, and deploy software on multiple systems.

The FAA says 11 TRACON facilities that control 80 percent of all U.S. air traffic are expected to be fully operational with STARS

by October 2017.

OVER THE FIRST 100 YEARS OF COMMERCIAL AVIATION (BETWEEN 1914 AND 2014), THE NAS MOVED 65 BILLION PASSENGERS, ACCORDING TO THE FAA. WITH A CURRENT AVERAGE OF 64 MILLION TAKEOFFS AND LANDINGS ANNUALLY, THE AGENCY EXPECTS ANOTHER 65 BILLION PASSENGERS WILL TAKE TO THE SKY IN JUST THE NEXT 15 YEARS. Water Quality – Limit adverse aviation discharges to U.S. waters and reduce aviation’s contribution to significant water quality impacts.

Climate – Limit the impact of aircraft carbon dioxide emissions on the global climate by achieving carbon-neutral growth by 2020 and reducing the climate impact from all aviation emissions over the longer term by 2050.

Energy – Improve NAS energy efficiency and develop and deploy sustainable alternative jet fuels for commercial aviation.

Noise – Reduce the number of people exposed to significant noise around U.S. airports, notwithstanding aviation growth, and provide additional measures to protect public health and welfare and national resources.

SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (SMS)

DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS (DSS)

Improving the safety of flight and ground-based operations is a core goal of NextGen. The SMS is an FAA-wide approach to develop and implement policies, processes, and analytical tools that the agency and industry will use to ensure safety of the NAS. Its mission is to make sure that “changes introduced with NextGen capabilities maintain and improve safety while delivering capacity and efficiency benefits to the FAA and NAS users.”

DSS is an umbrella for three programs – Traffic Flow Management System (TFMS), Time Based Flow Management (TBFM), and Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM) – designed to optimize traffic flow across the NAS. TFMS is a suite of automation tools that serves as the FAA’s primary system for planning and implementing traffic management initiatives (TMI) that mitigate demand and capacity imbalances throughout the NAS. TBFM uses time instead of distance to help controllers sequence air traffic. Compared to the traditional miles-in-trail process, TBFM provides a more efficient traffic flow that reduces fuel burn and increases traffic capacity.

TFDM enables efficiencies in airport surface operations and in the terminal airspace. It operates through four core functions: electronic flight data distribution, traffic flow management, collaborative decision-making on the airport surface, and systems consolidation.

Together, they integrate multiple technologies and suggest faster, more effective responses to evolving conditions. They share data among air traffic controllers, traffic managers, and other stakeholders who develop collaborative solutions for traffic-flow constraints.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY Another core goal of NextGen is to balance aviation growth with environmental protection. Aircraft noise, air quality, climate, energy, and water quality are the main environmental issues that affect the flexibility and capacity of the NAS. The guiding principles of the effort are to reduce future aviation environmental impacts to levels that protect public health and welfare and ensure energy availability and sustainability.

The FAA will pursue five stated goals through NextGen to align the NAS with these principles: Air Quality – Achieve a reduction of significant air quality health and welfare impacts attributable to aviation, notwithstanding aviation growth.

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

TIGER GRANTS FUND INNOVATION, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

BY CHARLES DERVARICS

In today’s highly charged political environment, few federal programs enjoy much bipartisan support. But by funding innovations from bike paths to port upgrades, the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has built a winning formula to improve regional transportation for the 21st century.

“The program is truly innovative in the transportation space,” said Joe McAndrew, policy director at Transportation for America, a national coalition of elected officials and transportation organizations based in Washington, D.C. For years, he said, most federal transportation funding has flowed through block grants to states – a process that has given governors and state legislators vast control, sometimes to the detriment of cities and towns.

“Some states do a great job of supporting localities, and some do not,” McAndrew said. TIGER’s importance is that it serves the needs of jurisdictions without a track record of success gaining state funds, particularly for projects that are not focused on highway expansion. Under TIGER, he noted, “Funding is competitive and local governments can go directly to DOT to make their case.”

The program was created under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, popularly known as the 2009 economic stimulus law in response to the Great Recession. Initially funded at $1.5 billion, the program has received continued annual support largely due to its popularity among local officials as well as the White House and Congress. “This program is widely popular in red states and blue states,” McAndrew said. Most importantly, he noted, it supports all modes of transportation – not just highway improvements, a frequent target for federal investment.

Since 2009, TIGER has provided $5.1 billion to 421 projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. territories, and tribal communities. These federal funds leverage money from private-sector partners, states, local governments, metropolitan planning organizations, and transit agencies. Government and private estimates show that the program typically generates $3 in non-federal funds for every federal dollar invested. In 2016 alone, $500 million in grants is expected to provide $1.74 billion in improvements as partners supplement the federal investment.

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For DOT officials, the program represents an important opportunity to support comprehensive change. “The TIGER program funds vital transportation projects that provide real benefits to communities all across the country,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said. TIGER competitions also are rigorous: In the program’s first year, nearly 1,400 applicants sought $60 billion and the agency could fund only 3 percent of applicants at $1.5 billion.

For fiscal year 2016, the eighth round of grants, 585 eligible applicants requested $9.3 billion. From that pool, the government awarded nearly $500 million. “Every year, we see hundreds of compelling applications that have the potential to improve people’s access to economic opportunities, make people safer, and improve their wellbeing,” Foxx said.

SUPPORTING MULTIMODAL TRANSPORTATION One key ingredient in TIGER’s success is its support for varied modes of transportation, a factor that encourages comprehensive regional planning and generates broad political support for the program.

“TIGER will fund projects that are an amalgam of different means of transportation,” said Kevin Mills, vice president of Rails-for-Trails Conservancy, a Washington, D.C., group advocating for more bike and pedestrian trails. By comparison, states tend to spend most block grant funds on highways.

“There’s a tendency of state departments of transportation to focus on moving cars further and faster. That always has a place, but there is room to find some balance.”

The breadth of the program’s reach is evident through its grant awards. From 2009 through 2015, for example, TIGER’s reach has extended to these sectors: • Road projects received 33 percent of TIGER funding, or $1.5 billion for 127 projects;

CITY OF PORTLAND BUREAU OF TRANSPORTATION PHOTO

The Portland, Oregon, SW Moody Avenue TIGER project elevated the roadway 14 feet above the original grade, and created three traffic lanes, dual streetcar tracks, pedestrian walkways, and a cycle track.

• Transit projects accounted for 28 percent of funding, or 71 projects at $1.3 billion; • Rail projects received 21 percent of funds, or $985 million for 60 projects; • Port improvements accounted for 11 percent of awards, or 43 projects for $523 million; and • Bike and pedestrian improvements represented 5 percent of grants, or 16 projects and $214 million.

While Mills’ main focus – developing more trails – is not a part of some TIGER projects, his organization strongly supports the program because it encourages a range of options.

“People want a breadth of transportation choice,” he said, and this program allows communities to be strategic in crafting comprehensive options. “What’s often missing in transportation policy is a way to promote a comprehensive strategy, and this program helps fill that gap.”

One recent example of multimodal support is a $10-million, 2016 TIGER grant to Brownsville, Texas. The grant will fund a multifaceted program that includes rehabilitating a bus maintenance facility so that it can serve as a passenger transfer station. Yet Brownsville also will use grant funds to purchase eight new hybrid transit buses, renovate bus stops to include sidewalks, curb ramps, and benches, and construct a 2.4mile causeway that, when complete, will be one of the longest dedicated pedestrian/bike bridge facilities in the nation.

Another example is on the West Coast, where the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority grant will support a 6-mile multi-use transportation corridor for bicyclists and pedestrians and improve access to two current and one planned metro line. In addition, the project will connect multiple neighborhoods in historically disadvantaged communities in South Los Angeles, providing safe and attractive mobility options for residents and workers in the corridor.

“TIGER really makes the case for why greater federal investment in transportation is needed and that people want multimodal transportation options,” Mills said. He cited a 2016 award to Cleveland supporting a goal that all residents live no more than 10 minutes from a bike trail. “It’s about bringing a lot of different pieces together,” he said. “It identifies projects with a high return.”

PROJECT PRIORITIES Applicants are to focus on goals such as safety, economic competitiveness, quality of life, and maintenance/repair of existing entities. Other considerations include the ability to attract partners and the extent to which potential projects are innovative and cost effective. Recently, DOT has placed an emphasis on economic development, particularly projects that help lower-income residents access public transportation in order to gain jobs.

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

Artist’s conception of the Pittsburgh Cap project, which is designed to reconnect a low-income neighborhood to the city center.

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Bridge across the river, which is heavily used by Amtrak trains in the Northeast corridor. The project ultimately may improve the speed of rail service for millions of travelers.

“This unique program rewards innovative thinking and collaborative solutions to difficult and sometimes dangerous transportation problems,” according to Foxx.

Those eligible for TIGER grants include state and local governments, transit agencies, port authorities, metropolitan planning organizations, and multistate applicants. While projects can improve interstate highways and replace bridges – two long popular DOT activities – the grants can revitalize ports, passenger and freight rail projects, and even support earthquake-related improvements. “Transportation is always about the future. If we’re just fixing today’s problems, we’ll fall further and further behind,” Foxx said.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES The TIGER program has had its detractors, as some conservative groups say the program is unnecessary and wasteful when local transportation solutions should be left to the city or town level. But attempts to terminate the program have failed in Congress, where the House and Senate annually have agreed to extend funding. As a result, it is one of only a few 2009 stimulus initiatives to remain in effect.

“There are pockets of resistance, but overall the program is popular,” Mills said.

URBAN DESIGN ASSOCIATES

In Louisville, Kentucky, a $16.9 million grant is helping to convert Dixie Highway to a bus rapid transit corridor to better connect the southwestern part of the city to jobs, social services, education, and medical care. The project is designed to provide safer options for bicyclists and pedestrians as well. “A great TIGER program doesn’t just improve transportation. It expands economic opportunity and transforms a community,” Foxx says.

Economic development is the theme of many new grants, including $6.2 million for an inland port in Little Rock, Arkansas, $17.7 million for a highway freight interchange in Scott County, Minnesota, and $19 million to Pittsburgh to build a cap over a below-grade portion of downtown highway, thereby reconnecting a low-income neighborhood to the city center with more open space, a new bus stop and a bikesharing station.

Projects also support multistate partnerships. One example is a $25 million grant for a regional truck-parking information management system along interstates in Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. When operational, the system will provide truck drivers with reliable, real-time information to make smarter, more efficient truckparking decisions.

In addition to a state or local focus, projects may have major positive implications for residents across the country. One example is the NEC Portal Bridge Replacement Acceleration Project in Hackensack, New Jersey. A partnership received $16 million to accelerate the replacement of the century-old Portal

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THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION I 50 Years of Moving America Forward

A portion of the Bronx River Greenway, before (top) and after (above).

TIGER grants support rural areas and small towns as well as big cities. In fact, the program requires that at least 20 percent of funding go toward less-populated rural areas, since transportation options can reduce poverty and isolation. Some notable projects for more remote areas include: • $2.9 million for construction or roads and sidewalks in the native village of Point Hope, Alaska; • $20.8 million to build transit facilities in Texas’ growing rural areas, including the purchase of more modern transit vehicles and improved accessibility for the disabled; and • $10 million to complete streets and trails in Kalispell, Montana, in a redevelopment project that will relocate freight rail lines and remove them from downtown.

Technology can play a role in rural TIGER projects as well. Among 2015 grantees, Transit Tech Ohio received $6.8 million to develop and deploy technology improvements for fixed and on-demand transit operators in rural areas. Among other innovations, the project will develop standard scheduling and dispatching services and improve the rapid response capacity of rural transit operators during emergencies.

While most projects require at least a 20 percent non-federal match, TIGER grants can cover 100 percent of costs in rural areas, said Joe McAndrew, policy director at Transportation for America, an advocacy group. And while the federal program requires at least a $5 million grant in urban areas, the minimum can be as little as $1 million in less-populated areas. “TIGER’s rural projects are not just about mobility but about economic development,” he said.

Early in the program’s existence, some also had questions about the grant award process. The U.S. Government Accountability Office issued a 2014 report stating that DOT at TIGER’s start did not always document its funding decisions, especially when selecting projects with lower technical scores than some that were not funded. However, advocates say the agency overall has managed the program well. Said Mills, “DOT has done an admirable job in running rigorous competitions.”

With a history that dates to 2009, TIGER can point to projects that are now complete. One example is in Normal, Illinois, where a TIGER grant helped anchor the redevelopment of the city. The goal behind the proposed Uptown Station was to serve as an anchor for a downtown plaza while accommodating a growing Amtrak ridership with high-speed rail to Chicago and St. Louis. It was among the first TIGER projects to break ground and finished in 2012. Along with

$22 million through a TIGER grant, states and localities contributed $13 million and partners found an additional $10 million in federal funds.

TIGER also can provide the final piece of the puzzle for communities to complete transportation plans. In Bronx, New York, TIGER is the funding source to complete the Bronx River Greenway, which will connect thousands of South Bronx residents to the greenway through new bridges and trails. “The program is popular nationwide because so many places have benefitted in transformative ways,” Mills said.

Despite the program’s good works, however, the TIGER program alone cannot accommodate all of the nationwide demand for new or innovative transportation solutions, Mills said. Still, it provides an effective framework for comprehensive improvement. “This program has a special niche,” he said. “It’s powerful in pointing the way toward the future.”

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE BRONX RIVER ALLIANCE

HELPING RURAL COMMUNITIES