Transportation Policy

Transportation Policy Moving people, goods, and services from one place to another in the United States

Petroleum Flow, 2011

Restrictions on Individual Rights • Every man, when he enters into a society gives up part of his natural liberty, as the price of so valuable a purchase … obliges himself to conform to those laws which the community has thought proper to establish (William Blackstone. Commentaries of the Law of England. A Facsimile of the First Edition of 1765-1769 (1979) vol. 1 p. 121) • Our legal problem arises at the point where capitalist economy and activist state collide. No longer a night-watchman, the state surveys the outcome of market processes and find them wanting. Armed with a prodigious array of legal tools, it sets about improving upon the invisible hand - taxing here, subsidizing there, regulating everywhere. The results of all this motion may well be something that clearly redounds to the public good - a cleaner environment, a safer workplace, a decent home. Nonetheless, these welfare gains can rarely be purchased without social cost - though many gain, some will lose as a result of the new government initiative (Bruce A. Ackerman Private Property and the Constitution, 1977 p.1)

“Shopping Bag of Rights” Paradigm • Governments decide how to control behavior – how to produce the goods and services demanded by society • Corporations decide how to exercise the rights they possess – how to behave – e.g. what goods and services to produce • Individuals decide how to exercise the rights they possess – how to behave – e.g. what goods and services to buy

What are the methods used by the federal government to organize (=coerce) behaviors? What are carrots and big sticks?

Governments Influence the Production of All Goods and the Provision of All Services • Produced by governments using resources owned by governments • Government employees and contracted employees • Usable/Accessible information – research, data collection, public records • Produced by governments using resources owned by non-governments • Under coercion • Regulation – big stick • Financial Incentive – taxation, loan, infrastructure construction (water treatment, sewers, roads) • Usable/Accessible information – research, data collection, public records • 2. Without any coercion – “free market” • There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch

U S Constitution Statutes Rules Judicial Opinions Public Private Administration Education Public Safety Agriculture Mining Manufacturing Transportation Health & Welfare Environmental Protection Outdoor Recreation

Standard Industrial Classification(Corporate Stakeholders in Transportation Policy) • Transportation, Communications, Electric, Gas, And Sanitary Services • Major Group 40: Railroad Transportation • Major Group 41: Local And Suburban Transit And Interurban Highway Passenger Transportation • Major Group 42: Motor Freight Transportation And Warehousing • Major Group 43: United States Postal Service • Major Group 44: Water Transportation • Major Group 45: Transportation By Air • Major Group 46: Pipelines, Except Natural Gas • Major Group 47: Transportation Services • Major Group 48: Communications • Major Group 49: Electric, Gas, And Sanitary Services

GAO-11-290 Intercity Passenger and Freight Rail: (Feb, 2011)

Intermodalism • Since the 1960s major efforts have been made to integrate separate transport systems through intermodalism, which took place is several stages • This involves the use of at least two different modes in a trip from origin to destination through an intermodal transport chain • Intermodality enhances the economic performance of a transport chain by using modes in the most productive manner • Thus, the line-haul economies of rail may be exploited for long distances, with the efficiencies of trucks providing flexible local pick up and delivery • The key is that the entire trip is seen as a whole, rather than as a series of legs, each marked by an individual operation with separate sets of documentation and rates

Legislation • United States federal transportation legislation (Wikipedia) • House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee • Jurisdiction over all modes of transportation: aviation, maritime and waterborne transportation, roads, bridges, mass transit, and railroads • Jurisdiction over other aspects of our national infrastructure, such as clean water and waste management, the transport of resources by pipeline, flood damage reduction, the economic development of depressed rural and urban areas, disaster preparedness and response, activities of the Army Corps of Engineers and the various missions of the Coast Guard • Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, Transportation • Jurisdiction • Featured legislation

Transportation Financing • Department of Transportation Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Highlights (Ports-To-Plains Blog) • National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission with analyzing future highway and transit needs and the finances of the Highway Trust Fund and making recommendations regarding alternative approaches to financing transportation infrastructure • Improving Efficiency and Equity in Transportation Finance (Brookings Institution) • The Future of Transportation Finance: A New Generation of User Fees (Rand Corp) • Transportation Finance (Cambridge Systematics) • Transportation Financing (GE Capital)

23 USC Highways (Legal Information Institute) • 49 USC Transportation (Legal Information Institute) • General and Intermodal Programs • Motor Vehicle and Driver Programs • 23 CFR Highways (Legal Information Institute) • 49 CFR Transportation (Legal Information Institute) • Tips To Decoding your Car’s VIN Number (Autoinsurancetips.com) • 49 CFR 565 Vehicle Identification Number Requirements

U S Department of Transportation Minnesota Department of Transportation

49 USC 101 Purpose • “The national objectives of general welfare, economic growth and stability, and security of the United States require the development of transportation policies and programs that contribute to providing fast, safe, efficient, and convenient transportation at the lowest cost consistent with those and other national objectives, including the efficient use and conservation of the resources of the United States” • (Pub. L. 97–449, Jan. 12 1983, 96 Stat. 2414; Pub. L. 102–240, title VI, § 6018, Dec. 18 1991, 105 Stat. 2183)

49 USC 101 Purpose • A Department of Transportation is necessary in the public interest • To ensure the coordinated and effective administration of the transportation programs of the United States Government • To make easier the development and improvement of coordinated transportation service to be provided by private enterprise to the greatest extent feasible • To encourage cooperation of Federal, State, and local governments, carriers, labor, and other interested persons to achieve transportation objectives • To stimulate technological advances in transportation, through research and development or otherwise • To provide general leadership in identifying and solving transportation problems • To develop and recommend to the President and Congress transportation policies and programs to achieve transportation objectives considering the needs of the public, users, carriers, industry, labor, and national defense

RoadsThe Transportationist.org: Bridge Archives

Passenger transportation is dominated by a network of approximately 2 million miles of paved roads, the bulk of which is constructed and maintained by state and local governments • 97% of passenger trips in the U.S. are by personal automobile

Roads

General Resources • The United States Highway System (Info Please) • Public Roads (Federal Highway Administration) • Highway history (FHWA) • History of the U.S. Highway System (Casey Cooper) • Good Roads and the Automobile in the United States 1880-1929(Hugill,1982) • US Highways: From US 1 to (US 830) (Robert V. Droz) • Minnesota Highways Page (Steve Riner)

General Resources • Road Function Classifications (Federal Highway Administration) • Toll Roads in the United States (Federal Highway Administration) • United States Numbered Highways (Wikipedia) • ISTEA, A poisonous brew for American cities (Cato Institute) • American Highways Users Alliance - nonprofit 501 (c)(6) advocacy organization serving as the united voice of the transportation community promoting safe, uncongested highways and enhanced freedom of mobility.

The National Highway System - Minnesota • Approximately 160,000 miles of roadway important to the nation's economy, defense, and mobility • Developed by the Department of Transportation (DOT) in cooperation with states, local governments, and metropolitan planning organizations • Interstate Highway System accounts for almost 30% of the system • Congressionally designated high-priority corridors as identified in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act ISTEA • Non-interstate portion of the Strategic Highway Corridor Network (STRAHNET) identified by the Department of Defense in cooperation with DOT - critical strategic links allowing move troops and equipment to airports, ports, rail terminals, and other bases for rapid deployment is essential to our national defense • Strategic Highway Corridor Network connectors that link major military installations and other defense-related facilities to the STRAHNET corridors

Automobiles - 2006 - 250,844,644 registered passenger vehicles • Bureau of Transportation Statistics • 56.13% were classified as cars • 37.79% were classified as "Other 2 axle, 4 tire vehicles,“ SUVs and pick-up trucks • 2.53% were classified as vehicles with 2 axles and 6 tires and • 2,010,335 (0.82%) were classified as "Truck, combination" • 5,780,870 motorcycles 2.37% of all registered passenger vehicles • Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ - NHTSA) • Fuel Economy (fueleconomy.gov - DOE) • Car Safety (safercar.gov - NHTSA)

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) • Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) coordinates the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) research programs and is charged with advancing the deployment of cross-cutting technologies to improve our Nation’s transportation system • Bureau of Transportation Statistics<by mode> <mode><infrastructure> • Intelligent Transportation Systems • National Transportation Library • Positioning, Navigation and Timing • Research, Development and Technology • University Transportation Centers • Transportation Safety Institute • Volpe National Transportation Systems Center

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) • issues and enforces safety, theft-resistance, and fuel economy standards for motor vehicles - Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) system • licenses vehicle manufacturers and importation • regulates the import of vehicles and safety-regulated vehicle parts • administers the VIN system • develops safety testing protocols, provides vehicle insurance cost information, • creates and maintains the data files collected by the National Center for Statistics and Analysis • has asserted preemptive regulatory authority over Greenhouse gas emissions, but this has been disputed by such state regulatory agencies as the California Air Resources Board

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) • Report to Congress on July 1 of each year • Reports include • a statistical and analytical summary of the transportation accident investigations conducted and reviewed by the Board during the prior calendar year • a survey and summary of the recommendations made by the Board to reduce the likelihood of recurrence of those accidents together with the observed response to each recommendation • a detailed appraisal of the accident investigation and accident prevention activities of other departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the United States Government and State and local governmental authorities having responsibility for those activities under a law of the United States or a State • Collapse of I-35W Highway Bridge Minneapolis, Minnesota August 1, 2007 Nov 2008

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) • Established as a separate administration within the U.S. Department of Transportation on January 1, 2000, under the provisions of the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 that enhanced highway safety by imposing stricter penalties on those drivers of commercial motor vehicles • Improves the commercial driver license (CDL) sanctioning process by strengthening the expansion of violations that result in license disqualification • The Act requires states to disqualify CDL drivers who have high risk traffic offenses in their personal vehicles

Surface Transportation Board (STB) • The Surface Transportation Board (STB) was created in the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act of 1995 succeeded Interstate Commerce Commission • An economic regulatory agency • Both an adjudicatory and a regulatory body • Independent, although administratively affiliated with the Department of Transportation • Jurisdiction • railroad rate and service issues • rail restructuring transactions (mergers, line sales, line construction, and line abandonments) • certain trucking company, moving van, and non-contiguous ocean shipping company rate matters • certain intercity passenger bus company structure, financial, and operational matters • rates and services of certain pipelines not regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Federal Transit Administration (FTA) • Headed by an Administrator appointed by the President • Authorized by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users of 2005 (SAFETEA-LU) • Administers federal funding to support a variety of locally planned, constructed, and operated public transportation systems throughout the U.S., including buses, subways, light rail, commuter rail, streetcars, monorail, passenger ferry boats, inclined railways, and people movers • American Public Transport Association

Financing Roads • Approximately 56% of the construction and maintenance costs of the Interstates are funded through user fees, primarily gasoline taxes - collected by states and the federal government - and tolls, collected on toll roads and bridges • The rest of the costs are appropriated by Congress • In the eastern United States, large sections of some Interstate Highways planned or built prior to 1956 are operated as toll roads • As American suburbs grew, the costs incurred in maintaining freeway infrastructure have grown, leaving little in the way of funds for new interstate construction • This has led to the proliferation of toll roads (turnpikes) as the new method of building limited-access highways in suburban areas • Adding toll HOV/HOT lanes in certain cities like San Diego, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and Washington, D.C

The dominant role of the federal government in road finance has enabled it to achieve legislative goals that fall outside its power to regulate interstate commerce as enumerated in the federal Constitution • By threatening to withhold highway funds, the federal government has been able to stimulate state legislatures to pass a variety of laws • Though some object on the ground that this infringes on states' rights the Supreme Court has upheld the practice as a permissible use of the Constitution's Commerce Clause • introduction of the 55 mph national speed limit in 1974 - its purpose was to save fuel in the wake of the 1973 energy crisis, • speed controls stayed in effect for 21 years

Acceptance of the national speed limit emboldened various presidents and Congresses to enact additional pieces of legislation, some of which have little to do with highways or transportation • Increasing the legal drinking age to 21 • Megan's Law legislation, requiring states to disclose identities of sex offenders • Lowering the legal intoxication level to 0.08% (the issue in Minnesota) • Requiring the use of carpool (HOV) lanes • States must also meet minimum enforcement standards for all federally-mandated legislation (for example, minimum penalties for violation of these laws and a minimum number of per capita underage drinking convictions or a compelling explanation regarding why this number is not met) • Loss of federal highway funding would lead deteriorating infrastructure, fiscal impoverishment, or both • Of course, a state that lost federal highway funding could theoretically threaten to stop maintaining its highways

Borrowing and the Federal Debt (National Priorities Project) • The debt held in federal accounts money that the Treasury has borrowed from itself – 1/3 of the total • Some federal tax revenues can only be used for certain programs and accumulated in dedicated trust funds. • When trust fund accounts run a surplus, the Treasury takes the surplus and uses it to pay for other kinds of federal spending • Of course the Treasury must pay that borrowed money back to the trust fund at a later date • Airport and Airway Trust Fund • Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund • Commodity Credit Corporation Fund • Federal Employees and Retired Employees Health Benefits Funds • Employees Life Insurance Fund • Highway Trust Fund • Land and Water Conservation • Medicare (Hospital Insurance and Supplemental Medical Insurance) • Military Retirement Fund • Nuclear Waste Fund • Postal Service Fund • Strengthening Markets, Income, and Supply • Social Security • Tennessee Valley Authority Fund • Unemployment Insurance Fund • Universal Service Fund

Federal Highway Trust Fund User-supported fund - taxes paid by the users of highways dedicated to the HTF Principle is still in effect, but the tax structure has changed since 1956

Highway Trust Fund (the layered solution) • The Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA) of 1982 and the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 increased the motor-fuel taxes • The 1982 STAA also established a special Mass Transit Account in the HTF to receive part of the motor-fuel tax • Another increase of 5 cents per gallon was established as part of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA 90) [One-half of the revenues derived from the 5-cent increase went to the General Fund of the Treasury for deficit reduction expired on October 1, 1995] • Another increase of 4.3 cents per gallon was enacted effective October 1, 1993, by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 all to go to the General Fund of the Treasury for deficit reduction (gasoline tax 18.4 cents per gallon) no expiration date • The legislation also provided that the temporary General Fund fuel tax imposed by OBRA 90 would be extended and that it would be directed to the HTF effective October 1, 1995, except in the case of certain alcohol fuels • The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 redirected the 4.3-cents General Fund tax to the HTF effective October 1, 1997 • The TEA-21 extended the HTF taxes through September 30, 2005, thus extending the fiscal "life" of the HTF

Highway Finances (FHWA) • Highway Trust Fund (FHWA) • Highway Financing (GAO) • Will Increased Highway Funding Help Rural Areas? (USDA Economic Research Service) • Financing Federal-aid Highways (FHWA) • Highway Trust Fund: Overview of Highway Trust Fund ... (GAO) • Minnesota Highway Financing (Minnesota House Research, November 2000) • Gas Tax (Taxfoundation.org)

Alternative Fuels (DOE) • Energy Outlook 2011 (DOE) • Ethanol • American Coalition for Ethanol • National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition • Ethanol Producers and Consumers

Rail transportation in the United States (Wikipedia) Railroad blog

U.S. Freight Railroad Economics(Alan Erera, Georgia Institute of Technology)

General Resources • Trains, the Magazine of Railroading • Rail Transport (Wikipedia) • U.S. Railroads (Wikipedia) • History of Rail Transport in the United States (Wikipedia) • History of Railroads and Maps (Library of Congress) • Railroad History (Richard Jensen, Montana State University) • Association of American Railroads members include the major freight railroads in the United States, Canada and Mexico, as well as Amtrak • About Railroads in Minnesota (Minnesota Department of Transportation) • Transcontinental Railroad (PBS American Experience) • Transcontinental Railroad Maps(Central Pacific Railroad)

Federal Railroad Administration • created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966 (49 U.S.C. 103, Section 3(e)(1)) • promulgate and enforce rail safety regulations • administer railroad assistance programs • conduct research and development in support of improved railroad safety and national rail transportation policy • rehabilitate the Northeast Corridor rail passenger service • consolidate government support of rail transportation activities

U.S. Railroad Retirement Board • Independent agency in the executive branch of the Federal Government. • Primary function – to administer comprehensive retirement-survivor and unemployment-sickness benefit programs for the nation's railroad workers and their families, under the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 and Railroad Unemployment Insurance Acts • In connection with the retirement program, the RRB has administrative responsibilities under the Social Security Act for certain benefit payments and railroad workers' Medicare coverage • Railroad Retirement Handbook

45 US Code Railroads (Legal Information Institute) • Staggers Act of 1980 (Wikipedia) • The Success of the Staggers Railroad Act of 1980 (Brookings Institute) • Efficiency and Adjustment: The Impact of Railroad Deregulation (Cato Institute) • 49 CFR Transportation

Amtrak (Wikipedia) • Amtrak, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation • National facts • Minnesota facts 2011 • Long distance train facts • Corridor trains • Northeast corridor • High speed rail. A national perspective (2008)

Minnesota’s freight railroads • critical part of the State’s multimodal transportation system • many of the State’s major industries rely on the rail system for delivery of goods, connecting to markets beyond the State’s borders, throughout North America, and to the world through the seaports on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, and the Great Lakes • Minnesota has 4,538 route miles of railroads serviced by 22 railroad companies

Transportation Policy