[Senate Hearing 106-438] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] S. Hrg. 106-438 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRANSPORTATION EQUITY ACT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY ======================================================================= HEARINGS BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION __________ APRIL 15, 29, AND JUNE 9, 1999 __________ Printed for the use of the Committee on Environment and Public Works U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 59-382cc WASHINGTON : 2000 _______________________________________________________________________ For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402 COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS one hundred sixth congress JOHN H. CHAFEE, Rhode Island, Chairman JOHN W. WARNER, Virginia MAX BAUCUS, Montana ROBERT SMITH, New Hampshire DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN, New York JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming HARRY REID, Nevada CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri BOB GRAHAM, Florida GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut MICHAEL D. CRAPO, Idaho BARBARA BOXER, California ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah RON WYDEN, Oregon KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas Jimmie Powell, Staff Director J. Thomas Sliter, Minority Staff Director ------ Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio, Chairman JOHN W. WARNER, Wyoming MAX BAUCUS, Montana ROBERT SMITH, New Hampshire DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN, New York CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri HARRY REID, Nevada JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma BOB GRAHAM, Florida CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut (ii) C O N T E N T S ---------- Page APRIL 15, 1999 GENERAL OVERVIEW OPENING STATEMENTS Baucus, Hon. Max, U.S. Senator from the State of Montana......... 4 Graham, Hon. Bob, U.S. Senator from the State of Florida......... 39 Inhofe, Hon. Jim, U.S. Senator from the State of Oklahoma........ 38 Thomas, Hon. Craig, U.S. Senator from the State of Wyoming....... 3 Voinovich, Hon. George, U.S. Senator from the State of Ohio...... 1 WITNESSES Barr, Kenneth L., Mayor, Ft. Worth, TX, on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Mayors........................................... 26 Prepared statement........................................... 63 Bartlett, Robert T., Mayor, Monrovia, CA, on behalf of the National League of Cities...................................... 28 Prepared statement........................................... 72 Bowlden, Taylor R., vice president, Policy and Government Affairs, American Highway Users Alliance....................... 35 Prepared statement........................................... 77 Bray, Hon. Joan, Representative, Missouri State Legislature, on behalf of the National Conference of State Legislators......... 21 Prepared statement........................................... 59 Jacobson Jean, county executive, Racine County, WI, on behalf of the National Association of Counties........................... 23 Prepared statement........................................... 61 Kienitz, Roy, executive director, Surface Transportation Policy Project........................................................ 32 Prepared statement........................................... 75 Responses to additional questions from Senator Chafee........ 76 Linton, Gordon, Administrator, Federal Transit Administration.... 8 Prepared statement........................................... 40 Martinez, Ricardo, Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration................................................. 10 Prepared statement........................................... 40 Responses to additional questions from: Senator Chafee........................................... 58 Senator Voinovich........................................ 59 Wykle, Kenneth, Administrator, Federal Highway Administration.... 5 Prepared statement........................................... 40 Responses to additional questions from: Senator Chafee........................................... 53 Senator Voinovich........................................ 56 Letter to Senator Chafee..................................... 58 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL Fact Sheets, Traffic Safety Facts 1997..........................114-177 Report, Listening to America: Implementing TEA-21...............104-114 Statements: Electric Vehicle Association of the Americas................. 82 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration............... 83 ------ APRIL 29, 1999 SECTION 1309 IMPLEMENTATION OPENING STATEMENTS Baucus, Hon. Max, U.S. Senator from the State of Montana.......181, 210 Chafee, Hon. John H., U.S. Senator from the State of Rhode Island 181 Inhofe, Hon. Jim, U.S. Senator from the State of Oklahoma........ 210 Voinovich, Hon. George V., U.S. Senator from the State of Ohio... 179 WITNESSES Alb, Jerry, Director, Environmental Services, Washington State Department of Transportation................................... 189 Prepared statement........................................... 272 Responses to additional questions from Senator Chafee........ 275 Carper, Hon. Thomas, Governor, State of Delaware, on behalf of the National Governors' Association............................ 182 Prepared statement........................................... 211 Report, Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration............................................. 213 Holmes, Brian R., executive secretary, Connecticut Road Builders Association, American Road and Transportation Builders Association.................................................... 201 Prepared statement........................................... 290 Kienitz, Roy, executive director, Surface Transportation Policy Project........................................................ 199 Prepared statement........................................... 288 Leslie, Mitch, president, Montana Contractors' Association, Associated General Contractors................................. 203 Prepared statement........................................... 295 Responses to additional questions from: Senator Chafee........................................... 300 Senator Voinovich........................................ 299 Mills, Hon. Brian, commissioner, Cass County Missouri, chairman, Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations............. 188 Issue paper: Recommendations for Implementing TEA-21......... 264 Prepared statement........................................... 260 Responses to additional questions from: Senator Chafee........................................... 270 Senator Voinovich........................................ 270 Stowe, Tim, chairman, Transportation Programs, American Consulting Engineers Council................................... 197 Prepared statement........................................... 281 Report, Environmental Streamlining: Measuring Results........ 283 Responses to additional questions from: Senator Chafee........................................... 285 Senator Voinovich........................................ 287 Thompson, Charles, Secretary of Wisconsin Department of Transportation, chairman of Standing Committee on Environment, AASHTO......................................................... 185 Letters: American Consulting Engineers Council.................... 284 AASHTO................................................... 233 Prepared statement........................................... 230 Report, Environmental Streamlining........................... 283 Table, AASHTO...............................................236-259 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL Letter, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)............................................. 233 Reports: Environmental Streamlining: Measuring Results................ 283 Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration............................................. 213 Table, AASHTO Response to FHWA/FTA Document: TEA-21 Planning and Environmental Provisions......................................236-259 ------ JUNE 9, 1999 ENVIRONMENTAL STREAMLINING OPENING STATEMENTS Baucus, Hon. Max, U.S. Senator from the State of Montana......... 304 Chafee, Hon. John H., U.S. Senator from the State of Rhode Island 303 Graham, Hon. Bob, U.S. Senator from the State of Florida......... 310 Smith, Hon. Robert, U.S. Senator from the State of New Hampshire. 324 Thomas, Hon. Craig, U.S. Senator from the State of Wyoming....... 305 Voinovich, Hon. George V., U.S. Senator from the State of Ohio... 301 WITNESSES Conti, Eugene, Assistant Secretary of Transportation Policy, Department of Transportation................................... 307 Prepared statement........................................... 331 Responses to additional questions from Senator Voinovich..... 335 Frampton, George T., acting director, Council on Environmental Quality........................................................ 306 Prepared statement........................................... 329 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL Memo: Final Draft--Environmental Streamlining Memorandum of Understanding.................................................. 327 Letter, To Kenneth Wykle, several Senators....................... 328 List, Highway Projects Opposed by the Sierra Club................ 339 Statement of American Trucking Association, Inc.................. 336 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRANSPORTATION EQUITY ACT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY ---------- THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 1999 U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Committee on Environment and Public Works, Washington, DC. GENERAL OVERVIEW The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:32 a.m. in room 406, Senate Dirksen Building, Hon. George Voinovich (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senators Voinovich, Baucus, Thomas, and Chafee [ex officio]. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. GEORGE VOINOVICH, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF OHIO Senator Voinovich. Good morning. I'd like to welcome all of you. As a freshman Senator, I've been given the honor to kickoff this hearing as the subcommittee chairman. I really am grateful the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Senator Chafee, is here with us this morning. I am pleased to welcome Ken Wykle, Federal Highway Administrator; Gordon Linton, Federal Transit Administrator; and Dr. Richard Martinez the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administrator. I'd also like to welcome State representative, Joan Bray of St. Louis who is Missouri chairwoman of the Transportation Committee of the National Conference of State Legislators; Mayor Kenneth L. Barr of Forth Worth, TX who is vice chairman of the Transportation Committee of the U.S. Conference of Mayors; Mayor Robert Bartlett of Monrovia, CA on behalf of the National League of Cities who is chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Services. On the third panel, I'd like to welcome Taylor Bowlden of American Highway Users Alliance and Ray Kienitz with the Surface Transportation Policy Project. The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, TEA-21 as it is known, was accomplished through a long negotiation process involving many of the panelists who are here today. Although I was not a member of the U.S. Senate last year, I was involved as chairman of the National Governors Association in that negotiation in a modest fashion. I must say that if it were not for the leadership of others on this committee, like Senators Chafee, Warner and Baucus, I don't believe that TEA-21 would have become a reality. This is especially true as it relates to the revenue or line-budget authority for firewalls, whereby today everything that goes into the Highway Trust Fund is spent for its intended purpose. That was a major accomplishment. I am pleased with the final results of TEA-21. There is now balance among the 50 States because TEA-21 ensured equitable funding formulas and again that was the subject of a great deal of negotiation. In fact, because of the changes in TEA-21 to more equitably distribute highway trust funds, my own State will receive 23 percent more funding than we did under ISTEA. Our subcommittee goal is to ensure that this legislation is being implemented properly with appropriate oversight involving the Administration, State and local governments and the user community. We are starting off our hearing series today with a general overview of TEA-21 and its implementation. On April 29, we will hold our second hearing on streamlining and project delivery. At that hearing, we will have various interested parties testifying on their views on implementation of TEA-21, Section 1309, Environmental Streamlining. The Administration will then testify on May 20, reacting to testimony given on the 29th and their TEA-21 planning and environmental provisions, title options for discussion. So we will have three hearings over this to see how we can make sure this is done properly over the next several years. We have to start looking at the big picture. I believe we need to work together on a more comprehensive approach. One of the things I promised to do when I came here was to help the Federal Government become a better partner to State and local governments. I think that is very important. We are all in this together. It's imperative that we coordinate our efforts between the agencies, Congress and the States and localities and the user community to maximize the benefits of TEA-21. TEA-21 builds on the foundation achieved in ISTEA, ensuring there is shared decisionmaking between the Federal, State and local governments based upon public participation in the planning process. I remain strongly committed as the new subcommittee chairman to the structure set up by my colleagues in TEA-21. I will work particularly hard to ensure that State and local governments who know best what their individual priorities are continue to contribute positively in setting our transportation priorities. While the Administration proposed in its budget submission to reopen TEA-21, I can say frankly that I do not intend to do so, nor do I believe anyone on the subcommittee or the full committee has any interest in doing that. I think we have to lay our cards on the table early on. We should continue with the guarantees administered and maintained by the formula rules established in TEA-21. Finally, I'd like to say that Senator Inhofe and I are deeply troubled about the ramifications of a recent Federal Court case that could make highway projects across the country ineligible for Federal funds. We're going to hear a lot more about that here in the next couple of weeks. This court decision overturns a well-established EPA rule that allowed projects to move forward even if a State's transportation plan subsequently failed to meet Clean Air goals. We've sent a letter to EPA Administrator Carol Browner requesting that EPA appeal this decision. We do not believe it is wise to put into doubt the ability of transportation planners to proceed with much needed projects, particularly if the Government is allowed to change the rules along the way. If this court decision stands, highway projects will come to a standstill in many parts of this country, as well as the economic benefit associated with new highway construction because these projects will no longer be in compliance. I want to say that I appreciate the witnesses being here today and I'd like to now call on Senator Chafee to make some comments. Senator Chafee. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. First, I want to commend you for conducting these oversight hearings. I think you have an excellent program here where you're going to do this over 3 days and I just want to join in the commendation to you for grasping the reins and moving forward with this. I also want to second what you said about not wanting to reopen TEA-21. We have a formula there and this should not be the occasion to change those formulas that we arrived at after a lot of negotiation a year ago. Mr. Chairman, I look forward to the witnesses and again commend you for these hearings. Thank you. Senator Voinovich. Thank you. Senator Craig Thomas from Wyoming. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CRAIG THOMAS, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF WYOMING Senator Thomas. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I too congratulate you on getting started. What I'm going to say is a little repetitious but maybe that is all right. I want to thank you for holding the hearings and congratulate you on your chairmanship. In the last Congress, all of the members of this committee under Senators Chafee, Warner and Baucus worked very hard and I think passed a good bill. By and large, we succeeded in doing that. Today, I want to encourage the Administration to implement TEA-21 in a manner which simplifies and not complicates the delivery of projects and programs. Further, it should not impose requirements on State and local governments which are not prescribed in the statute. They were designed to give maximum flexibility. I do have one concern about a provision of TEA-21 that I believe needs to be changed. In the last Congress, one of my priorities was to increase the funding for Federal lands and the highway program. We succeeded in the overall 57 percent increase. As chairman of the Park Subcommittee, I'm specifically interested in road funding for our national parks which nationwide face funding requirements of nearly $2 billion. TEA-21 gave the parks a 96 percent increase. Unfortunately, TEA-21 brought the Federal Lands Highway Program under the obligation limitation. Thus, in this fiscal year, the parks and roads are able to spend only $143 million instead of the authorized $165 million. This was not the case in the original ISTEA. With the backlogs that are faced, it seems to me this change is counterproductive. So I want to work with the chairman to see if we can do something about that. It is my understanding that these funds, if they are not obligated, could revert to the State and away from the park. I think that was not the intention and I'd like to work at changing that. Thank you. Senator Voinovich. Senator Baucus, the Ranking Minority Member on the subcommittee and the main committee, is here with us this morning. Senator Baucus, we welcome you. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MAX BAUCUS, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MONTANA Senator Baucus. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I am very pleased to be here as you open these hearings as chairman of the subcommittee. As you know, you have big shoes to fill. Senator Warner of Virginia did an excellent job as previous chairman of the subcommittee and I know you will do as well. I very much look forward to working with you as I did with Senator Warner. Senator Chafee can tell you, and as you already know, Senator Chafee, myself and Senator Warner really burned the midnight oil putting together the highway bill, TEA-21 and we welcome you as a part of the group even though Senator Warner is no longer chairman of the subcommittee. I have just a couple of things to say. First, this is an extremely important law. I cannot overemphasize that. Not only does it add 40 percent additional funds to the State highway programs--a big chunk of change--but it also was designed to streamline the program so that States could transfer from one program to another, one account to another and use the program more effectively to meet the State's needs. By and large, I think the program is working somewhat well, but I have a couple of points I do think have to be addressed. The first is the President's budget proposal to redirect the additional highway funds is fiscal year 2000. That is a non-starter. We all in the Congress worked very hard to set up the allocations among States and among programs and it makes no sense to redirect the additional funds in a way other than provided for in TEA-21. Judging the reaction of my colleagues after the proposal came out, I think most will agree that is a non-starter. I, for one, will not agree to and will work hard to oppose any redirection of that money. Second, I'm concerned about the Department's recent options paper on implementing and streamlining the provisions of TEA- 21. Here again, I think the Department got a little off course. Delivering better highways is obviously complicated but TEA-21 was drafted with the belief that the existing process was too complex. My guess is that in the bowels of bureaucracy it happens everywhere, I don't mean to single out the Highway Administration or DOT, it happens within my own office, that sometimes the directions get a little bit fuzzed in the implementation because each person has his own idea about things and wants to retain a little bit of ownership or whatnot. So I'd just tell the Department we've got to do a better job in streamlining. Senators Wyden and Graham, among the leaders in the effort to streamline the process, worked on the bill while still maintaining environmental and other procedures. I think the options paper goes in the opposite direction, suggesting more complications and greater prescriptions, not a simpler, more flexible process and we need to reverse that. The Department needs to focus more on what it can do to streamline not just interagency actions, but also its own internal procedures. That alone would achieve many of the benefits that Congress is looking for in this area. I want to tell you too that Senator Thomas is working with all of us to try to accomplish the same objectives and I thank him very much, my colleague from Wyoming, because it is a real joint effort. We want to work with the Department too. Thank you very much. Senator Voinovich. Thank you, Senator Baucus. Prior to your coming in, I made it very clear that Senator Chafee, you and Senator Warner were the spark plugs that made this happen and I wanted to publicly thank you for the role that you played. I think you took on a very, very difficult task and came back with something that was applauded across the board by all of the parties that were interested. We're going to begin the hearing with Ken Wykle who is the Federal Highway Administrator. At the outset, I'd like to indicate that your written testimony will be accepted into the record and if possible, if you could summarize it in a 5-minute period of a little bit more, just hit the highlights so that we make sure we get the points you'd like to make and also to make sure the rest of the people here to testify will have an opportunity to testify. Senator Chafee, I've been a witness here before this committee and others and been way at the end of the list. By the time they got to me, I think I had about a minute. Senator Chafee. Never be the last witness. Senator Voinovich. So if we can move it along and respect the time of everyone, it would be great. Thank you for coming, Mr. Wykle. STATEMENT OF KENNETH WYKLE, ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION Mr. Wykle. Mr. Chairman, members of the subcommittee, we are pleased to appear before you today to discuss implementation of TEA-21. TEA-21 reflects the commitment of the Congress and the Administration to rebuild America's decaying infrastructure in a fiscally responsible manner, while increasing safety, improving the environment and expanding opportunity. We thank this committee for your role in enacting TEA-21 and we look forward to continuing to work with you as we implement all of the provisions of this important law. We initiated a three-pronged approach to implementation. TEA-21 funds were made available to the States the day the President signed the bill. We expedited actions necessary to implement important safety provisions of TEA-21 and we conducted an extensive national outreach to our partners and customers, asking for their advice and assistance in implementing the new programs and provisions of this landmark legislation. In the area of safety, Secretary Slater has made safety the Department of Transportation's top priority. TEA-21 expands and strengthens successful highway safety programs. We have issued implementing regulations for all of the new and amended highway safety programs that Congress intended to be in effect in 1999. TEA-21 continues the 10 percent Surface Transportation Program setaside for safety. In 1999, Federal Highway made available $154.8 million to States to be used exclusively for rail-highway crossing improvements or elimination and $162 million exclusively for hazard elimination. An additional $315 million are available for either of these two programs. TEA-21 increased motor carrier safety funding by 30 percent. We have distributed $90 million in Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program, MCSAP, funds to the States. TEA-21 moved MCSAP from an activity-based program to a performance- based one. This approach is now implemented in all States, well ahead of the TEA-21 year 2000 requirement. FHWA published a notice of proposed rulemaking on March 9, 1999 to implement the MCSAP changes. For the first time, this creates incentive funding to encourage States to reduce crashes. On the day TEA-21 was signed, FHWA released the 1998 Federal Aid Highway apportionments to the States and then we apportioned the 1999 Federal Aid funds on the first day of the current fiscal year. We made available over $450 million of discretionary funds for fiscal years 1998 and 1999 to the States and we will release an additional $140 million in discretionary funds this spring. FHWA listened to our partners and others and kept them informed about our implementation efforts. To review our aggressive schedule of our activities, in July we published guidance in the Federal Register for the discretionary programs for bridges, ferries, interstate maintenance and public lands highways. In September, we published guidance for the National Scenic Byways Program and the interstate discretionary funds. In October, we published guidance for the Value Pricing Pilot Program, implementation procedures for projects to reduce the evasion of motor fuel and other highway use taxes and interim guidance for the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program. In November, we published implementation information for innovative bridge research and construction program funds. On November 12, we published a Federal Register notice soliciting participation in the new National Corridor Planning and Development Program and the Coordinated Border Infrastructure Program. We have received over 140 applications requesting $2 billion and we expect to announce this spring the distribution of the $124 million that we have available for this program. The States are also moving aggressively to take advantage of the increased Federal aid highway funding available through TEA-21. As they manage these increased funds, we anticipate greater use of the TEA-21 Federal matching flexibility provisions. We are implementing the Transportation Infrastructure Financing and Innovation Act, TIFIA. We plan to publish a final rule for this program later this spring and to select projects for the initial round of funding in fiscal year 1999 by the end of the fiscal year. TEA-21 continues the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program and the Department published its final rule on February 2, 1999. The rule has three major goals: to create a level playing field, to mend but not end the DBE Program, and to make the program more effective and efficient. TEA-21 continues the multiyear authorization funding for research and technology, but TEA-21 also changed the way R&T funding is provided. This has presented challenges. Due to obligation limits and increased designations, the amount of funds available at the Federal level has been reduced. FHWA is working with AASHTO, TRB and others to identify resources to assure priority needs are addressed, but we need increased R&T funding in the future. TEA-21 recognizes the need to integrate technology and promotes ITS standards. Interim guidance on consistency with the national ITS architecture was published in the Federal Register in December 1998. We are developing final guidelines which will be in place in the spring of 2000, but as with R&T generally, Federal ITS funding presents challenges that must be met if we are to effectively field ITS. In the area of planning and the environment, TEA-21 directs the Department of Transportation to develop and implement a coordinated environmental review process for highway and mass transit projects. In September, we published a notice in the Federal Register announcing a series of public meetings to be held around the country in the fall of 1998. We conducted four listening sessions. A Federal interagency meeting was convened earlier this month and we expect to complete a memorandum of understanding within the next 2 months. We also met with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials earlier this month. We received input from other stakeholders, including the American Public Transit Association, the American Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations and the Coalition to Defend NEPA. Rulemaking will be required to change existing requirements and we expect to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking within the next 120 days, but as has been noted, this is going to be a challenge in terms of getting out the final rule. The President announced a Livable Communities Initiative earlier this year to help communities across America achieve strong, sustainable economic growth while ensuring a high quality of life for its citizens. TEA-21 will advance this initiative. For example, TEA-21 established the Transportation and Community and System Preservation Pilot Program, TCSP, to provide funds to State, regional and local agencies to develop innovative strategies that improve transportation systems. We published a Federal Register notice on September 16, 1998 soliciting TCSP project proposals and setting forth selection criteria. We received and evaluated 520 letters of intent, selected 49 finalists and expect to announce the final fiscal year 1999 selections soon. FHWA continues to pursue efficiencies. We have restructured to remove a management layer and empower our State administrators and State motor carrier directors to make more decisions and certifications and to be more responsive to the States, industry, universities, associations and interest groups. We are reducing duplication within the headquarters, changing processes, reaching out to our partners and customers and emphasizing knowledge sharing and transfer. We add value through knowledge management. Efficiencies are also being achieved by leveraging technology--Superpave, composites, polymers, fibers, epoxies, nondestructive testing, modeling and simulations. FHWA is well positioned and prepared for the next century. In conclusion, this committee has played a pivotal role in developing and refining the programs in TEA-21. We are working aggressively to implement TEA-21 quickly and effectively. Implementation has gone smoothly and we look forward to continuing to work with you as we completely implement TEA-21. I look forward to your questions. Senator Voinovich. Thank you, Administrator Wykle. That was a mouthful. Mr. Wykle. It was. [Laughter.] Senator Voinovich. It sounds like you've launched a rocket. Mr. Wykle. There's a lot in TEA-21 to be done, sir. Senator Voinovich. We will now hear from Mr. Linton, the Federal Transit Administrator. STATEMENT OF GORDON LINTON, ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION Mr. Linton. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, it's a pleasure for me to have been asked to appear before you with my colleagues this morning. The primary committee with which I have spent a great deal of my time over the last 6 years on the Senate side has been the Banking Committee and generally the Appropriations Committee, so I welcome the opportunity, ``one- DOT'' to appear before you this morning as we discuss the implementation of TEA-21. Let me say that we have had a very good run in our efforts on the transit side to implement the transit portions of TEA- 21. One of our first steps was an extremely extensive period of outreach as we set out to share the changes of TEA-21 and to get input from the customers on how we should implement TEA-21. Last year, we held many of those across the country and they all were well attended. We received a great deal of feedback and we have used that feedback in an effort to respond to our customers in our implementation of the program. One of the key changes made in transit programs within TEA- 21 was our effort to transition the industry from the old concept of operating assistance, particularly for urbanized areas over 200,000, to the utilization of a new definition of ``capital project'' which includes preventive maintenance. Preventive maintenance includes, under our definition, all the maintenance costs that, for the most part, were previously considered operating assistance. This change has gone extremely well. The change has operated very smoothly. In nearly all cases, the change in definition of ``capital project'' has had the intended effect of providing the flexibility that the local systems need to make the transition to an all capital program. Let me also say that one of the areas of TEA-21 that receives the most interest is our New Starts Program. TEA-21 authorized 191 new start projects over the life of TEA-21. The TEA-21 provisions also called on FTA to rank these projects as ``highly recommended,'' ``recommended'' or ``not recommended.'' We recently published our annual new starts report which rated the 40 or so projects now in final design or preliminary engineering. We have used the existing new starts policy to rate these projects since TEA-21 only made minor changes in the statutory criteria. Quite frankly, we are very happy with the rating process so far. While a number of projects were rated ``not recommended,'' most of those were so rated because the local financial plans are not yet far along enough for those projects to be rated as ``recommended'' or ``highly recommended.'' Local financial commitments are continuing to be refined throughout the course of the projects. We have always encouraged strong, local financial commitments, so the rating should not have been a surprise to any of the project sponsors. We have also issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on new starts. This notice of proposed rulemaking, issued on April 7, begins the formal process of issuing the regulation required by TEA-21 to define the new starts rating process in more detail and put the other new start project changes in place. Let me briefly cover two programs that were created by TEA- 21--the Job Access and Reverse Commute Program and the Clean Fuels Program. First, the Job Access and Reverse Commute Program provides grants for transportation services for people getting off welfare, making the transition from welfare to work, and to improve reverse commute services to allow center city residents better access to suburban jobs. We have issued a solicitation for grants and received a very positive result with applications totaling over $111 million in funds, for a program in which we have $75 million available in fiscal year 1999. We believe this response demonstrates the need for the program, so we are now in the process of completing our review of the applications. We too, like my colleague, Administrator Wykle, will be making announcements very soon on those who will receive the grants for the Access to Jobs Program. TEA-21 also created a new Clean Fuels Formula Program. Since the DOT Appropriation Act fully earmarked these funds in fiscal year 1999, we were not able to implement this program as prescribed in TEA-21. The President's budget for 2000 contemplates the implementation of the program as it was enacted in TEA-21. We are also particularly excited about the changes made by TEA-21 to the Tax Code provision related to employer-provided transportation benefits. We are taking a very aggressive role in encouraging the implementation of these changes which are commonly called commuter choice. We are extremely grateful for the leadership of this committee in that particular program. I would particularly like to call out the leadership of Senator Chafee on our commuter choice program as well. As you know, TEA-21 allowed transit benefits up to $65 per month to be provided in lieu of compensation, including the incentive for employers to provide transit passes to their employees. It also will raise the level playing field for tax- free transit benefits to $100 per month in the year 2002. We have dedicated a program of outreach and technical assistance to this particular element of TEA-21 and we plan to increase our efforts in the latter part of this year to continue to enhance our access and information on the commuter choice program. To conclude, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, while FTA's core programs were not changed substantially by TEA-21, many of the other changes are extremely significant. We are working hard to implement them as quickly and as effectively as possible. Implementation to date has gone extremely well, and we look forward to working with you to ensure that the remaining issues such as the planning and environmental streamlining, mentioned by many of you this morning, can be moved effectively, to ensure that we have an effective program that responds to the needs of our customers, that leads us to have a very effective operation and government, but at the same time, protecting the environmental issues that are dear to all of us. I look forward to answering the questions that you may have and look forward to continuing to work with you as we go forth and continue to implement this great historic legislation. I thank all of you for your involvement in its fruition. We look forward to working with you as we continue to implement it. Senator Voinovich. Thank you, Administrator Linton. I will now call on Administrator Martinez. You have been to Ohio many times and we've tried to be one of your best customers and a role model for you---- Dr. Martinez. We appreciate that. Senator Voinovich. [Continuing] ----from what we've done to reduce highway crashes in our State. I am also grateful for the money that you provided for our grade crossing program that has come out of the Department. We have really gone forward with your cooperation in eliminating a lot of those unsafe rail crossings. Dr. Martinez. STATEMENT OF RICARDO MARTINEZ, ADMINISTRATOR, NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION Dr. Martinez. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I appreciate the opportunity to testify today, especially with my distinguished colleagues. The NHTSA programs have made solid contributions in highway safety. They really are a great investment. Since 1992 alone, these programs have saved over 60,000 lives, but traffic safety remains a national challenge. In 1997, for example, almost 42,000 people died and more than 3 million people were injured in just the police-reported crashes. Highway crashes still cost our nation over $150 billion a year. The public shares this cost in increased premiums and through tax-funded programs such as Medicaid and Medicare. So highway safety is good economics as well as good medicine. My goal today is to provide you with a status report of the grant programs from this historic legislation, to thank you for your support and to find out how our agency can better work with Congress on these important issues. I am pleased to report that NHTSA has issued regulations to implement the programs you gave us in TEA-21 for fiscal year 1999. I have a graphic that presents the status of regulations so it can be referred to. TEA-21 Status of Regulations ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Regulation Published Milestone ------------------------------------------------------------------------ S. 157-Seat Belt Use Incentive.. 10/29/98.......... Grants awarded 10/ 29/98 S. 157-Seat Belt Use Innovative. 1/7/99............ Applications received 4/7/99 Seat Belt Survey Guidance....... 9/1/98............ Surveys received 3/ 1/99 S. 163-.08 Incentive............ 9/3/98............ Grants awarded 9/3/ 98 S. 154-Open Container........... 10/6/98........... Transfer begins 10/ 1/00 S. 164-Repeat Offenders......... 10/9/98........... Transfer begins 10/ 1/00 S. 410-Alcohol Incentive........ 12/29/98.......... Applications due 8/ 1/99 S. 405a-Occupant Protection..... 10/1/98........... Applications due 8/ 1/99 S. 411-Data Incentive........... 10/8/98........... Grants awarded 3/3/ 99 S. 405b-Child Passenger Educ.... Being Drafted..... Begins FY 2000 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ We issued the rules for our regulations in record time so the States could consider that in time for their 1999 legislative sessions. I want to say that our staff worked very hard over many long hours. They worked weekends, they stayed late to get the grant funds out as soon as possible. Their work breathed life into these programs in a way we believe has maximized the States' chances of qualifying for incentive grants and avoiding transfer penalties. Two of these programs particularly confront the biggest challenges facing us in highway safety, increasing seatbelt use and reducing impaired driving. Today, seatbelt use is just under 70 percent, up from 11 percent in 1982, but it's moved a lot in the last few years. At this level, we're saving more than 10,000 lives each year. Congress authorized $500 million over 5 years for incentive grants to encourage States to increase seatbelt use. The States receive funds based on estimates of annual savings of Federal medical costs, which we think is really a good idea. Everyone should understand the connection between these crashes and what they pay. In fiscal year 1999, the first of the program, we made grants to 38 States and Puerto Rico totaling approximately $53 million. Since the funds can be used for any title 23 project, we work closely with the Federal Highway Administration to make the best use of these dollars. You made some comments about that yourself. The unused funds of $20 million for this year are used in the Surface Transportation Program. In future years, they will go to an innovative grant program to help increase seatbelt use. Programs to prevent impaired driving, one of the biggest highway safety problems, still about 16,000 deaths a year, have been extremely effective. In 1997, alcohol-related traffic deaths dropped to historic lows of about 39 percent of all traffic fatalities, dramatically lower than it was just 10 years ago. Thanks largely to the age 21 minimum drinking age law and the zero tolerance law, crashes involving intoxicated drivers in the 16- to 20-year-old age group have fallen more than 30 percent in the last 10 years. To address the impaired driving problem, Congress authorized $500 million over 6 years for incentive grants to encourage States to adopt .08 bac laws as the per se standard for driving while intoxicated. States may use these funds for any title 23 project. In fiscal year 1998, we made grants to 15 States totaling $49 million, where .08 laws were in effect. Thus far this year, two additional jurisdictions for a total of 17 have qualified. We are pleased the Congress provided support for other measures to combat impaired driving such as repeat offender laws. Mr. Chairman, NHTSA strongly shares your commitment to partnerships. During your term as Governor of Ohio, you took the lead in establishing 30 Safe Community programs. This program allows us to be partners with the States, for them to identify their problem using their data, and then to use our best practices, which we get from around the world to attack their problem. That is the way it should be, and we've found it to be very effective. You will be pleased to know that the new funds provided by TEA-21 will be available to support this community-based, injury prevention initiative. Over 620 communities are now nationally involved, exceeding our goal of 600 by the year 2000. So we've revised our goal to 1,000 by the year 2000. NHTSA continues its leadership role in the safety aspects of the intelligent transportation system research program. A key task is to promote the development of intelligent crash avoidance technologies to enhance vehicle safety. We are also involved in DOT's intelligent vehicle initiative to accelerate the development and availability of high technology automotive projects and products to help drivers avoid crashes. That is the biggest bang for the buck because you don't have to have the crash. We are assessing the impact of these technologies, driver fatigue, and inattention on vehicle safety using sophisticated tools such as the National Advanced Driving Simulator. We are confident that TEA-21's programs can strongly advance the goal of improving highway safety. I'm especially proud of the efforts of my staff at NHTSA to bring these programs to the States in a real partnership way. I've met with our regional headquarters staff and I know they are enthusiastic about the new opportunities TEA-21 has given us to improve safety. We look forward to working with the subcommittee and making the opportunities provided by TEA-21 a reality. Mr. Chairman, this concludes my remarks and I will be glad to answer any questions. Senator Voinovich. I really appreciate the testimony of the panelists. I'd like to start the questions and try to ascertain whether or not the Department has communicated with Carol Browner in regard to this court decision and what the position of the Administration is going to be in regard to it? There are a lot of people around the country who are very worried about it. I know I talked with Secretary Slater when he was in to see me and I'd like to know the position of the Department in regard to it and what influence you're having with EPA or the Administration? Mr. Wykle. As you mentioned, a lot of different agencies within the Federal Government are involved. It's a DOJ decision in terms of whether or not they appeal but we at Federal Highway, the Department of Transportation, EPA and DOJ are looking at this issue right now. A court decision of this magnitude certainly carries with it some advantages if you appeal and are successful; it has some risks if you appeal and are not successful in that appeal. So we are continuing to meet. We are not required to submit a decision until tomorrow. Quite frankly, we haven't reached a final decision yet because there are a lot of varying views on this. We certainly have your letter, many of the States have come in with individual letters, we have heard from Governors, we've heard from AASHTO, we've heard from environmental groups. So there is a divergence of opinion there. We're trying to sort through all that to determine the potential risk because as the decision is currently written, there is still some flexibility in there for us. If we appeal and lose, it could be much more proscriptive as to specifically what we will be required to do. So we're trying to weigh all of that, then get a joint position between EPA, the Department of Transportation and DOJ for the decision that will be submitted tomorrow. However, at this time, we have not arrived at a definite decision. Senator Voinovich. Have you ascertained the projects in the country that would be in jeopardy as a result of that decision? Mr. Wykle. We have done some preliminary work, yes. Right now there are about 10 projects at approximately $80,000 that are at risk. Potentially, it could go as high as 85 projects, $1.2 billion in terms of value. We expect most of those States where there is impact to be back in compliance or conformity by the end of the summer. The one area right now that stands out as a very difficult challenge is Atlanta. They potentially have several projects down there approaching $461 million that could be in jeopardy in terms of being delayed until they reach conformity. This is a moving train because communities will come into conformity and others will go out, so the numbers will vary as we move forward looking at this. The court decision as currently rendered just strikes down the grandfathering provision. Right now, projects are grandfathered once they go through the NEPA approval process. So they are not grandfathered any longer having gone through that process but we do have some flexibility as to where project approval is being considered as a part of the conformity definition. That is what we're debating at the present time.