The environmental elements of the surface transportation legislation -- at least in terms of lip service -- seem to rank as high as the actual construction. At its debut, President Clinton said that NEXTEA would be "one of the most important pieces of environmental legislation that will be considered by the Congress in the next two years." 

NEXTEA would make an amendment of the definition of transit capital to include maintenance as an eligible expense. "Such an approach would parallel the eligibility for Federal-aid highway projects," Garvey said. "This would allow local transit operators to make better decisions on whether to invest Federal funds to prolong the life of existing assets, or to invest in new vehicles, facilities and equipment." 

Under NEXTEA, transit providers in urbanized areas under 200,000 in population would also be given the flexibility to use all their transit funds for any eligible transit purpose, including operating expenses. Use of federal funds to subsidize transit operations -- as opposed to transit capital expenses -- has long been opposed by the highway community as encouraging bloated transit bureaucracies and removing an incentive to control operating costs. 
 

Highway investment under NEXTEA

Included in the Department's overall FY 1998 program levels is $20.2 billion in obligations for the Nation's highways and bridges. This includes a Federal-aid highway obligation ceiling of $18.17 billion, which is approximately the same level as enacted in FY 1997. The total contract authority proposed for FY 1998 is $22.8 billion, up from $22.5 billion in FY 1997. 

"New transit lines or significant upgrades to existing service can be more effective in some cases in addressing congestion than new or expanded highway capacity," Garvey said. "As motorists switch from automobile commuting to mass transit, congestion on highways lessens and highway travel time improves." While this makes sense intuitively, in recent years, in the face of astonishing growth of traffic congestion, transit ridership continues to decline. 

The Clinton Administration's use of NEXTEA as a vehicle to ease transition of welfare recipients to gainful employment is a surprising one. Because nationally only 6 percent of those on welfare own an automobile, the DOT's Federal Transit Administration has proposed a new initiative called "Access to Jobs and Training." 

"Under this new program, governors, units of local government and nonprofit agencies will be able to compete for [funding] resources," Garvey said. "The funds will be used to plan and implement the best methods of solving local transportation problems related to getting people off the welfare rolls and into jobs or training needed to enter the workforce." 

Despite the fact that in 1996 and 1997 ISTEA's Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program was under fire in Congress, the administration extends CMAQ in NEXTEA. "CMAQ has proven to be ISTEA's most flexible program, representing more than half of all flexible funds used for transit purposes ($1.7 billion of $3.0 billion)," Garvey said. 

"Other non-highway projects that assist areas in improving air quality are receiving an increasing share of CMAQ funds," she said. "Through 1996, over $500 million in CMAQ funds were used to establish or expand rideshare services, promote demand management, and support bicycle and pedestrian travel." CMAQ has funded state vehicle emission inspection and maintenance programs, alternative fuel conversions and refueling facilities and the purchase of clean fueled buses and electric vehicles. 

In Houston, CMAQ has funded a traffic management and control system. CMAQ has also funded other congestion mitigation projects, including HOV lanes in Los Angeles, shared-ride services in Virginia and New Hampshire, and bicycle and pedestrian facilities in Montana. "The benefits of promoting alternative travel options as envisioned by the Congress in ISTEA have clearly been realized through the CMAQ program," Garvey said, adding that CMAQ funding would increase 30 percent under NEXTEA.
 

Legislators like enhancements

While attacked by the highway lobby as a boondoggle which wastes highway money on non-highway projects, the "Transportation Enhancements" element of ISTEA has found great support among legislators, and will be a major factor in defending ISTEA's precepts in reauthorization. 

It's easy to see why. Just like the so-called "demonstration projects" appended to legislation which help elected representatives bring home extra road and bridge projects that may not have met their own state DOT's selection criteria, enhancements bring even more pork home. Little wonder that enhancements have received high marks in House and Senate subcommittee meetings on reauthorization 

In the area of transportation enhancements, NEXTEA continues investment in bicycle paths, scenic byways, and recreational trails. While bicycle and pedestrian projects can be funded under all of the major ISTEA funding programs, transportation enhancement (TE) funds have accounted for 75 percent of funding for these projects. 

Transportation enhancements are designed to strengthen the cultural, aesthetic, and environmental aspects of the transportation system. These have included the renovation of historic rail depots, such as the Lafayette, Ind., Depot, to the rehabilitation of the historic Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis, and funding for the Schuylkill River Park and Trail in Philadelphia. 

"Because of the success of this program, in NEXTEA, we propose to retain the current TE provisions of ISTEA with continued funding from a 10 percent set-aside from STP funds, resulting in a funding increase of over 30 percent," Garvey said. "We also included a provision that codifies the requirement that TE activities have a direct link to transportation." 
 

Traffic Demand Management

Another controversial sector receiving more funding under NEXTEA is Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). These systems are touted as having the ability to relieve congestion by better utilization of existing road capacity, but in reality they absorb money that could be used to put more pavement down and increase capacity. 

While ITS was originally touted as a private sector-driven scheme, experience has shown that government again will be the prime driver of ITS technology implementation. 

ITS also provides a mechanism for "traffic demand management" strategies such as congestion pricing, in which drivers pay a premium to use roads they already paid for during peak driving hours. In effect, congestion pricing is an admission of failure to have constructed enough capacity to meet driver demand. Because capacity is limited, it would be rationed to drivers who have the ability to pay for it. Others would have to drive at other times, whether it fits their schedule or not 

Obviously demand management strategies require government influencing human behavior patterns, which is difficult at best. From U.S. Prohibition of alcohol, to the abandoned and unpopular Employee Commute Options (ECO) program of ISTEA, the federal government is generally unable to get people to change their habits unless they really want to. 

ECO is an illuminating example of the failure of top-down behavior modification. ISTEA required that states pass laws forcing employers of more than 100 in air pollution non-attainment areas to reduce single-vehicle commutes by 10 percent in phases. It was passed by Congress with great enthusiasm as a solution to congestion and pollution woes, but as deadlines approached, and ECO was seen to be unworkable, the program died, abandoned and alone. 

Even with a track record like this, behavior-modification schemes such as congestion pricing are thought to be the only long-term solution to traffic overload in an environmentally and economically "sustainable" transportation system. It was done with tobacco abuse, say supporters, and it can be done with America's addiction to petroleum as well. Road builders can well imagine the impact of a federal policy shift from road building to traffic demand management, but the foundations are being put in place.