(The following editorial was posted on the South Florida Sun-Sentinel website on August 17.)
FORT LAUDERDALE — While Congress dithers, the prospect of reduced travel options looms large for Americans. They mustn’t let that happen.
Congress should pass and fully fund the reauthorization of the nation’s transportation law, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, or TEA-21. The renewal bill has been stalled for months, necessitating several extensions of the old law. The latest is scheduled to expire on Sept. 30, only a few weeks after Congress returns from its summer recess.
In the meantime, the House Appropriations Committee has approved a bill that is a serious threat to the continued viability of rail transit. Its funding for Amtrak, the nation’s passenger railroad, is so paltry that Amtrak President David Gunn is warning it could force the cessation of intercity passenger rail service as early as next year.
The bill also would reduce funding for the “New Starts” program, which funds many local transit projects around the nation, from its current $1.32 billion to $1.03 billion. According to the Surface Transportation Policy Project, the bill also would impose “many new program restrictions and funding criteria to choke off future funding to projects now in the funding pipeline.”
That’s terrible news for anyone who is fed up with traffic gridlock in South Florida and elsewhere. Gridlock is frustrating and costly. Mass transit is the solution.
An STPP report earlier this year found that public investment in rail infrastructure could take 15 million trucks a year off the nation’s highways by 2020 and save drivers almost $20 billion in lost time and fuel costs. The reduced wear and tear on highways would save taxpayers another $17 billion in repair costs over 20 years, and companies would save $25 billion a year in shipping costs.
It’s imperative, therefore, that Congress get moving on the TEA-21 reauthorization. It should strip the proposed restrictions and new funding criteria from the current appropriations bill and address those issues in the TEA-21 legislation.
Amtrak and New Starts funding also must be increased. In an era when air travel is increasingly troubled by terrorism fears and other problems, it would be disastrous to lose intercity passenger rail service. The New Starts program is likewise critical to the nation’s mobility and economic well-being.
When TEA-21’s predecessor, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, was enacted in 1991, urban officials around the country emphasized the importance of mass transit to their cities. This is no time to reduce the federal commitment to this crucial component of the nation’s transportation profile.