It’s hard to remember that transportation was once an engine of American progress. Railroads opened the West, and automobiles brought mobility to a footloose generation after World War II.
Nowadays, getting around is a source of more problems than solutions. In Connecticut’s major metropolitan areas, traffic delays waste as much as 31 hours a year for commuters — almost an entire work week and more than twice as much as in 1985.
The major source of our addiction to expensive foreign oil, transportation, consumes two out of every three barrels and is the fastest-growing source of global warming pollution. The high cost of oil and our crumbling infrastructure are drags on the economy. And the once-flush federal transportation trust fund, like many of its state counterparts, is expected to run out of money in the next two years.
Since fulfilling President Eisenhower’s 1956 vision of an interstate system to link our major cities, national transportation policy has stumbled on without a clear purpose.
Federal transportation spending has become little more than a giant public works program.
To keep our nation moving efficiently, the federal government must ensure dedicated funding and hold states accountable for roadway upkeep. The responsibility today is left almost entirely to states, where it competes for scarce dollars with popular programs and typically loses out to expensive projects that offer big headlines and ribbon-cutting ceremonies.
Federal transportation funds also continue to be distributed through the false assumption that more is better when it comes to roadways. States receive highway funds based on three outdated criteria: the previous year’s gasoline consumption, lane-miles of federal highways and the previous year’s vehicle-miles traveled. So more driving garners more federal dollars. States that do their part to reduce America’s oil dependence and global warming would lose out on federal dollars.
The federal government should instead reward states and localities that reduce gas consumption and miles driven by emphasizing public transportation. Light rail, rapid bus transit, commuter rail, high-speed intercity rail and other forms of public transit are energy efficient and encourage development patterns that require less driving.
In an effort to reduce congestion, Connecticut is considering adding extra lanes to Interstate 84 and I-95. However, a variety of research indicates that increasing highway capacity costs billions and only relieves traffic congestion temporarily. Within a couple years, the extra space brings new cars and further congestion.
Meanwhile, a single railroad track creates the carrying capacity of a six lane highway. Rather than sink billions of dollars and waste years widening these highways, Connecticut should invest now in rail lines like the urgently needed New Haven to Springfield commuter rail corridor to keep up with the increasing demand for better, more effective public transportation.
Increased investment in public transit projects is precisely what Connecticut needs to revive its depressed economy. Not only does commuter rail connect people to jobs, it connects job centers to people, revitalizing our cities by bringing in skilled workers from the wealthy suburbs.
According to the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, investing in the New Haven to Springfield commuter rail would create 775 new jobs and increase economic activity within the region by $152 million. Investing in commuter rail will not only stimulate the state’s economy, it will serve as a driving force in revitalizing our urban areas as well.
Public transit trips have been growing more quickly than auto miles or population since 1995. Likewise, 53 percent of Americans tell pollsters they would take more public transportation if it were available near where they live and work.
Giving people the transportation choices they want will require Congress, Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the Legislature to make changes. Since 1956, federal, state and local governments have spent nine times more on highway subsidies than on public transportation.
Congress will have a golden opportunity when the current transportation authorization bill expires next year. Public leaders must recognize that our transportation problems stem from a lack of purpose. They must rewrite policy to address contemporary problems of rapidly aging infrastructure, urban congestion and economic decline.
Instead of simply “reauthorizing” the transportation act with higher spending, Congress must reinvent how it funds transportation.
Ilicia J. Balaban is the transportation associate at ConnPIRG, a statewide public interest organization.
