APA Report Suggests Tying Transportation Funding Objectives to Sustainability Goals

From my viewpoint, this report is very urban oriented and misses a large portion of the transportation needs of the economy of this United States.  While I agree with an introductory statement: “Continued investment in our Nation’s transportation is essential to keep our economy growing. But the current system is at a crossroads: roads and highways are aging, maintenance needs continue to grow, costs of maintenance and new infrastructure are increasing, and revenue levels have remained generally flat.”, once into the study, the answers supported fail to address this need.

APA’s urban focus blinds the suggested outcomes to the importance of a rural highway system to the economies of urban areas. Just a quick look at the APA Policy Guide, which identifies several key elements to their national transportation vision, tells the story.  It lists the elements of pedestrians, bicycling, public transportation, high-speed rail and intercity passenger rail networks and intermodal passenger facilities, enhanced clean waterborne transportation and transportation demand management.  Highways are identified as a transportation of last resort as the report states: “Use of highways as a component of overall multimodal transportation plans where necessary to meet specific mobility objectives that cannot be met effectively through other modes.”

While I understand the importance of the key elements of the APA Transportation Vision, vision must include highways that connect the urban areas to both the natural resources, which are mainly from rural areas, and to markets for industry located in those urban areas. Missing is a focus on the reality that the majority of roadways in the west are not located within an Metropolitan Planning Organization area.  Rather those roadways connecting the urban areas to interstate and international resources and markets pass through rural areas.   Simply refocusing existing revenues to urban priorities and providing new revenue tools to urban areas, does not address the issue they state:  “Continued investment in our Nation’s transportation is essential to keep our economy growing. But the current system is at a crossroads: roads and highways are aging, maintenance needs continue to grow, costs of maintenance and new infrastructure are increasing, and revenue levels have remained generally flat.”  A national transportation system must look beyond issues in urban areas and must recognize and address the importance of rural areas to the national interests.  The interstate system was an outcome of a national transportation system that understood the value of connectivity.

The Report also addresses Energy , Green, Water and Wastewater, Telecommunications and Technology, and Public Facilities infrastructures.

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AASTHO Journal

REBUILDING AMERICA: APA National Infrastructure Investment Task Force Report

October 29, 2010

Efforts to address the nation's transportation infrastructure challenges would benefit from a realignment of funding objectives and increased attention to local sustainability issues, concludes a new study issued by the American Planning Association.

"Transportation infrastructure can be improved through multiple means: increased funding, improved planning, and expanded performance measures and establishing clear objectives at local, state, and federal levels," according to the report prepared by APA's National Infrastructure Investment Task Force.

What also must be taken into account, the report suggests, are the re-evaluation of how the infrastructure dollars are spent and the integration of each community's land-use priorities in those decisions…