[Senate Hearing 111-1193]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 111-1193
HEARING ON THE NOMINATION OF
VICTOR M. MENDEZ TO BE ADMINISTRATOR
OF THE FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION
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HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON
ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
JUNE 2, 2009
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COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
BARBARA BOXER, California, Chairman
MAX BAUCUS, Montana JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio
FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey DAVID VITTER, Louisiana
BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming
BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont MIKE CRAPO, Idaho
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee
TOM UDALL, New Mexico
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon
KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, New York
ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania
Bettina Poirier, Staff Director
Ruth Van Mark, Minority Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
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Page
JUNE 2, 2009
OPENING STATEMENTS
Boxer, Hon. Barbara, U.S. Senator from the State of California... 1
Kyl, Hon. Jon, U.S. Senator from the State of Arizona............ 2
Inhofe, Hon. James M., U.S. Senator from the State of Oklahoma... 4
Voinovich, Hon. George V., U.S. Senator from the State of Ohio... 6
Klobuchar, Hon. Amy, U.S. Senator from the State of Minnesota.... 8
Bond, Hon. Christopher S., U.S. Senator from the State of
Missouri....................................................... 9
Cardin, Hon. Benjamin L., U.S. Senator from the State of
Maryland, prepared statement................................... 52
WITNESS
Mendez, Victor M., nominated to be Administrator, Federal Highway
Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation.............. 10
Prepared statement........................................... 13
Response to an additional question from Senator Boxer........ 16
Responses to additional questions from:
Senator Carper........................................... 17
Senator Cardin........................................... 18
Senator Sanders.......................................... 20
Response to an additional question from Senator Whitehouse... 21
Responses to additional questions from:
Senator Udall............................................ 23
Senator Inhofe........................................... 28
Senator Voinovich........................................ 31
Response to an additional question from:
Senator Vitter........................................... 34
Senator Crapo............................................ 35
Responses to additional questions from Senator Bond.......... 36
HEARING ON THE NOMINATION OF VICTOR M. MENDEZ TO BE ADMINISTRATOR OF
THE FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION
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TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 2009
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Environment and Public Works,
Washington, DC.
The full Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m. in
room 406, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Barbara Boxer
(chairman of the full Committee) presiding.
Present: Senators Carper, Inhofe, Lautenberg, Voinovich,
Bond, Klobuchar, Udall, and Merkley.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BARBARA BOXER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Senator Boxer. The hearing will come to order. Oh, nice to
see you, Senator Kyl.
I want to welcome you, Mr. Mendez.
Today we are holding a hearing on the nomination of Victor
M. Mendez to be the Administrator of the Federal Highway
Administration. I would like to thank Mr. Mendez for being here
today and I welcome him to the Committee.
FHWA is an agency of the Department of Transportation that
is charged with oversight of several programs, the largest of
which, the Federal Aid Highway Program, provides funding to the
States to assist in constructing highways and making highways
and traffic operations safe and more efficient.
Another major program overseen by the FHWA is the Federal
Lands Highway Program through which FHWA works with the Federal
Land Management Agencies and Indian tribes to manage the
approximately 300,000 mile road network that serves Federal and
Indian lands.
Combined, these programs are maintained at about $40
billion a year. States depend on this Federal funding.
Traditionally, the Federal Government has provided about 40
percent of the Nation's total investment in transportation.
Without continued funding, States would have to make
significant cuts to their already under-funded transportation
programs.
Highways and bridges built in the 1950s and 1960s are
reaching the end of their expected service life and additional
funding is needed for major repair or replacement. Similarly,
transit systems are aging and many communities are in need of
new or expanded service.
This means we need to make significant investment in the
short term just to maintain our infrastructure at safe levels,
followed by even larger investments over the next 20 to 30
years to completely replace aging infrastructure and
accommodate expected growth in population.
A key issue for the next Administrator will be management
of dwindling resources in the Highway Trust Fund, which
supplies most of the funding that FHWA administers. According
to DOT, and this is really not good news for all of us, the
Highway Trust Fund is expected to have insufficient cash by
August of this year to make good on prior commitments.
Therefore, an additional $5 billion to $7 billion will be
needed to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent through the end
of this fiscal year.
In addition, Administration officials have estimated that
an additional $8 billion to $10 billion is needed to pay
immediate cash needs if the overall program is to be maintained
at current funding levels.
The need to maintain a sustainable funding source for our
critical infrastructure must be a central focus of all of our
efforts across party lines. And I am happy to say that in this
Committee we do work very strongly across party lines on these
issues. We all know that investment in transportation is
crucial to our prosperity and we all know it creates jobs.
The current highway transit and highway safety
authorization, SAFETEA-LU, expires at the end of fiscal year
2009. Additional revenue will be needed to merely maintain
existing programs and much more will be needed if we want to
provide additional resources to our States which are struggling
to improve existing infrastructure.
The Committee is working on a new bill called MAP-21,
Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century. This bill gives
us the opportunity to take a fresh look at the current program
and make the transformational changes necessary to ensure our
Nation's system will meet the needs as we move forward.
This Committee, working across party lines, has agreed to
about eight principles for the new bill and we will look
forward to working with you, Mr. Mendez, as we get to
reauthorize the transportation programs of our Nation. We
really do look forward to your working with us.
So, thank you very much for appearing before this
Committee. I certainly look forward to hearing from you. I will
call on Senator Inhofe and then, if no other Senators are here
by then, we will go right to Senator Kyl for the introduction.
Senator Inhofe. Madam Chairman, it is all right with me, it
would be OK to have Senator Kyl go ahead with the introduction,
because he has another commitment that he needs to take care
of.
Senator Boxer. Sure.
Senator Kyl, please proceed.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JON KYL,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF ARIZONA
Senator Kyl. Thank you, Madam Chairman. And thank you,
members of the Committee.
Incidentally, Madam Chairman, I compliment you for coming
up with a much better name that some of the previous names.
That MAP-21 sounds good to me.
Senator Boxer. Well, can I quickly tell you a funny story?
I was telling my husband how the name SAFETEA-LU came into
play. It had to do with one of our colleagues' spouses whose
name is Lulu. I said to my husband, I have bad news and good
news for you. He said what is the bad news? I said, can you
believe that we named the highway bill after somebody's wife?
And he said so what is the good news? And I said I am going to
name it SAFETEA-STU, after him.
[Laughter.]
Senator Boxer. He said he would absolutely destroy me limb
from limb if I did it. So, we went to MAP-21.
[Laughter.]
Senator Kyl. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
It is my pleasure to introduce Victor Mendez, the
President's nominee to serve as Administrator with the Federal
Highway Administration.
Victor will bring a wealth of experience to FHWA, primarily
from his years of experience at the Arizona Department of
Transportation. We call it ADOT, and that is where I got to
know Victor. He joined ADOT in 1985 as a civil engineer and
quickly worked his way up through the ranks. By 2001, Victor
was appointed by then-Governor Janet Napolitano as Director of
ADOT and served in that capacity until February of this year.
As Director, Victor led an organization of over 4,600
employees with an annual operating budget of approximately $430
million. The 5-year capital budget consisting primarily of
highway projects was approximately $6 billion in State and
Federal funds. It needs to be much more than that,
incidentally, I would mention to my two colleagues.
The transportation issues that Arizona faced during
Victor's tenure, population growth, outdated infrastructure,
funding obstacles, prepared him well for his role as
Administrator of FHWA. Instead of maintaining the status quo,
Victor has had the vision to implement many new financing,
technological and research methodologies that were used to meet
many of Arizona's transportation challenges.
For instance, Victor successfully accelerated the
construction schedule for the Valley Regional Freeway System in
the Phoenix area, advancing the project's completion from 2014
to 2007. He also led the Arizona management of the construction
of the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge with Nevada and the United
States Department of Transportation. The Hoover Damn Bypass
Bridge is a $241 million project that has transportation
security and trade implications. With Victor's leadership, the
project is on budget and expected to be completed next year.
I have no doubt that Victor will continue to utilize
innovative methods to ensure that our Nation's transportation
infrastructure needs are met.
And to the point you made, Madam Chairman, we discussed the
financing issues that he will necessarily face. He has got a
lot of ideas and he does not think we can rely on one silver
bullet. He says there are a whole variety of things that have
to be utilized. So, I know you will be working with him on
that.
Finally, to round out his transportation experience and
demonstrate other things that he has been willing to do in his
work for the State of Arizona, he also served as President of
the American Association of State Highway and Transportation
Officials and co-chaired the Transportation Infrastructure and
Ports Committee of the Arizona-Mexico Commission, which in
Arizona is a big deal.
In 2008, Victor was elected as Leader of the Year in Public
Policy in Transportation by the Arizona Capitol Times. So he is
recognized as a leader, and I commend the President for
choosing such a fine candidate and congratulate Victor on his
nomination.
I look forward to working with him and commend him to the
Committee.
Thank you, Madam Chairman, for your courtesy.
Senator Boxer. Thank you very much, Senator, and we know
that you have places to go so please have a good day and we
will see you on the floor of the Senate.
Senator Kyl. Thank you.
Senator Boxer. Senator Inhofe.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES M. INHOFE,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA
Senator Inhofe. Madam Chairman, I have the same problem
that I always have on Tuesday mornings. We have the Armed
Services Committee hearing. We have General McChrystal there,
and it is imperative that I be in both places.
I want to welcome Mr. Mendez. I have had a chance to talk
to him in my office and we have a lot of mutual friends, one of
which is our Secretary of Transportation, Gary Ridley. I have
often said that Gary Ridley, in my opinion, is the best
Transportation Secretary in America. I highly respect his
opinions, and he holds Mr. Mendez in very, very high regard. I
think we are fortunate. I agree with Senator Kyl, we are
fortunate that the President has chosen to nominate Victor
Mendez to this position.
The challenges in continuing to provide the safe and free
transportation network have really never been greater. We went
through a problem last fall where we came up with a shortfall,
and that shortfall came from the fact that the increase in the
fuel causes a decrease in the revenues that are directed to the
Highway Trust Fund. A lot of people think it is a percentage,
but it is not, it is a centage. So that was a problem.
We were able to correct that problem by going and undoing
something that should not have been done in 1998 when Senator
Clinton took $8 billion from the Trust Fund and put it into the
General Fund. When I look at that, I think that took care of
the crisis then. We have another crisis now.
I think there are a couple of things that we can do. I just
offer this, not necessarily asking any questions since I
probably will not be here during the question and answer time.
One is we were successful in getting that, but that was $8
billion and that did not include the interest over a 10-year
period. We have a figure calculated for that right now which
should be very helpful. The second thing is that, with the
unprecedented spending that has never happened before in the
history of this Country, the hundreds of billions of dollars, I
cannot believe that we have such a low priority on
infrastructure. So, it is complicated. And the reauthorization
is set to expire, as the Chairman said, in October.
Solving these challenges will require us all to work
together. Unfortunately, there was a troubling development 2
weeks ago. This Administration hosted a conference call about
the status of the Highway Trust Fund, sharing new technical
information about the inability of the Trust Fund to make
required reimbursements to States. The White House set up this
conference call and only invited Democrat staff to participate.
This is unacceptable.
One of the things that I would ask you, and I ask everyone
that is nominated, would you commit to responding to the
minority side the same as you would respond to any request that
comes from the majority side during your tenure after you are
confirmed, which you will be?
[Mr. Mendez responds in the affirmative.]
Senator Inhofe. Let the record reflect that he said yes.
All right. I look forward to working with you. We have a
huge problem in front of us. It is something that is
insurmountable. As often as Chairman Boxer and I disagree on
many issues, we agree on the infrastructure. And the problem
that we have in this Country is that it is not enjoying the
high priority that it should enjoy.
We were proud of the amount of money that we were able to
get in the 2005 Reauthorization Bill, but, in retrospect, that
really just barely maintained what we already had. I agree with
the two Governors and Mayor Bloomberg who are coming up with
ideas on really getting a more robust bill. I think if we are
going to be able to face the problems that are out there, we
are going to have to think in bigger numbers. But we have to
get there.
I look forward to your testimony and your confirmation.
[The prepared statement of Senator Inhofe follows:]
Statement of Hon. James M. Inhofe, U.S. Senator
from the State of Oklahoma
Thank you, Chairman Boxer. I would like to welcome Mr.
Mendez. I have met with this nominee and I believe after our
conversation that he is well qualified for this important
position. The Federal Highway Administrator has always been a
valuable partner of this Committee during the re-authorization
process and I expect that this next bill will be no different.
I am pleased that the Administration has chosen such a
qualified individual, and someone who recognizes the diverse
transportation needs of this country. Heavily weighing in your
favor was a conversation I had with my State's Secretary of
Transportation, Gary Ridley, who proudly relayed his support of
your nomination. I greatly respect the opinion of Secretary
Ridley, whom I believe is the best Transportation Secretary in
the country.
The challenges in continuing to provide a safe and free
flowing transportation network have never been greater. Making
matters worse, we recently learned that the Highway Trust Fund
will run out of money sometime before August of this year, and
will require an infusion of $5 billion to $7 billion to get
through the rest of fiscal year 2009. An additional $8 billion
to $10 billion will be required in 2010.
Secretary Ridley has notified me that if we fail to fix the
trust fund Oklahoma and most other States will not have the
cash to honor infrastructure projects that have already been
agreed to. As a result, my State will be forced to deprogram
between $50 million and $80 million in projects. This will be
done by canceling new projects and existing contracts that have
already been signed, in addition to slowing down projects that
have already broken ground. Clearly this would have a
detrimental effect on the economy and will negate any gains
made by the stimulus--which as I've said before, dramatically
underinvested in infrastructure.
This truly complicates our efforts to reauthorize SAFETEA,
which expires this October. Solving these challenges will
require us all to work together. Unfortunately, there was a
troubling development 2 weeks ago. This Administration hosted a
conference call about the status of the Highway Trust Fund,
sharing new, technical information about the inability of the
Trust Fund to make required reimbursements to States. The White
House set up the conference call and only invited Democratic
staff to participate. This is completely unacceptable.
The last Administration was widely criticized last August
for not being more open and transparent with Congress and
States over this very issue. I would have hoped this
Administration would not repeat mistakes previously made and be
open and transparent--especially with technical information.
At confirmation hearings, I ask every nominee if they will
share information with both sides of the aisle at the same
time. I will ask you the same thing, but will add a very strong
caution. I cannot support your nomination unless you commit to
me that the minority will be treated equally in getting
information and responses to questions from the FHWA. Will you
make such a commitment to me now?
Thank you. I look forward to your confirmation and working
with you.
Senator Boxer. Thank you, Senator.
Senator Udall.
Senator Udall. I am going to pass so that we can get to the
witness. Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Senator Boxer. Thank you.
Senator Voinovich.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. GEORGE V. VOINOVICH,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF OHIO
Senator Voinovich. Thank you, Madam Chairman, and Ranking
Member Inhofe.
I want to thank you, Mr. Mendez, for your being here today
and your willingness to serve in this new capacity. And I thank
your family for their past sacrifices and for the sacrifices
that they will make in order to serve your Country.
Having served as a mayor, Governor and now as a Senator, I
understand the different needs, concerns and responsibilities
that each level of government brings to bear on the challenges
we face as communities and as a Nation. I am very pleased that
you are familiar with the State and local perspective, having
served as the Director of the Arizona Department of
Transportation and then serving as President of AASHTO.
I believe your experience with the FHWA at the State
Department of Transportation level is going to serve you well
in performing your job. I am very anxious to have you on board
because I think that your experience is going to be valuable in
helping us put together what I would like to consider as a new
paradigm in terms of a transportation piece of legislation.
I am also hopeful that you will have the courage to stand
up and influence the Administration to understand that if we
are going to do the job that we need to do in terms of our
service transportation in this Country, we are going to have to
have more money. And one of those sources of revenue has to be
an increase in the gas tax. I know that does not go down very
well with some folks, but the fact of the matter is almost
everybody in this Country that cares, in fact, almost all of
them that care, understand the realities of that situation.
I am not going to go into details. You know what the needs
are. If you take the Service Transportation Commission and the
folks that came back about recommendations, we are talking
about
$1.6 trillion over this 5-year period. We know that is not
possible. But we are talking in the neighborhood of $450
billion to $500 billion in order to just get us where we are
supposed to be.
SAFETEA-LU, we fell behind. We knew it was not enough at
the time. It was worse because of inflation, and now we are
going to have to go back and find some more money if we are
just going to fund it at the level that we funded in the past.
So, I want you to know that I really look forward to
working with you. I hope you are allowed to be engaged in this
work that we are doing right now. I hope it is something very
special. You have probably been looking at this for a long
time. Now, you have got a chance to do something about it. So,
I hope you take advantage of it.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Senator Voinovich follows:]
Statement of Hon. George V. Voinovich, U.S. Senator
from the State of Ohio
Madam Chairman and Ranking Member Inhofe, thank you for
holding this nomination hearing.
I would like to thank you, Mr. Mendez, for being here
today, and for your willingness to serve. Even more
importantly, I want to thank your family for their sacrifices.
Having served as a mayor, Governor and now as Senator, I
understand the different needs, concerns and responsibilities
that each level of government brings to bear on the challenges
we face as communities and as a Nation. I am very pleased that
you are also familiar with the State and local perspective,
having served as director of the Arizona Department of
Transportation, and as president of the American Association of
State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). I believe
your experience working with FHWA at the State DOT level will
serve you well.
I am very anxious to have you on board because your
experience will be valuable to provide the input we need to
change our transportation policy. I think it is important for
you to do two things as the next Administrator. First, you can
provide input on how we should draft the next transportation
reauthorization bill. And, second, I hope you can convince the
Administration that without a gas tax increase, we cannot do
what we need to do.
As you certainly know, the Nation's transportation needs
greatly exceed current investment at all levels of government.
DOT's 2006 Conditions and Performance Report stated that the
average annual investment level needed just to maintain the
current condition and performance of our highway system is
$78.8 billion, while the cost necessary to improve our highways
and bridges would be $131.7 billion.
More recently, the National Surface Transportation
Infrastructure Financing Commission reported the Federal
highway and transit funding gap totals nearly $400 billion in
2010 through 2015 and grows to about $2.3 trillion through
2035.
Although SAFETEA-LU provided increased funding for the
States and localities to improve the condition of deteriorating
and unsafe highways and to increase capacity and performance,
the system is still aging, and in need of additional
investment. I predicted that the money spent from that
authorization bill would not be enough. Sadly, I was right.
Because of the rising costs of construction and energy, the
purchasing power from SAFETEA-LU has significantly declined.
This bill did not keep up with inflation, and as a result, we
have fallen behind. According to DOT, the Highway Trust Fund
will need an additional $5 billion to $7 billion to keep it
solvent through the end of fiscal year 2009.
I believe our failure to invest in the improvements
necessary to keep pace with our growing population and
increasing demands remains a significant obstacle to moving our
economy forward. American businesses cannot compete globally,
without strong infrastructure at home.
These are daunting challenges facing FHWA, DOT, and this
Committee as we move toward reauthorization. I look forward to
hearing your thoughts on the next reauthorization bill, your
suggestions for ensuring that enough funding is being invested
in our highways and infrastructure, and your vision for FHWA's
role in ensuring that our Nation has the transportation
infrastructure necessary to remain economically competitive for
future generations.
Again, I think you for coming before this Committee today,
and for your willingness to serve your country.
Senator Boxer. Thank you so much. I love it when you get so
enthusiastic.
[Laughter.]
Senator Boxer. It is good. It is good.
Senator Klobuchar.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. AMY KLOBUCHAR,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MINNESOTA
Senator Klobuchar. Thank you very much, Chairman Boxer.
Congratulations, Mr. Mendez, for your nomination. We look
forward to working with you.
The role of your agency is very important in my State. It
could not have been more clear than the day the bridge
collapsed on August 1st, 2007, taking 13 people's lives. I said
that day that a bridge just should not fall down in the middle
of America. Not an eight-lane highway and not one that is just
six blocks from my house.
So, I have spent a lot of time working with, I am sure you
are familiar with Chairman Oberstar, who is also from
Minnesota, working with him on the issues of bridge safety. We
have a bill that I am sure parts of which we will try to
incorporate in the upcoming SAFETEA-LU legislation. But this is
about making sure that the money spent on bridge maintenance is
truly spent on bridge maintenance and, in fact, is not spent on
building new projects that are good for ribbon cuttings but
then allow our other infrastructure to deteriorate in this
Country.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, which we
hope you will soon head up, more than 25 percent of the
Nation's 600,000 bridges are either structurally deficient or
functionally obsolete. We have many challenges here, not only
for safety, but also, of course, for economic development. We
got a good start with the Recovery Act. Also, there is the
congestion that we have in so many of our areas where workers
remain idle in traffic. Americans spend 4.2 billion hours a
year stuck in traffic at a cost to the economy of $78.2 billion
or $710 for each motorist.
So to me this involves not just better roads and bridges,
but also a mix of transportation options. I have been very
surprised, pleasantly surprised, at the support for rail in our
State in areas of the State that did not traditionally support
it. It just took the Vice President out to St. Cloud, Minnesota
where we are building the North Star Rail very close to St.
Cloud. That is something that we care a lot about.
And, of course, when it comes to highways, the right use of
these roads, including smart ideas of how to control traffic
better. We have been working with IBM, which has a substantial
project in Minnesota, on some of the technology that they want
to develop to have intelligence transportation solutions. So it
is going to be a mix of special lanes for bikes, pedestrians,
and also better roads and bridges.
We are very much looking forward to working with you. Thank
you for appearing here today.
Senator Boxer. Thank you, Senator.
We will go to Senator Bond.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CHRISTOPHER S. BOND,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MISSOURI
Senator Bond. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and Senator
Inhofe.
It is a pleasure to welcome Mr. Mendez and to join with the
hallelujah and amen chorus in applauding your nomination,
recognizing the great contributions you have made, not only in
your State, but in your service in the national organization.
As a former Governor, as we have discussed, I understand
full well the challenges you had to face, and having someone in
your position, who has gone through that, is extremely
important. And I believe you also have worked closely with our
director in Missouri, Pete Rahn. We had a good opportunity to
talk about that.
These are tough times. You have got a really tough battle
ahead. You face an insolvent Highway Trust Fund that will need
more than a Band-Aid to fix, rising construction costs, and a
transportation system that literally is bursting at the seams.
It is going to require long-term vision, vision for surface
transportation with all of the other components we have
discussed which go into that transportation system. It is
quality infrastructure, in my view, and I believe you share
that. It connects people and communities with one another, it
attracts and sustains jobs and a high quality of life. I do not
think there is anything more important the Government can be
doing in this Country and certainly, in Missouri and across the
Country, there is a growing concern about the real strains
coming up in transportation.
Vehicle miles traveled remain at historic highs, congestion
rates are up with more and more people sitting in traffic,
extra trucks carrying products to and from businesses around
the globe, construction. Construction is a real problem. It is
not only frustrating, but it takes a real toll on our economy
and our productivity.
We have to work together on the authorization bill to make
sure that essential infrastructure investments provide a good
return to taxpayers. You and I have spoken about some of the
additional alternatives, ideas that have come up for dedicated
commercial lanes for truck traffic and how to fund them.
And another area where I know you share concern is on
project delivery times. As we speak the costs of transportation
projects around the Country are increasing while contractors,
municipalities and State DOTs wade through the mess of
bureaucracy that is our current project development process. We
cannot afford to continue on the path where it takes 10 to 15
years to deliver highway projects. It does not take a
mathematician to figure out that such as impediment means
project costs tripling, congested highways, increased
productivity and compromised road safety.
We thought we had made some progress on the streamlining in
the SAFETEA bill on which we worked very hard with the help of
your department. But, obviously, we have got to do more. We
have got to deliver these projects, make sure we touch all the
bases, but do it in an efficient manner.
Then there is a real problem, and I have another hearing as
most people do today, that I would ask you to address. What are
we going to do about the $8.7 billion rescission? We are
talking about spending big money on shovel ready projects. This
$8.7 billion rescission that we had to put in SAFETEA is going
to unstimulate, unstimulate, projects that are shovel ready,
ready to go. And right now the prospect of shutting them down
means that we are not doing the work of preparing to put people
to work on highways where they could be doing something.
I think it was a big mistake. I am very sorry that the
Stimulus Bill, which I think got off track, only put 4 percent
into transportation and did not even deal with the rescission.
Now, of all the things that we ought to do, we ought to do
something to stop Government action that will unstimulate the
economy. I look forward to hearing any thoughts you have on
that.
I would say, also, I noticed that as Deputy Director of
ADOT you oversaw one of Arizona's first design-build projects.
It seems to be working in Missouri. I hope you will be an
advocate for that, that can reduce some of the burdens of long
project delivery time at the Federal level as well, and we look
forward to reading your testimony.
I congratulate you on your nomination and, most of all, as
my colleagues have said, we look forward to working with you on
this very challenging and important job you have.
Thank you.
Senator Boxer. Thank you, Senators, all.
I just wanted to say, Mr. Mendez, given all of the problems
that we have thrown at you, we hope that you will still want
this job. We obviously all agree that you are an excellent
choice.
So it is your time now. Speak to us. If you have any family
members here, or friends, please feel free to introduce them,
and then once you get started with your statement we will start
the clock.
STATEMENT OF VICTOR M. MENDEZ, NOMINATED TO BE ADMINISTRATOR,
FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION
Mr. Mendez. Thank you, Chairman Boxer. I do appreciate the
magnitude of the job here.
I will not be introducing anyone. I think it is just time
to get down to business and, as you have all articulated very
well, we have a lot of challenges. So I will begin with my
statement right now.
Good morning, Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member Inhofe, and
Members of the Committee. I appreciate the opportunity to be
here today as you consider my nomination for Administrator of
the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Senator Kyl for
that very kind introduction. I really appreciate that from him.
It is an honor and privilege to have been recommended by
Secretary LaHood and nominated by President Obama for this very
important position. I appreciate the significant role this
Committee plays in establishing transportation policy and, if
confirmed, I look forward to working closely with all of you to
improve the delivery of the Federal-aid highway program.
As the former director of the Arizona Department of
Transportation and former president of the American Association
of State and Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO), I am
very well aware of the many responsibilities and challenges
that lie ahead for the next Federal Highway Administrator. In
the immediate future, we near the expiration of the Safe,
Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity: A
Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), coupled with the impending cash
shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund. Then, in the long term, we
must identify sustainable funding mechanisms to address our
aging infrastructure and congested roads, all in the face of a
struggling economy.
Our highways must be made safer. Our transportation system
must be equipped to meet the growing demands of freight
movement if we are to compete in a global economy and stimulate
economic growth in the Nation.
We must also consider multimodal solutions to reduce the
transportation sector's greenhouse gas emissions. I share
Secretary LaHood's commitment to safety as the highest priority
at the Department. Although fatalities and injuries on our
roads are declining, too many people still die or are injured
in highway crashes each year. If confirmed, I will work with
the Administration, Congress, the States, transportation safety
advocates and the public to continue the downward trend in
highway fatalities and injuries.
I will also focus on the successful deployment of highway
dollars under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
(Recovery Act). Like the President and the Secretary, I
strongly believe that, through the efficient implementation of
Recovery Act projects, FHWA plays a key role in creating jobs,
putting people back to work, and keeping families from
foreclosure.
Another priority, if I am confirmed as the Administrator,
will be to develop a robust transportation reauthorization
solution in partnership with Congress, the Administration,
Secretary LaHood, and the various transportation stakeholders.
Too often, we think about economic competition among cities and
regions within the United States. However, in the next
reauthorization of surface transportation programs, we must not
forget that America must compete with nations such as China and
India.
We must keep both rural and urban America moving and
economically competitive in the 21st century. We must meet the
needs of the American public and business community to ensure
safety, a better quality of life and a vibrant economy. We must
support environmental stewardship, blend public and private
sector collaboration, and ensure accountability and
transparency of public expenditures in transportation.
I will work closely with Secretary LaHood and other
officials to consider coordinated strategies and multimodal
solutions to address our transportation challenges.
If confirmed, I will also encourage the use of innovation,
research and technology to solve our transportation problems.
We need to identify and develop innovative environmental,
congestion and finance solutions, and share best practices in
the delivery of projects and in other areas of importance to
transportation stakeholders.
I am mindful of the challenges that face the next
Administrator. With my background in civil engineering and a
transportation career spanning over 25 years, including at the
Arizona Department of Transportation for seven and one-half
years, I bring the experience, knowledge, management and
leadership skills to bring FHWA through the challenges that lie
ahead. The employees at FHWA possess an incredible wealth of
knowledge and expertise, and I look forward to the opportunity
to work with them as well to find solutions.
I am committed to working with you, the Administration,
Secretary LaHood, and all transportation stakeholders as we
look for ways to meet our Nation's transportation needs.
Madam Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear
before you today and for your consideration. I would be happy
to answer your questions.
Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Mendez follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Boxer. Thank you so much.
I will start, and each of us will have 5 minutes and as
long as people want to stay.
I have to say that at 10 minutes of the hour, I have to go
to the floor to speak in favor of Gina McCarthy, who is up for
a very important post at the EPA, so if Senator Lautenberg is
not here, Senator Udall, would you take the gavel? Oh, thank
you.
The Obama administration told us that the Highway Trust
Fund will run out of cash before August. You were Director of
the Arizona DOT when this same situation developed last fall.
What were the impacts on your program? And, based on that
experience, how will you manage the Federal payments?
Mr. Mendez. Madam Chairman, I think it is important that
you do frame it in terms of drawing from my experience in
Arizona. Clearly, one of the issues that we faced last year as
we became aware of the pending shortfall, at the time, was the
fact that we were notified at pretty much the last minute. So
one of the things that I know the Administration is currently
undertaking is advance notification of the situation.
As you are aware, and it has been mentioned here before, a
lot of that communication has already started with you and
members of your Committee. I think it is important to keep that
in mind. Early notification is, indeed, very important.
With that said, I think that provides the States the
opportunity to prepare themselves in case there is not a
solution to the shortfall that is expected here in the summer,
which I understand is sometime in August. I believe somebody
here mentioned that we are anticipating a shortfall somewhere
between $5 billion to $7 billion coming in August, and that
would be one of my highest priorities if I am confirmed, and I
would work with you very closely to ensure that we find a
solution for this along with the Administration.
Senator Boxer. Good. Could I just ask you now, will you do
everything in your power to keep us all informed, Democrats and
Republicans on this Committee, as to the deliberations? I think
Senator Inhofe was concerned that he was not called by the
Administration. So, will you be our liaison on those issues?
Mr. Mendez. Madam Chairman, absolutely.
Senator Boxer. Excellent.
And my last question. Your predecessor, in both Arizona and
as FHWA Administrator, Mary Peters, who I like very much,
clearly supported devolution of most, if not all, Federal
highway programs back to the States. On that, I did not agree
with her. And I am happy to report that the big four over here
already have had our meetings and we, across party lines,
believe a Federal role must be continued. I would like to ask
you, because she was pushing for devolution, do you think that
a strong Federal role is needed to assure that our highway
system is in good condition and serves the entire Nation?
Mr. Mendez. Madam Chairman, it is a very interesting
question that you raise. From my perspective, and again I have
not had the opportunity to have detailed discussions on
principles with the Secretary being in this nomination
situation, but I clearly believe that there is a need for
national strategies and a national program to ensure that we,
as a Nation, address national and regional issues.
In many cases, as you are aware, States may look at their
own needs, but there are times when you have multi-State and
regional issues that should be coordinated, probably on a
national policy level. So, I believe there certainly is a role
for the Federal Government in establishing the long-term future
for transportation and it needs to be coordinated through some
national oversight, and a national policy that address future
needs.
Senator Boxer. Well, I think that what you have said really
underscores what came about in the 1950s by President
Eisenhower when he envisioned this kind of a role. I do have
two quick, three quick questions, just a matter of, we have to
do this to make sure that you get confirmed. So, I will ask
each one and then ask you to say yes or no.
Do you agree, if confirmed as Administrator of the Federal
Highway Administration, to appear before this Committee, or
designated Members of this Committee and other appropriate
committees of Congress, and provide information subject to
appropriate and necessary security protection with respect to
your responsibilities as the Administrator?
Mr. Mendez. Yes.
Senator Boxer. Do you agree to ensure that testimony,
briefings, documents, and electronic and other forms of
communication of information are provided to this Committee and
its staff and other appropriate committees in a timely manner?
Mr. Mendez. Yes.
Senator Boxer. And last, do you know of any matters which
you may or may not have disclosed that might place you in any
conflict of interest if you are confirmed as Administrator?
Mr. Mendez. No.
Senator Boxer. Excellent.
So, what I am going to do is hand the gavel over to Senator
Lautenberg, who has agreed to take over. I will call on Senator
Voinovich and then, Senator Lautenberg, if you would continue
this hearing and complete it, that would be great. I have to go
speak on the floor about our nominee, Gina McCarthy.
Thank you, Senator Lautenberg.
Senator Voinovich.
Senator Voinovich. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Mr. Mendez, every year, an estimated $417 billion of
freight crosses the Brent Spence Bridge across the Ohio River
in Cincinnati. That is between Cincinnati and Kentucky. That is
roughly equivalent to 3 percent of the United States Gross
Domestic Product in 2008. The amount of freight traffic is
expected to increase to $830 billion by 2030.
This bridge has five times more accidents than the average
highway in the State of Ohio. The bridge is the biggest choke
point in the Country in terms of the interstate system. It
contributes probably in the top five in terms of degradation of
our air. In fact, EPA is doing a study in the vicinity there,
we have housing, on the impact diesel emissions are having on
children's health.
It is important to the infrastructure of the American
economy. The cost at this stage of the game is nearly $3
billion, which is more than the total appropriation for both
Ohio and Kentucky on an annual basis.
I would like to know what your position is in terms of
creating a separate funding stream for projects with national
significance, such as the Brent Spence Bridge. This is one the
things that the Committee is considering in terms of the next
highway bill, of looking out around the Country and looking at
rankings, for example, big congestion problem too, of course,
with this. What is your thought about that approach?
Mr. Mendez. Senator, I am not specifically familiar with
the location that you mentioned to me. But I think it is very
important on a broad basis to comment on----
Senator Voinovich. It is the second most used bridge in the
interstate system in the Country.
Mr. Mendez. OK. In terms of some of these major, as I
mentioned earlier, regional and national projects, it is
important for us, on a national basis, to establish some level
of policy that may address some of these issues now. I also
need to be able to work with the Secretary to ensure that we
are all on the same page. At this point in time, I have not had
the opportunity to talk about some of the principles and some
of the specific elements you mention here.
Senator Voinovich. Well, the fact of the matter is that you
have done the job in Arizona. You have been the President of
ASSHTO. You have got to have had a $35,000 look at this and,
overall, what is your thought about the fact that we should do
these kinds of projects that are really impacting negatively on
our commerce, environment and the rest of it?
Mr. Mendez. Right. Senator, one of the discussions that I
have had recently is about some of the literature where we have
a map that shows the major congested arteries throughout the
United States. I think that is the kind of information that we
need collectively in Congress, with the Administration, to
begin to look at as we consider issues that are going to be
very important within reauthorization and sit down and develop
national strategies to address situations such as what you just
described. It may be part of that artery map that all of us
have been looking at.
But beyond that, I think that it is important for us to
work collectively and try and bring all of these issues to the
table and try and come up with national strategies or policies
to address some of the issues such as you described.
Senator Voinovich. And there is the issue of how long it
takes to build a bridge. We have another bridge over on I-90
over the Cuyahoga River. It was started out at $500 million.
Now it is $1.6 billion with all of the red tape that one has to
go through in order to go forward with a project. Again, it is
just impossible.
I work very, very hard. In fact, I was pleased that AASHTO
honored me several years ago for what we did with 4(f). It is
really interesting that we revised the 4(f) process and, to
this date, the Department of Transportation has not finalized
the regulations for this. It appears to me that there is not
anybody over there that is really staying on top of trying to
speed these, you know, move this along. Thirteen years the
National Commission said it takes on these major issues.
What are you going to do about that?
Mr. Mendez. Mr. Senator, I understand the situation. I am
very well aware that the project delivery process does take a
long time. Similar to what Senator Gillibrand mentioned
earlier, there have been some innovations that were implemented
where there have been crises, where we have been very
innovative and very creative in executing project delivery.
If I am confirmed, I would be very happy to work with all
of you on some of these solutions. I can tell you that is an
issue. We have worked with many stakeholders and tried to
streamline the entire project delivery system, not with respect
to just environmental issues, not just the bridge issues, but
the overall project delivery process. Thirteen years is, in
fact, way too long.
Senator Voinovich. Can we get a commitment from you that
you are going to get the regulations done on 4(f) that we got
done in the last highway bill, pronto?
Mr. Mendez. Mr. Senator, I will look into that and I will
do whatever I can within my power to execute that.
Senator Voinovich. Thank you.
Senator Lautenberg [presiding]. Thank you.
Next we will hear from Senator Udall.
Senator Udall. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Congratulations, Mr. Mendez, on your nomination and thank
you for your courtesy visit to my office last week or several
weeks ago.
I wanted to ask you about a couple of issues. First is the
issue of railroad crossing safety, which I am sure you have
dealt with as the highest highway official in the State of
Arizona. New Mexico has almost 1,700 rail crossings, yet
receives just $1.5 million in Section 130 highway funding under
FHWA for rail safety. This level of funding only allows the
State to upgrade maybe five to seven crossings per year. As you
are probably aware, AASHTO supports increasing funding for the
Section 130 Grade Crossing Program, which has ended up saving
thousands of lives since its inception in the 1970s.
The first question: do you agree that Section 130 should be
funded at current or higher levels? How will work to implement
rail safety programs to prevent rail crossing accidents? And
will you work to introduce new technologies to improve rail
safety, especially for tracks that cross roads and pass through
populate areas?
Mr. Mendez. Thank you, Senator. If I might, please, I would
like to correct myself. I did not mean to say----
Senator Udall. Senator Klobuchar.
Mr. Mendez. I am sorry for that mistake.
Senator Udall. We all recognize Senator Klobuchar. You
would not be able to mislead us. We know her, we know her
laugh. Do not worry.
Mr. Mendez. My apologies, Senator.
Let me address the Section 130 issue. Again, drawing from
my experience in Arizona, throughout the Nation, that is an
issue. I can tell you the Administration, Secretary LaHood, as
well as a lot of us, I do, in fact, as I mentioned in my
earlier comments, place transportation safety as our highest
priority. So, if confirmed, I really do look forward to working
with you as we develop these reauthorization scenarios,
strategies and principles to address specifically those needs
and see what we can do to actually resolve some of those
issues.
Senator Udall. One of the other issues is the issue of
green highways or new technology. I am very interested in ways
that roads can be made more green through the use of recycled
construction materials, methods to reduce runoff and other
innovations. And I hope that you will work diligently to push
the envelope on innovation.
As the Arizona Highway official and also on AASHTO, I am
sure you are very familiar with Indian reservation roads. The
Indian Reservation Roads Program is important for addressing
the transportation challenges facing tribes in my State and
across the Nation.
The Stimulus Package made available $310 million
specifically for the Indian Reservation Roads Program. However,
tribes in New Mexico are actually seeing a decline in their
annual funding under this program, apparently do to how the
Federal Highway Administration includes a vast number of
county, State and even interstate roads in the inventory of
roads supported by the Indian Reservation Roads Program.
Congress intended this program to be primarily for tribes,
rather than for roads that have other sources of funding. I am
sure you are aware of this situation in Arizona because you
also share the Navajo Reservation with New Mexico and Utah. Do
you have any recommendations on how we can restore the program
to its original purposes?
Mr. Mendez. Mr. Senator, as you just mentioned, being from
Arizona, we clearly have a lot of coordination functions with
the Native American tribes there in Arizona. So I am familiar
with the issues.
I do understand the scenario that, on a national basis, the
Indian tribes do lack in terms of resources. I would be very
happy to work with you on those same issues to ensure that
priorities are established properly so that we can get the
maximum return out of those investments on the Indian tribes
and the tribal reservations.
Senator Udall. Thank you, Mr. Mendez, and I will submit
additional questions for the record and we look forward to your
speedy approval and you assuming your position. Thank you very
much.
Mr. Mendez. Thank you.
Senator Lautenberg. Senator Klobuchar.
Senator Klobuchar. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Mendez, I am going to be soon introducing legislation
called Dig Once with Senator Warner and others and it will
incorporate road construction projects with the deployment of
broadband infrastructure on Federal projects. Road construction
season in Minnesota is short because of our weather and the
multiple diggings are a big hassle and cost a lot of money for
taxpayers.
So we are trying to encourage, as much as we can, a joint
deployment of these. Have you had any familiarity with this in
Arizona? Or are you willing to work with us to develop a policy
on this?
Mr. Mendez. Senator, thank you for the question. As I
mentioned earlier in my comments, I am an advocate for
research, technology and innovation. I believe the idea that
you raise in terms of what can we do to implement broadband,
for example, that is a great idea. I like that. So, I am more
than happy to work with you on these innovative solutions.
There are a lot of great ideas out there and I would be more
than happy to work with you on that.
Senator Klobuchar. I talked, in my opening comments, about
the bridge maintenance and the Bridge Maintenance Fund. I do
not know if you are familiar with this issue and the bill that
I had with Senator Boxer and Senator Durbin, as well as
Congressman Oberstar was sponsoring in the House, focusing on
requiring States to use their bridge maintenance money for
bridge maintenance instead of other things.
I know the States want some flexibility when it comes to
these funds, but it turned out some of them were being used for
projects completely unrelated to bridge maintenance. I wonder
if you had, again, any familiarity in your past job or any view
on this?
Mr. Mendez. Yes, Senator, clearly, probably every State
faces the same situation. As you are aware, as State officials,
we have advocated for that flexibility. At the same time, I
would say to you, once we settle in on solutions with Congress
and the Administration, we absolutely do intend to follow the
letter of the law. I would like to add to that that safety,
whether it is bridge safety or just roadway safety, is of
highest priority to all of us.
Senator Klobuchar. Given your experience as a State
transportation leader, do you have any just general ideas about
how to improve the areas where the Highway Administration can
improve on the Federal level?
Mr. Mendez. Senator, as I mentioned in my opening comments,
I do have some priorities that I want to pursue very quickly,
including implementation of the economic recovery projects and
such and, of course, reauthorization. But when I talk about
innovation, research and technology, those are the arenas where
I believe we can really drill into looking at different ways of
conducting business, not just in terms of the technical
elements of building highways, but also about innovations in
terms of using technology, for example, to make a road safer
and monitor bridges from a safety perspective, that kind of
thing. So, that is sort of what I am looking for when I am
talking about innovation.
We have a lot of great ideas, a lot of great people in the
industry and we should find some kind of a venue to really be
able to flesh out, sit down and share those ideas and maybe
even build on those ideas.
Senator Klobuchar. How about public-private partnerships?
You know we have talked about that as part of the solution to
our transportation problems. There are a number of bills out
there focusing on that or some kind of a fund or bonding. There
are some bonding requirements or allowances in the Recovery
Act, but can you talk about that? I know we will have a debate
on how to fund this. We took money already from the General
Fund, $8 billion, and may have to use that route again to try
to fund this. Have you looked at this idea of public-private
partnerships?
Mr. Mendez. Senator, yes, indeed. It has been an issue that
has been out there for several years now. I think the important
thing, of course, is on a broader basis. We are looking for
innovative ideas in terms of funding and financing. I believe
public-private partnerships (P3s) do play an important role.
However, I do want to caution that, in my mind, public-
private partnerships are not the silver bullet. It just seems
to be that when we, collectively, as transportation and
industry stakeholders come up with a final solution on
transportation, that we are going to be looking at a compendium
or a compilation of various sources of funding. I believe P3s
play a very important role in that.
Senator Klobuchar. Have you looked at that vehicles miles
travel experiment that they did in Oregon as a way of funding
things and do you think that has much promise? I know there is
concern in rural areas about that.
Mr. Mendez. Yes, Senator, being a former State Director, as
that experiment was underway we watched and tracked it very
closely through various discussions and dialogs at various
conferences through AASHTO. We looked at that. It is an
interesting and innovative approach. I believe as we begin to
look at some of these solutions, the Secretary has been very
clear that he wants to put all the ideas on the table. So, I am
assuming that is what will happen.
Senator Klobuchar. All right. Thank you very much.
Senator Lautenberg. Thank you.
Senator Merkley.
Senator Merkley. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and it is
a pleasure to have you here today, Mr. Mendez.
I wanted to start by just asking you to share your
thoughts. I know that you are well aware that transportation
emissions are one of the biggest contributors to global warming
and a significant factor in our dependence on foreign oil. What
are your thoughts on how this can be addressed in the process
of planning and building transportation systems, specifically
at the Federal Highway Administration?
Mr. Mendez. Thank you, Senator. Let me begin by looking at
the bigger picture. We look at the literature on greenhouse gas
emissions and, depending on what you read, somewhere between 28
to 33 percent of greenhouse gases are attributed to the
transportation sector. With that in mind, it is important for
us to look at those issues and see how transportation,
specifically, can address that.
Now, it is my understanding that within the Department
there already is an internal working group looking at ways to
adapt for some of these issues in terms of global warming and
greenhouse gas emissions. It is my understanding that, under
the President, there is an interagency working group underway
that includes 13 agencies, including housing, to look at some
of the broader policies beyond transportation because
transportation needs to be integrated and coordinated, for
example, with other housing policies and local land use
policies.
Then we look at, really, some of the issues specific to
transportation. I believe there are four strategies that we
traditionally consider and one of the strategies is that you
need to begin to look at is to reduce vehicle miles traveled.
We know that would be a major benefit. There are other
strategies that involve the transportation sector. For example,
low carbon fuels and improving vehicle technologies. So, there
are a lot of strategies that are specific to the sector that
need to be looked at.
But it is not necessarily just a United States DOT effort.
So, if I am confirmed, I would be more than happy to work with
you on some of these ideas and some of your thoughts on this.
Senator Merkley. Thank you. I look forward to that.
One of the ideas that have pursued in Oregon is we have
dedicated 1 percent of our State Highway Funds to bicycle and
pedestrian infrastructure, which is kind of a win-win because
it keeps more cars off the roads and reduces congestion,
reduces global warming gases, and increases health from the
exercise component. Do you see any sort of a parallel with what
could be done at the Federal Highway Administration?
Mr. Mendez. Senator, I believe, as we have listened very
carefully to the President and the Secretary, multimodal
options have been very important in terms of potential
principles that will be laid out, livability concepts have been
discussed very clearly, and I believe all of that fits very
well with what you have just described. So, it is something
that we need to continue to work on.
Senator Merkley. Let me throw out another idea from Oregon.
We have the Nation's first solar highway, which is utilizing a
stretch of right-of-way to produce energy and feed it directly
into the grid. The crude estimate is that, using about 2
percent of the rights-of-way, the surplus rights-of-way on the
shoulders, would easily meet all of the lighting demands of the
highway system, and everything beyond that could be fed back in
to provide renewable energy elsewhere. Large stretches of
right-of-way with good access, in general, to transmission
lines. Is that a concept that you have thought about or are
interested in taking a further look at?
Mr. Mendez. Mr. Senator, when I met with you, I believe the
following day you were going to go visit that solar highway.
Senator Merkley. I was and I have been there and I was very
impressed.
Mr. Mendez. OK, so I got the answer. I have not visited
that highway. In fact, when Oregon DOT undertook that, I
thought, wow, they beat me to the punch. Being from Arizona,
which is sunny most of the time, I thought that should have
been our initiative. But again, that is one of the types of
ideas, the innovations that we need to be pursuing in
transportation, to do exactly what may become a standard
practice 20 years from now. And we will look back and say, look
everybody is now doing it nationwide.
Senator Merkley. Thank you. One more piece of
infrastructure I am interested in is ways we can support
electric vehicles. Do you have any thoughts about how that
might be incorporated into the highway system?
Mr. Mendez. Mr. Senator, I think, again, that is one of the
issues that we need to really sit down, discuss in earnest and
look at all the options. I have not personally taken the time
to look at the elements that are important to make something
like that happen. But clearly, under an innovations initiative,
I would more than happy to sit down and work through those
issues.
Senator Merkley. Terrific. I really look forward to working
with you. Thank you.
Senator Lautenberg. Thank you very much, Mr. Mendez.
Welcome.
You bring a distinguished background to this opportunity
and we are pleased and, very frankly excited about, the fact
that you stand a very good chance of being confirmed and that
you have an even better chance to make a huge difference in the
way our Country travels.
No matter where you go, there is too much traffic for the
roads, delays. It does not matter what part of the Country you
are in, almost what part of the world you are in. And the fact
that you, in a major project in Arizona, were able to meet the
target deadline by a substantial period of time, that kind of a
record will earn you lots of friendships here and across the
Country.
When we look at the problems with congestion, it is not
only not getting there on time, wherever there is, but it is
the accompanying problems with environmental pollution that is
just overwhelming us. And the imported oil problem is an
enormous problem for Americans. The transfer of wealth is going
the wrong way. We have got lots of problems, including the
deficient and deteriorated bridges and infrastructure that we
have.
So, we are pleased about the change that is facing us with
you coming with your experience and your record. And I want to
work with you to address all kinds of things, particularly
safety problems that threaten our families, such as the
presence of large trucks on our roads.
There is no question that trucks play a critical role in
getting products that we rely upon from our ports and factories
to our stores. But we have seen it in New Jersey. Trucks that
are too heavy and too long pose a threat to our roads and
bridges and the drivers and passengers that use them. Now,
these large trucks weigh more than 80,000 pounds and can lead
to bridge fatigue damage. And these trucks are responsible for
a disproportionate share of highway deaths when compared to
cars or small trucks.
Despite their proven safety problems, proponents of bigger
trucks have tried to weaken Federal highway laws to make trucks
even heavier and bigger. My view is that adding bigger trucks
to our roads is a recipe for disaster. I was able to write
legislation some years ago to keep them only in the places that
they were grandfathered and, this past April, I introduced a
bill to protect our infrastructure and improve safety by
helping to keep dangerously large trucks off our roads. If
confirmed, I look forward to working with you, Mr. Mendez, to
accomplish these and other goals.
By way of information, the Committee has received letters
from the following organizations in support your nomination:
AAA, American Association of State Highways and Transportation
Officials, American Counsel of Engineering Companies. I seek
unanimous consent to insert these letters into the hearing
record in my full statement and that record as well.
[The referenced material follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Lautenberg. Yesterday, in New Jersey, we announced
the availability of substantially increased rail service. Now,
the corridor, it is not just the northeast corridor, it is the
corridor that goes from New Jersey to New York, where hundreds
of thousands of people make the crossing every day. We are
working now on the development of a rail tunnel across the
Hudson River and extending the availability of service there.
When the tunnel is complete, we are going to be looking at
22,000 fewer cars on the highway. So we are excited about that.
We are looking at reductions in toxic pollution. And that is a
very promising thing.
But we have had another experience in New Jersey. We have
been building rail spurs. In each case, like the one that we
did yesterday, when it first opens, people were not, I would
not say skeptical, but unrelated change happens.
The first year, the average ridership in the Secaucus
Junction Station was 5,000 people. Now it is 17,000 people and
we have just extended more rail service from there. From our
capitol, Trenton, down to Camden, New Jersey, which is one of
the biggest cities in the southern part of our State, when the
rail line first opened up, it was modest ridership.
But something else happened. Businesses saw the convenience
that employees might have getting back and forth to work on
public transportation. Now, companies are opening along the
line. It is a real spur to the economic situation which we
desperately need to fix.
While you are looking at Federal highways, the one thing I
know that your experience is broad enough to say, that you have
got to look at other things as well. Whatever the influence, it
is a question of whether that kind of process is acceptable,
because it means dividing the revenues that are available to
us. And also to try and somehow figure out the consequences of
things that we are doing. It is so interesting.
Senator Moynihan was one of our great advocates of public
transportation. He always used to point out that the National
Highway System developed by President Eisenhower had an odd
effect and result, and that was that it gave people an
opportunity to abandon the cities and go find other places to
live and move away from the problems of urban existence.
Well, as a consequence, what we have seen across our State
and, frankly, across this Country, is the decay, in many cases,
of the cities, the urban centers, because people did not want
to wrestle with the problems. But the problems are there for
us, whether we choose to have them or not. So, we have to be
very select in the things that we do.
Earlier this year, Secretary LaHood said that in order to
meet our future transportation demands, we cannot simply add
lanes to our highways or invest our transportation dollars as
we have in the past. Do you agree with that view?
Mr. Mendez. Mr. Senator, you articulated, in all your
comments, what I would consider to be the coordination of a
full transportation system. Of course, you need to move
commerce, heavy commerce, trucks, et cetera, and there are
challenges with that. But at the same time, you also need to
move people safely. There are also the intramodal aspects of
pretty much everything that you talked about there. So, I think
it is important as we move forward and begin looking at our
solutions for the future, that we in earnest take a look at all
the issues, just as you have articulated.
The solutions that I have heard from Secretary LaHood have
been looking at multi-modal solutions, because I think we all
recognize that our world has changed in the last 20 years, the
last 10 years for that fact. So our behaviors have changed. The
price of fuel, for example, last year seemed to really create a
spike in public transportation usage. So, I think as we being
to look at the future proactively, it is important for all of
us to take a good, hard look at that and assess the true needs.
My feeling on this is that we have to be looking at all the
options that are out there to ensure the viability of, not just
our economic system, but also to ensure that all of our
citizens are able to go from Point A to Point B in a safe and
efficient manner.
Senator Lautenberg. I recently introduced legislation that
would establish a national transportation policy, a national
transportation surface policy. Do you think we need that kind
of a plan that places performance based measures on our Federal
transportation programs? And let us see what happens as we do
these things, to be sure that we focus on whether or not these
investments are worthwhile and should be continued?
Mr. Mendez. Yes. Mr. Senator, everybody is more actively
engaged and informed about Government and what we do in
Government. It is very clear to me that both President Obama
and Secretary LaHood want to ensure transparency in the way we
expend public funds.
With that, I think, it is going to be very imperative for
all of us in the transportation industry to, first of all, show
accountability for those dollars, and second of all, to ensure
that our performance is up to snuff. We need to ensure that,
with limited resources, we place those resources where they are
absolutely necessary and that they go to the highest priority
infrastructure needs, and we need to ensure the public that we
are doing the best we can with those funds.
Senator Lautenberg. You know, the pity of it is, we have
neglected putting money into the transportation systems in our
Country that are so much in demand. As a consequence, we now
face a crisis situation. No one is anxious to increase taxes or
costs for operating, but reality is there and as a consequence,
we have got to accept the fact that there are different ways to
move people and goods. We have got to work on it.
Over the past decade, the number of people killed in
crashes with large trucks has averaged 5,000 each year.
Further, large trucks place a major strain on our already
stressed infrastructure. There is currently a ban on large
trucks that weigh more than 80,000 pounds and are longer than
53 feet on our interstate highway system. Could you imagine
what the consequences of relaxing that ban would be? Would you
think it would have a serious negative effect?
Mr. Mendez. Mr. Senator, over the past decade or so, I have
been engaged in that discussion. Being in Arizona, that issue
was often raised. I think we look at, well, what is really the
balance here? Clearly, under the current situation, safety is
one of the factors that needs to be balanced out, along with
productivity and, as you mentioned earlier, preserving our
infrastructure. So, if I am confirmed, and if you as a Congress
and the Administration choose to delve into that issue and look
at different balances due to changes in the environment, I
would be more than happy to do that.
Senator Lautenberg. I am going to now call on Senator
Carper, who will Chair the Committee. Thank you very much for
being available to us and for the kind of work we expect you to
be doing.
Mr. Mendez. Thank you.
Senator Carper [presiding]. Mr. Mendez, welcome. Thank you
for joining us and for your willingness to serve. We have a
vote underway, so this will last about five more minutes and
then you will be free at last.
Mr. Mendez. Thanks.
Senator Carper. I want to ask you to just share briefly
with us your take on a couple of programs, one of which is
legislation introduced by Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa called the
Complete Streets Act. Your thoughts, if you would, on that
legislation? And on another piece of legislation called Safe
Routes to School Program, which I suspect you are familiar with
by virtue of your own work. Take a minute on each of those, if
you would, Complete Streets and the Safe Routes to School
Program.
Mr. Mendez. Yes. Mr. Senator, I think what I would fall
back on is not just my experience back in Arizona, because the
Safe Routes to School Program was a critical program for us,
but the concept of Complete Streets. I think when you bring all
of that together, they fit very neatly within what I believe is
Secretary LaHood's livability concepts.
Now, being a nominee, I have not had the privilege to
actually delve into the details of his concepts. But I believe
what you just described in terms of the projects, or these
programs, are where you really bring the livability concepts to
the table. One of the things that I mentioned earlier is that,
as one of our strategies with regard to greenhouse gas
emissions, if in fact we are trying to stem the growth of
vehicle mileage travel, these are some of the exact same
programs that fit within those strategies.
Senator Carper. Do you have anything else that you would
like to say?
Mr. Mendez. Pardon me?
Senator Carper. Do you have anything else that you would
like to say on either of those two programs?
Mr. Mendez. Well, I think they fit very neatly within those
concepts. I know Safe Routes to School, back in Arizona, was a
very big hit for us.
Senator Carper. The President has just announced increases
in the fuel efficiency standards so that by 2016, I believe,
our fleet has to be up to about 35 or 36 miles per gallon. The
last time we had a dramatic increase in CAFE standards was
back, I think, in the 1970s. Between 1975 and 1985, we
increased the standards by well over half. We found out that
people drove a whole lot more. We ended up with a lot more
vehicles and we ended up using a whole lot more fuel.
My question is, transportation, I think, after utilities,
yields the most amount of CO2 of any source of our
economy and some of feel that, even if we increase fuel
efficiency standards dramatically, we just simply drive more
cars, end up with more time stuck in traffic, that we are not
going to be really ahead of the game.
I want to ask you, do you think that the United States
Department of Transportation should support more robust
regional planning for transportation emission reductions with a
real focus on CO2 emissions? Do you believe that
Federal supported projects that reduce transportation emissions
should be a goal of climate change legislation?
Mr. Mendez. Mr. Senator, as I mentioned earlier, being the
nominee, I have not had the opportunity to drill into the
Secretary's thoughts on a lot of these issues. I can say that--
--
Senator Carper. I think that he is going to yield to you
for advice on this stuff, so----
Mr. Mendez. Well, I hope that I have a lot of input into
that. But I really think that those issues that you raise are
going to very important for all of us to work collectively, in
concert with the rest of the Members of Congress and with the
Administration so that we can address those exact same issues.
Senator Carper. I will ask it again. Do you agree that the
Department of Transportation should support more robust
regional planning for transportation emission reductions?
Mr. Mendez. Mr. Senator, what I am prepared to do is to
work with all of you on these strategies that will, in fact,
have an impact on greenhouse gas emissions and if your idea is
one of those that needs to be on table, I certainly would be
more than happy to deal with that.
Senator Carper. I will ask the second question again. Do
you believe that the federally supported projects that reduce
transportation emissions should be a goal of climate change
legislation?
Mr. Mendez. Are you referring to specific projects or
general policy issues?
Senator Carper. General policy issues.
Mr. Mendez. Yes, I believe as we look at the reduction of
greenhouse or climate change, however we want to frame that,
with respect to transportation, it is going to be important for
all us to look at all of these concepts.
Senator Carper. With that, we will conclude this hearing.
Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 11:15 a.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
[An additional statement submitted for the record follows:]
Statement of Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin, U.S. Senator
from the State of Maryland
Madam Chairman, thank you for holding this nomination
hearing. I would like to thank and welcome Mr. Mendez for
coming before our Committee to discuss the condition of the
United States' highway system and his nomination to lead the
Federal Highway Administration charged with the management of
this vitally important infrastructure network.
Our country's highways connect together communities, big
and small, from coast to coast. We often take the service and
convenience that our roads provide us for granted, which may
explain why our highway infrastructure has fallen into such
disrepair.
The Road Information Project, a non-partisan national
transportation research group, estimates that motorists spend
4.2 billion hours a year stuck in traffic at a cost of $78.2
billion a year--which works out to $710 per person. Drivers in
the Washington, DC metropolitan area have to cope with some of
the worst traffic congestion in the country--only to be outdone
by the metropolitan regions of Los Angeles and San Francisco/
Oakland in the Chairwoman's home State.
The Road Information Project also found that 33 percent of
America's major roads are in poor or mediocre condition and 36
percent of the Nation's major urban highways are congested. The
American Society of Civil Engineers gave U.S. roads the abysmal
grade of ``D^`` in its 2009 infrastructure report card.
The 2007 National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue
Study, commissioned by Congress, determined it would cost $187
billion annually to adequately address the outstanding
maintenance and repair backlog for roads across the country.
Maryland has a backlog of $650 million worth of projects, and
in Maryland we take a ``fix-it first'' approach to highway
maintenance and repair.
Expanding the Nation's highway system without first
addressing the maintenance and repair needs of existing roads
just compounds the problem over time. I would strongly
encourage your agency to focus attention on fixing and
improving the efficiency of existing highways and roads over
expanding the system. I look forward to hearing your thoughts
on addressing the highway maintenance backlog and what you see
as the Federal Highway Administration's service and
construction priorities.
Let me shift your attention for a moment to two
environmental issues as they relate to the Federal Highway
System.
Maryland and our neighboring States share the important
responsibility of caring for the country's most productive
estuary, the Chesapeake Bay. There are two particular
environmental threats to the Bay, and water resources around
the country, from highways and roads that the Federal Highway
Administration must pay greater attention to: Polluted
Stormwater runoff from highways and Greenhouse Gas emissions
from the transportation sector.
Pollutants washed off roads include deicing agents, heavy
metals, nitrogen, phosphorus, bacteria and sediment to local
waterways.
Statistics from the Maryland State Highway Administration
provide an illustrative example of the magnitude of the
challenge. As of October 30, 2008, SHA calculates that 90
percent of Maryland State highways in the State's eight largest
counties funnel pollution to the Chesapeake Bay 24 hours a day.
EPA considers stormwater to be the largest source of water
pollution in the country and this is a problem that grows
larger with every new strip of highway. There are ways to
reduce the flow of runoff and treat stormwater onsite using
green infrastructure techniques that help preserve the natural
hydrology of the landscape. I urge you to make water resource
protection a priority for the Federal Highway Administration.
The transportation sector is estimated to contribute nearly
a third of the greenhouse gases contributing to the climate
crisis and therefore reducing emissions from the transportation
sector is critical in finding solutions to climate change. I
hope that we can work quickly to get you confirmed and I look
forward to working with you to help build a more efficient
multi-modal transportation system that helps people spend less
time in their automboiles--idling in traffic and pumping more
CO2 into the atmosphere--and more time at their
destinations.
Your expertise and experience with transportation issues
are impressive and you are a clear leader in the transportation
sector. I look forward to hearing your testimony.
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