Ready for an overhaul
Dateline:
09/15/2009Source:
St. Louis Post Dispatch A pastor and a developer might make unusual bedfellows, but like many other Americans, we are concerned about how Congress intends to spend the many billions of dollars we send to Washington to pay for transportation projects.
The current transportation funding bill expires at the end of the month, and it is due for a major overhaul. Despite the billions we've spent, there are too many crumbling roads and bridges; congested streets that are unsafe for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists; and public transportation systems in financial crisis, even with ridership at an historic high.
Missouri commuters know how an outdated federal transportation program makes everyday life more difficult. Federal dollars pay for 80 percent of highway construction and about half of mass-transit projects. Still, the American Society o f Civil Engineers found that a third of our bridges are structurally deficient and 34 percent of our roads are in substandard condition. In March, Metro in St. Louis laid off workers, cut bus service by 44 percent and cut MetroLink service by 32 percent to offset a deficit.
It's not just Missouri; the same is true for every state. The federal program, created in the 1950s to build the interstate highway system, has lost focus and run out of steam.
That's the unfortunate news. The good news is that we have a once-in-a-century opportunity to set a new course. This, after all, is a much different time than 1956, when gasoline was 20 cents a gallon, babies were booming and President Dwight D. Eisenhower initiated the Interstate Highway Act, an ambitious network of coast-to-coast superhighways that reshaped our country.
Missouri was the first state to award a contract using these new interstate highway construction funds, signing a deal for work on U.S. Route 66 — now Interstate 44 — in Laclede County. Today, with the interstate highway system complete, the era of cheap energy behind us and baby boomers headed toward retirement, Missouri and the nation are in a very different world.
U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, has introduced two critical pieces of federal legislation that help put us on the right path and save us money over the long term.
H.R. 2724, the "National Transportation Objectives Act of 2009," is a landmark bill that sets clear goals and targets for making our transportation system safer, cleaner, more socially just and less congested with a coherent set of national goals and performance targets. Meeting these goals will help Americans spend less time and money when they choose to drive, increase accessibility to all forms of transportation, reduce our dependence on oil and create good jobs right here in Missouri.
A companion piece of legislation, H.R. 2746 allows public transportation agencies to use part of the federal funding they receive to pay for operating expenses such as fuel, staff, and safety upkeep, currently not allowed under federal law. Transit operators should be able to use the funding they already receive to save jobs and maintain their systems. There is abundant evidence showing that proper investment in upkeep and maintenance saves money over time and increases safety.
The new transportation bill in Congress presents a tremendous opportunity to leverage the billions on federal transportation investments to put the people back to work who need it the most. Missouri created a national work force development model (known as the "Missouri Model") that is being used today to rebuild Interstate 64. The Missouri Model is being touted nationally as one of the best examples workforce diversity in the country. Women and minorities are performing 27 percent of the work hours.
These issues are important on many levels. One of us is a pastor who works with communities whose neighborhoods have been cut off by highway projects and that now face the prospect of being cut off from jobs by the cuts to public transportation. The other is a developer of mixed-income housing who knows first-hand how important light rail and reliable transit service are to building great neighborhoods affordable to low-income families and attractive to middle-income residents.
We need to support Carnahan and others in Congress leading the charge for a new transportation program that is more accountable, considers views of ordinary Americans and would help create a safer, healthier, more equitable and prosperous Missouri.
The Rev. Jack Schuler is president of the Transportation Equity Network and pastor at St. Ferdinand Parish in Florissant. Richard Baron is chairman and CEO of McCormack Baron Salazar in St. Louis and a member of LOCUS, an organization of Responsible Real Estate Developers and Investors.
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