In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the largest public works program in history, an infrastructure project that would reshape America in the 20th century. The National Interstate and Defense Highways Act, as it is commonly known, embodied a vision that America’s cities and states could be linked with a network of superhighways that would allow people, commerce and the military to move rapidly from one part of the country to another.
Fifty years later, the Interstate Highway System has been built, and America stands in desperate need of a new vision for our national transportation system. Just as the Interstate highway bill answered some of the most pressing mobility needs of the rapidly growing nation in the mid-20th century, a new federal surface transportation bill must answer the vastly different needs of America in the 21st century. The next transportation program must set about the urgent task of repairing and maintaining our existing transportation assets, building a more well-rounded transportation network, and making our current system work more efficiently and safely to create complete and healthy communities. It should invest in modern and affordable public transportation, safe places to walk and bicycle, smarter highways that use technology and tolling to better manage congestion, long-distance rail networks, and land use policies that reduce travel demand by locating more affordable housing near jobs and services. And it should put us on the path towards a stronger national future by helping us reduce our oil dependency, slow climate change, improve social equity, enhance public health, and fashion a vibrant new economy.
Getting there from here will require some significant reforms. To meet these goals, the T4 America coalition offers four main recommendations for the upcoming transportation authorization bill:
- Develop a New National Transportation Vision with Objectives and Accountability for Meeting Performance Targets.
- Restructure Federal Transportation Programs and Funding to Support the New National Transportation Vision and Objectives.
- Reform Transportation Agencies and the Decision-making Process.
- Revise Transportation Finance So We Can Pay for Needed Investments.
