[Senate Hearing 116-52]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 116-52
INVESTING IN AMERICA'S SURFACE TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE: THE NEED
FOR A MULTI-YEAR REAUTHORIZATION BILL
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON
ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
JULY 10, 2019
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Environment and Public Works
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
___________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
37-495 PDF WASHINGTON : 2019
COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming, Chairman
JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware,
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia Ranking Member
KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland
MIKE BRAUN, Indiana BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont
MIKE ROUNDS, South Dakota SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island
DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon
JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, New York
ROGER WICKER, Mississippi CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey
RICHARD SHELBY, Alabama EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts
JONI ERNST, Iowa TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland
Richard M. Russell, Majority Staff Director
Mary Frances Repko, Minority Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
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Page
JULY 10, 2019
OPENING STATEMENTS
Barrasso, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from the State of Wyoming...... 1
Carper, Hon. Thomas R., U.S. Senator from the State of Delaware.. 3
WITNESSES
Reiner, K. Luke, Director, Wyoming Department of Transportation.. 7
Prepared statement........................................... 9
Braceras, Carlos M., P.E., President, American Association of
State Highway and Transportation Officials..................... 17
Prepared statement........................................... 19
Responses to additional questions from Senator Shelby........ 28
Kuney, Max, President, Max J. Kuney Co........................... 31
Prepared statement........................................... 33
Wicks, Carolann, P.E., Senior Policy Fellow, University of
Delaware, School of Public Policy & Administration............. 108
Prepared statement........................................... 110
Arroyo, Vicki, Executive Director, Georgetown Climate Center..... 115
Prepared statement........................................... 118
INVESTING IN AMERICA'S SURFACE TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE: THE NEED
FOR A MULTI-YEAR REAUTHORIZATION BILL
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2019
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Environment and Public Works,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m. in
room 406, Dirksen Senate Building, Hon. John Barrasso (chairman
of the committee) presiding.
Present: Senators Barrasso, Carper, Capito, Braun, Rounds,
Boozman, Ernst, Cardin, Whitehouse, Markey, and Van Hollen.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN BARRASSO,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF WYOMING
Senator Barrasso. I call this hearing to order.
Today's hearing is about the need for this committee to
draft and to pass a bipartisan highway infrastructure bill.
Both Ranking Member Carper's staff and my staff have been
working on drafting this legislation, along with all of the
members of this committee. We appreciate all the input that we
have received from our home States, our fellow members and from
transportation stakeholders.
It is our shared goal to advance a bill out of the
committee this summer. That means the Senate Environment and
Public Works Committee will be first out of the gate to pass a
highway infrastructure bill. This is appropriate, given this
committee's history of initiating bipartisan efforts to pass
previous surface transportation bills.
We have crumbling roads and bridges, and they desperately
need to be repaired and replaced. Projected population growth
and existing congestion requires States to build new capacity
to meet future needs. Our economy is built on a well-
functioning road system that allows products from rural areas
to get to our population centers. America's work force uses our
highways to get to the office, the factory or to the farm.
In 2015, the U.S. transportation system moved a daily
average of about 49 million tons of freight that was worth more
than $52 billion. That is a daily average. Annually, that is
around 18 billion tons of freight valued at over $19 trillion.
These numbers are only going up. According to the Department of
Transportation, by 2045, our aging roads and bridges will carry
an additional 4 billion tons of freight annually. Our Nation's
highways need to keep pace.
The authorization of the Federal highway funding will
expire in September of next year. The Congressional Budget
Office projects that the Highway Trust Fund will become
insolvent some time in 2021. Our bridges and roads are in need
of serious investment.
I am working with Ranking Member Carper to advance the most
substantial bipartisan highway bill ever passed by Congress.
We, along with the other members of the committee, are working
to pass a 5-year highway infrastructure bill to fix our roads,
our bridges and our highways. If we do not pass a long-term
surface transportation bill, and instead pass a series of
short-term extensions, we will undermine our States' abilities
to plan for these challenges. It is not a good option. We have
an obligation to get this done.
Our highway infrastructure legislation would be for all of
America. It will ensure both rural and urban areas have access
to funding. That means maintaining each State's share of
highway formula funding. Formula funding gives each State the
flexibility that they need to address their specific surface
transportation needs.
Maintaining the Federal Highway Program's current approach
of distributing over 90 percent of the funds to the States by
formula is the key to this. Using a formula-based approach
expedites the delivery of highway infrastructure spending. So
States get the funds they need faster. It is a proven approach
that works for everyone and should be continued.
Our bill will also speed project delivery through
streamlining. By cutting Washington red tape, highway projects
can get done better, faster, cheaper, and smarter. In our
legislation, we must reduce the time it takes for Federal
permitting, to lower paperwork burdens on States. We need to
incorporate innovative construction approaches and other
technologies.
This will be the most substantial highway bill ever passed
by Congress, and it needs to be paid for. The Environment and
Public Works Committee doesn't have jurisdiction over the
revenues for the highway bill. Ranking Member Carper and I are
going to work with other members to find ways to responsibly
pay for the legislation.
I believe highways should be paid for by their users. I am
committed to making sure that everyone who uses the roads
contributes to maintaining and improving them. That must
include electric vehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles,
which will become an increasing share of the cars on the road.
We will also work with other surface transportation committees,
including the Commerce and the Banking Committees, to include
their input in the legislation as we move to the Senate floor.
I am thankful to Ranking Member Carper for his partnership,
and look forward to continuing to work together with him in a
bipartisan way to pass a surface transportation infrastructure
bill, a bill that will grow America's economy, that will
improve the safety of our roads, and will enhance quality of
life for the American people.
I would now like to recognize Senator Carper for his
opening remarks.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. THOMAS R. CARPER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF DELAWARE
Senator Carper. Mr. Chairman, thank you for your kind
words.
To our witnesses, to let you know, one of the joys of
serving here in the Senate, you think all we do is fight with
one another, actually we work together pretty well, too. We try
to really set an example in this committee to our colleagues,
both in the Senate and in the House. I think that is what the
people of our 49 States plus Delaware tell us what they want,
and that is what we try to do. It is a joy to work with
Chairman Barrasso, his staff, and frankly, with any of our
colleagues. We are happy you are here. Thank you so much for
coming today. I know some of you came on fairly short notice
and we are grateful for that, especially.
It is an honor to be joined by a panel as distinguished as
the five of you. I want to especially extend a warm welcome to
my seat mate on the train coming down from Delaware this
morning, Carolann Wicks, who was our Transportation Secretary
for a number of years, had a 28-year career at DelDOT and has
gone on to do other great things with her life. Welcome.
It is my hope today that our conversation will serve to
inform this committee's ongoing work as we proceed with
negotiating the reauthorization of our Nation's Surface
Transportation Program. I want to begin by sharing why I
believe this particular reauthorization is so important.
Just last week we celebrated the 243d anniversary of the
signing of our Nation's declaration of independence, 243 years.
I remember that day.
[Laughter.]
Senator Carper. Not really. A day on which our founding
fathers asserted Americans' inalienable rights to life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I often link these three
inalienable rights with the work we do on this committee,
because Americans cannot be guaranteed life, liberty, or the
pursuit of happiness without clean air to breathe or safe water
to drink. The fact is, Americans cannot truly enjoy life,
liberty, or the pursuit of happiness without a safe
transportation system that nurtures our economy, protects our
environment and enhances our mobility.
Over the 4th of July holiday weekend, some 49 million
Americans traveled on our roads, highways and bridges, in order
to be able to head for the nearest beaches, hike mountain
trails, go fishing or camping or visit loved ones or visit and
celebrate our Nation's history. They visited all of our States.
Some of them even made it to the 49th largest State in the
U.S., that is us, to enjoy our five-star beaches, tax-free
shopping, and much more. Others traveled to places like
Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, to Denali National Park
in Alaska, and to the Grand Canyon, to experience some of our
Nation's many natural wonders.
Wherever the destination, these trips had at least one
thing in common: almost all of us relied on our Nation's
transportation systems to get us to those destinations.
Hopefully, most travelers found the roads and bridges they
traveled on smooth and uncongested, they were able to arrive
safely at their destination on time. Unfortunately, that was
not always the case. Based on data from previous years, we know
that roughly 600 people died over the holiday weekend, as they
were navigating our roadways. That is more than the total
membership of the U.S. House and the Senate combined.
We also know that as Americans traveled over the holiday
weekend, we released billions of tons of harmful greenhouse gas
emissions, contributing to our climate crisis. Emissions on
holiday weekends are even higher than usual due to increased
traffic. In some cities, emissions have been three or even four
times worse than average.
While none of us travel with the goal of sitting in
traffic, or getting into an accident, or worsening climate
change, some of our roadways are so outdated, they are in
dangerous condition, or in desperate need of redesign, that
they are leading to outcomes that none of us want. For too many
travelers, there are simply no low-emission travel options
available. Electric vehicles are an option, but without a
comprehensive national network of electric vehicle charging
infrastructure and other alternative fueling infrastructure in
place, many consumers lack the confidence needed to purchase
the electric vehicles that can help us address our climate
crisis.
In order to address these challenges, our committee began
bipartisan work on the next reauthorization bill to our
transportation program earlier this year, as the Chairman has
said. I am proud to say that we have made demonstrable
progress, thanks to the contributions of every member on this
committee, every member on this committee. Thanks to the
leadership of Senator Barrasso, our Chairman, as well as the
hard work of our staff members. We thank you all.
As we have undertaken this work, we have recognized that we
start with transportation programs that help us achieve many of
our mobility goals, but can still be improved. I like to say
everything we do, I know we can do better. But particularly
with respect to enhancing climate resilience, reducing harmful
emissions, and improving safety. For example, just this past
week, people in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC.
experienced record-breaking rain and flash flooding. Nearly
four inches of rain fell in 1 hour, 1 hour, right here. Water
was seeping into the White House and all kinds of buildings,
washing our roads, flooding transit stations, creating
sinkholes and leaving many commuters stranded. Some roads, I am
told, still remain impassible.
Not far away from here, Ellicott City, Maryland, has
withstood two 1,000-year floods in less than 2 years. A
thousand-year flood is something that is supposed to happen
once every thousand years. We have had two in an 18-month
period in nearby Ellicott City.
But earlier this year, communities across Nebraska, Iowa,
Missouri, and other parts of the Midwest experienced
unprecedented flooding that destroyed bridges, dams, and
levees. One stretch of InterState 29 in Missouri was flooded
with 15 feet of water. As we gather here today, 11 States are
reporting enormous wildfires, including fire in Alaska, where
nearly 700,000 acres have burned this month. That is an area
almost the size of Rhode Island.
Our Nation's scientists tell us that climate change, left
unchecked, means even more frequent and intense storms, more
record-breaking rainfalls, bomb cyclones and wildfires the size
of even larger States. Smart planning and targeted investment
in the resilience of our Nation's infrastructure will ensure
that roadways can better withstand these worsening effects of
climate change. This will save American taxpayers untold
billions by allowing us to avoid rebuilding the same
infrastructure projects again and again after severe weather
events.
At the same time, smart investments in electric charging
and low emission alternative fuel infrastructure will provide
travelers with better choices so traveling to loved ones
doesn't come at the expense of our climate.
It is also essential that we make the safety of our
roadways a top priority. More than 37,000 people are dying on
our roads each year. They are our friends and our neighbors and
our constituents. We can do better than that, a lot better than
that, especially for the bicyclists and pedestrians who are
sadly, the growing share of the deaths we are seeing all over
our States.
We also know it is imperative that we better ensure that
the roads and transportation systems that we design and build
today will continue to meet the travel and commerce needs of
the future. That includes integrating new technology, so that
the advanced vehicles that are increasingly automated will be
able to operate safely on our roads in the future.
Finally, I believe that a long-term focus on national needs
must include identifying new sources of sustainable user fee-
based revenues to support investments into transportation, as
the Chairman has suggested. In closing, these are some of the
important issues where I believe this committee can find
bipartisan agreement, and doing so, lead by example for other
committees who will be responsible for developing other titles
of a major surface transportation reauthorization.
The work that we do on this committee is of critical
importance to the people of our Country. None is more important
than work that we focus on today. The people who we are
privileged to represent are counting on us. Let's show them
that we are up to the challenge by doing our part by helping to
restore our surface transportation program's solvency, so that
we can keep that promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness on which our Nation was founded.
Thank you.
Senator Barrasso. Thank you, Senator Carper.
To our friends in the audience as well as our witnesses, we
have a series of three votes this morning, starting at 11
o'clock. So you will see members coming and going. But there is
great interest in this hearing, but you will see some of that
commotion up here. We apologize for that, but we will continue
the hearing throughout all of this, as different people chair
the committee meeting during, so that you will be able to
continue uninterrupted in your testimony and in the
questioning.
Before we hear from our witnesses, I want to take a moment
to welcome to the committee Luke Reiner, the Director of the
Wyoming Department of Transportation. Luke was appointed the
18th Director of the Wyoming Department of Transportation in
just March of this year. He has recently retired as the Adjunct
General for Wyoming for our National Guard. In that role, he
directed the Wyoming military department in Cheyenne, where he
was responsible for formulating, developing and coordinating
all policies, all plans, and programs that affected more than
3,000 Army and Air National Guard Members.
Director Reiner served as a commander of a camp in Kuwait
during Operation Iraqi Freedom II, and he commanded the Wyoming
Army National Guard's 115th Fires Brigade. I know we have
another deployment coming shortly. He has received numerous
rewards and honors for his remarkable service to our Country.
He has an extensive educational background, which includes an
accounting degree and a Master of Public Administration degree
from the University of Wyoming.
Director Reiner, I want to thank you for your service to
our Country and for everything you are doing for the people of
Wyoming. Thank you for being here to testify today. I now would
like to call on Senator Carper to introduce a witness from
Delaware.
Senator Carper. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. I would ask that her
bio, which we have as part of our record, be included as part
of our record for Carolann Wicks. I have had the privilege of
not just riding on the train this morning from Wilmington with
our former Secretary, but to have known her and to call her my
friend for, gosh, over three decades.
I want to just briefly mention, she grew up in Delaware,
was educated in Delaware, University of Delaware as a civil
engineer, as I recall. Went to work at DelDOT and served there
for 28 years.
I call her the Czarina of the bicycling evolution that
started in our State a long time ago. We used to not be a very
good biking greenway State, and we are now, we are among the
best. And it started really with her early involvement. She
went on to become our DelDOT Secretary, and served with great
distinction.
If you ever drive through Delaware and you are on I-95,
that a good part of what she did. We actually resurfaced I-95
from Wilmington, Delaware, to the Pennsylvania line, shut down
I-95, the year that I was running for U.S. Senate, and I still
won. I still won, and people said, have you lost your mind? She
ran that project, resurfaced I-495 through our State both ways,
built State Route 1, which goes all the way from I-95 down past
the Dover Air Force Base. And you name it, she was involved in
it.
The riverfront, if you come through Wilmington on the
train, you look out at the Christina River, where the first
Swedes and Finns landed in America, gosh, 380 years ago, that
transformation was one that she worked on, for a million
different projects. She went on to become a partner in RK&K and
still helps out in any variety of ways. Lives on a farm, has a
very successful family farm in the middle part of our State,
and we are just delighted that she is here today. Thank you
very much again, Carolann, for joining us.
Senator Barrasso. And Senator Carper, in addition to those
distinguished guests, we also have Carlos Braceras returning to
the committee, President of the American Association of State
Highway and Transportation Officials, and also the Executive
Director of the Utah Department of Transportation. And Max
Kuney, who is the President of Max J. Kuney Company, testifying
on behalf of the Associated General Contractors of America. And
the Executive Director of the Georgetown Climate Center, Vicki
Arroyo. I agree all of you. Welcome here.
Senator Carper. Mr. Chairman, Carlos keeps coming back
again and again. We are going to have to put him on the
payroll. He is a frequent flier when it comes to this
committee.
[Laughter.]
Senator Barrasso. I would like to remind the witnesses that
your full written testimony will be made part of the official
hearing record, so please try to keep your statements to 5
minutes so we have time for questions. I look forward to
hearing the testimony from each of you, beginning with Mr.
Reiner.
STATEMENT OF K. LUKE REINER, DIRECTOR, WYOMING DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION
Mr. Reiner. Thank you, Chairman Barrasso, Ranking Member
Carper, and members of the committee. Good morning. My name is
Luke Reiner and I am privileged to be the director of the
Wyoming Department of Transportation.
Chairman, thank you for that very kind introduction. On
behalf of the men and women serving in uniform, thank you for
your solid and consistent support of them. And thank you for
supporting transportation as well.
I am pleased to report to you that the transportation
departments of Idaho, Montana, North and South Dakota have
joined in our written statement today. We do wish to commend
you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Carper, for your hard and
very timely work on needed reauthorization legislation. We
applaud your effort to move legislation through the committee.
In terms of our rural States, we recommend your legislation
do five key things. First would be continued Federal support
for transportation in rural States. We see such support as
necessary to keep the Country connected and move goods to
market.
Second would be a continued emphasis on formula funding.
Formula dollars are delivered as projects more promptly than
discretionary dollars.
Third, several thoughtful, regulatory reductions would be
helpful and would allow each program dollar to deliver greater
benefits. We see potential regulatory reductions in both
project delivery processes and administrative requirements.
Fourth, additional funding is certainly needed and if
received, would be put to use promptly in an environmentally
responsible way in order to enhance safety, increased mobility,
work to create jobs and strengthen the economy. Fifth, a multi-
year reauthorization is essential for States to be able to
effectively deliver the program.
Let me turn to a few additional points. It is worth noting
that rural States actually contribute significantly per capita
to the highway account of the Highway Trust Fund. Nationally,
the annual per capita contribution is approximately $117. The
contribution from rural States is much higher, with Wyoming
currently being the highest at $312.
On another topic, we support repeal of the approaching $7.6
billion rescission of highway contract authority. This repeal
is needed to ensure program flexibility and funding, and thank
you, Mr. Chairman and Senator Carper, for your leadership in
this repeal effort.
In terms of transportation safety, we ask Congress to
continue to set aside the wireless communication spectrum 5.9
gigahertz currently received for transportation safety. Some
have called for opening this portion of the spectrum for use by
fifth generation cell phones in non-safety-related activities.
We see that change as having a significant negative impact on
our Nation's efforts to reduce fatalities. Wyoming is currently
a leader in developing this spectrum for transportation safety
purposes, and we certainly ask Congress to help protect the
spectrum for transportation safety use.
In summary, I would like to reemphasize that significant
Federal investment in transportation in rural States benefits
the Nation by positively affecting almost every sector of our
economy. The Nation, its people and commerce benefit from
cross-country traffic. In Wyoming, about 90 percent of the
trucks on InterState 80, which runs east to west, have origins
and destinations outside of the State. That is clearly national
transportation and warrants Federal investment.
I would also like to reemphasize that streamlining
regulatory processes and requirements will enable
transportation dollars to be put to work more effectively,
while still protecting the environment and other public
interests. Simply put, Federal investment in highways and rural
States helps move people and goods throughout the Country and
helps move agricultural, energy and natural resources to
market.
We believe that our highways can better advance these
important national objectives if legislation is structured with
a strong emphasis on formula funding and thoughtful
streamlining of regulatory burdens. We certainly commend the
committee for its efforts to move a reauthorization bill
promptly and thank you once again for the opportunity to
present testimony today.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Reiner follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Barrasso. Well, thanks so much for your testimony.
Very useful information. Thank you.
Mr. Braceras.
STATEMENT OF CARLOS M. BRACERAS, P.E., PRESIDENT, AMERICAN
ASSOCIATION OF STATE HIGHWAY AND TRANSPORTATION OFFICIALS
Mr. Braceras. Chairman Barrasso, Ranking Member Carper and
members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to
appear here today and address the critical need for timely
reauthorization of the Federal surface transportation
legislation.
As mentioned, my name is Carlos Braceras, and I serve as
the Executive Director of the Utah Department of
Transportation, and I am the current President of the American
Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials,
which includes the State departments of transportation in all
50 States, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico.
First, allow me to express the State DOT's collective
appreciation to this committee for getting the next Federal
transportation bill done on time and for your desire to repeal
the $7.6 billion rescission of the highway contract authority
scheduled for July 2020. Your recognition of the importance of
maintaining regular order in the business of Congress is
something every State strongly supports.
My testimony today will emphasize four main points. No. 1,
ensure the timely reauthorization of a long-term Federal
surface transportation bill. We recognize that a well-
functioning and safe transportation system is the foundation of
a strong economy and quality of life. It is this
interconnected, multi-modal national system that has enabled
the United States to become the most vibrant and powerful
nation in history.
The investment backlog for transportation infrastructure
continues to increase, reaching $836 billion for highways and
bridges, and $122 billion for transit. In order to simply
maintain the current Highway Trust Fund spending levels
adjusted for inflation, Congress will need to identify $90
billion in additional revenues for a 5-year bill, or $114
billion for a 6-year bill. At the same time, the purchasing
power of the Highway Trust Fund revenues has declined, losing
over half its value in the last 26 years.
After FAST Act expiration on September 30th of 2020, the
Highway Trust Fund is expected to experience an estimated 51
percent drop in highway obligations from the year before, and
is zeroing out of obligations for the mass transit account
around 2021 or 2022. The lack of stable, predictable funding
from the Highway Trust Fund makes it nearly impossible for
State DOTs to plan for large projects that need a reliable flow
of funding over multiple years. Americans and members of both
parties agree that it is extremely important to invest in our
Nation's transportation system. We can harness this momentum by
completing the FAST Act reauthorization before October 2020
without relying on any short-term gaps.
Two, increase and prioritize formula-based Federal funding
provided to States. The heart and soul of the federally funded,
State-administered highway program has been perfectly suited to
a growing and diverse Nation like ours. As your committee
unveils your FAST Act reauthorization bill later this month, we
urge you to focus on maximizing Federal formula-based dollars
provided directly to States through the existing core formula
programs, and to continue to consolidate Federal programs.
Three, increase flexibility, reduce program burdens, and
improve project delivery. To further enhance the effectiveness
of Federal funding, we recommend increased flexibility and
transferability between the various Federal programs. Even with
significant progress having been made this past decade, getting
projects done still takes too long. We believe there remains
opportunity to improve the National Environmental Policy Act
process, but also make the NEPA process work more effectively
with other Federal requirements.
State DOTs continue to implement MAP-21 performance
management framework. The first reporting cycle is not expected
to be completed until 2022, at earliest. As such, we ask that
this body refrain from considering new performance measures and
changes to existing regulations that would increase
requirements until at least two full reporting cycles.
Four, support and ensure State DOTs' ability to harness
innovation and technology. There is no opportunity greater than
cooperative, automated transportation which has been defined as
all modes of transportation working together to improve safety
and mobility through interdependent vehicle and infrastructure
automation and information exchange.
The top priority for the State DOTs and AASHTO has been and
will always remain safety. Connected vehicles utilizing vehicle
to everything communication in the 5.9 gigahertz spectrum will
save lives. We must work together to preserve the
transportation safety spectrum.
Beyond automated transportation, I would like to emphasize
that State DOTs are at the forefront of practitioner based
innovative deployment of innovative materials which can improve
safety, reduce costs and increase the overall life of our
Nation's highway transportation system. We ask Congress to
preserve the flexibility for States to choose the types of
technology investments that best maximize that value.
In conclusion, State DOTs remain committed to assisting
Congress in the development of the next surface transportation,
and will ensure enhanced quality of life and long-term economic
growth through sound Federal investments. We cannot emphasize
enough how much State DOTs and AASHTO value the longstanding
partnership with this committee.
I want to thank you again for the opportunity to testify
today, and I am happy to answer any questions that you may
have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Braceras follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Barrasso. Thank you very much, Mr. Braceras.
Mr. Kuney.
STATEMENT OF MAX KUNEY, PRESIDENT, MAX J. KUNEY COMPANY
Mr. Kuney. Chairman Barrasso, Ranking Member Carper and
members of this committee, thank you for convening today's
hearing, and more important, for your commitment to moving
forward on a reauthorization of the FAST Act well before the
Act expires in September of next year.
My name is Max Kuney. I am a fourth-generation
infrastructure contractor from Spokane, Washington, serving
this year as the chairman of AGC's Highway and Transportation
Division.
Mr. Chairman, America's transportation infrastructure, both
urban and rural, needs significant repair, replacement and
expansion. Reports provided by the Federal Highway
Administration, based on State DOT data, identify a litany of
troublesome facts, including failing and underperforming
pavements, bridges that are structurally deficient or don't
meet modern specifications, congestion caused by insufficient
capacity in key locations, inadequate intermodal connections
and safety hazards. From coast to coast, our transportation
infrastructure is showing signs of distress.
All of this is coming at a time when an increasing
population, growth in vehicle use and significant increases in
freight movement will add to the strain on our transportation
infrastructure. Just one example is that the level of heavy
truck traffic nationally is anticipated to increase by
approximately 56 percent from 2018 to 2045, putting greater
stress on the Nation's roadways. As our economy continues to
grow and global competition increases, there will be an
expanding need for new infrastructure improvements to support
our manufacturing, farming, service, technology and industrial
sectors. All of this leads to an opportunity for this committee
and Congress to pass a well-funded reauthorization bill that
addresses our current and future transportation needs.
Federal highway funding has historically been critical to
capital investment in highways and bridges, and it is important
that this funding continues and grows. On average, States use
52 percent of their annual Federal aid allocation for capital
investment projects, with that percentage higher in many
smaller population States. The existing program structure and
funding formula allows States the flexibility to address their
individual priorities and specific requirements, while also
supporting the overall need for a strong, well-functioning,
interconnected national transportation system. Assuring States
that the Federal Government will continue to be a reliable
partner in funding and delivering a safe and efficient national
surface transportation network should be a top priority.
While reauthorization is an opportunity, failure to meet
the deadline will negatively impact addressing our national
transportation needs and put the U.S. further behind. AGC urges
Congress to not repeat the mistakes of the past by kicking the
can down the road with numerous short-term extensions. This
uncertainty in the flow of Federal aid funding has caused
project delays and cancelations, resulting in higher costs and
slowed transportation improvements.
States postpone or slow down their planning, design,
permitting and construction projects because of uncertainty.
Prior to the FAST Act passage in 2015, short-term extensions
caused 15 State transportation agencies to delay or seriously
consider canceling payments on contracts for transportation
improvement projects worth over $1 billion when the
reimbursements from the Highway Trust Fund were slowed.
Of course, the final issue in the FAST Act reauthorization
is addressing the Highway Trust Fund's revenue deficit. Shortly
after the FAST Act expires in September 2020, there will be a
minimum of $18 billion per year shortfall in the revenue needed
just to maintain current funding levels. AGC urges Congress and
the Administration to act sooner, rather than later.
AGC believes the Highway Trust Fund revenue solution must
include real, reliable, dedicated and sustainable revenue
sources derived from users, and the beneficiaries of our
surface transportation system, resources sufficient to end the
chronic shortfalls and support increased investment, and be
dedicated solely to surface transportation improvements.
Increasing the Federal Motor Fuels Tax is the simplest and most
effective way to achieve this goal. AGC joins our many partners
in the business community and organized labor in supporting
such an increase. Now is the time for the Federal Government to
do what 33 States have done since 2012: enact a revenue package
to support increased transportation investment.
Congress and the Administration must take advantage of the
strong support for infrastructure investment to solve the
Highway Trust Fund's long-term solvency by providing real and
growing revenue to address our surface transportation needs.
This committee and its leaders are an essential component to
making this priority a reality. That is why I not only feel
grateful to be here, but am hopeful that my words will help lay
the foundation for your successfully passing a transportation
infrastructure package.
Mr. Chairman, thank you again for allowing AGC to
participate in today's discussion. I look forward to your
questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Kuney follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Barrasso. Thanks so much for your testimony.
Ms. Wicks.
STATEMENT OF CAROLANN WICKS, P.E., SENIOR POLICY FELLOW,
UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE, SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY AND
ADMINISTRATION
Ms. Wicks. Good morning, Chairman Barrasso, Ranking Member
Carper, and members of the committee. Thank you for inviting me
here today to give you my perspective on the importance of
reauthorizing the surface transportation legislation.
As a previous cabinet secretary for the Delaware Department
of Transportation and now as a senior policy fellow at the
University of Delaware, I hope my testimony today will be a
helpful addition to your deliberations on this critical
legislative issue.
I believe the FAST Act provided many positive policy and
funding changes that have served us well in delivering needed
infrastructure improvements, such as a greater focus on
pedestrian and bicycle facilities and safety, funding freight-
related highway improvements, streamlining the environmental
review process, and increasing funding for public
transportation. It is the momentum from this legislation that
we need to build on to solve the many transportation challenges
remaining.
These challenges are well documented by the American
Society of Civil Engineers infrastructure report card.
Unfortunately, we have all become too familiar with our
infrastructure receiving a D plus based upon ASCE's evaluation
of capacity, condition, and funding. The D plus grade means our
Country's infrastructure remains in poor condition, mostly
below standard, at high risk of failure, and inadequately
funded.
This illustrates the significant backlog of projects needed
to address operational problems as well as capacity
improvements to meet current and future demands. This backlog
of projects also contributes to the significant number of
highway, pedestrian and bicycle fatalities and serious injuries
we experience each year.
With limited resources, maintaining and rehabilitating
existing infrastructure, optimizing the efficiency of the
system, and addressing safety issues remains a primary focus of
the DOTs. However, climate change has added a new external
impact to the transportation system that requires new
strategies and technologies to improve our resiliency. A long-
term, comprehensive approach is needed to anticipate future
impacts to transportation infrastructure and create funding
plans that will help mitigate these impacts.
It is also an opportunity to implement policies and focus
capital investments on reducing greenhouse gas emissions that
contribute to climate change. As an example, DelDOT has
embraced these challenges by developing a Strategic
Implementation Plan for Climate Change, Sustainability and
Resilience. This plan recognizes the need for greater
resiliency due to the vulnerability of the State's
infrastructure to withstand and recover from weather related
incidents.
Transportation is at the heart of a strong economy. Having
a reliable multi-modal transportation network is the foundation
of economic prosperity and a quality of life we have come to
expect. The quality of this network will also influence a
State's ability to retain and attract companies, as well as the
work force needed to support these jobs. Businesses need to
rely on the commitments made by governments to deliver the
needed infrastructure that will not only support the needs of
the broader public, but will help determine a company's level
of investment into a community. Federal, State and local
governments need to work collaboratively on all regulatory
processes to be efficient, time sensitive, and deliver high
quality improvements that support the environment while
addressing safety and capacity issues.
Adopting a partnership mentality between the public and
private sectors is also important to funding and delivering
improvements. This approach has been the basis for Delaware's
successful redevelopment of the Wilmington Riverfront. The
transportation improvements became the key to attracting new
businesses. What once was a highly contaminated industrial area
has turned into a thriving employment and entertainment
destination, with new high-density residential areas that are
supported by the Joseph R. Biden Railroad Station on Amtrak's
northeast corridor.
Investments in wetland preservation and bicycle and
pedestrian facilities were integrated into the master plan and
are key elements of why this area has become an attractive
place to live, work and play. A critical component of this
redevelopment initiative was the Federal funding that enabled
DelDOT to build new interState connections to support access
into the area. These were large financial investments but
necessary to provide sufficient roadway capacity. Committing to
these improvements and the other infrastructure elements not
only brought jobs to the riverfront, but has created the
momentum for other redevelopment projects in downtown
Wilmington.
Our transportation investments support the welfare and
safety of the traveling public, provide healthy lifestyle
transportation choices of walking and biking, reduce our
greenhouse gas emissions through more public transit services,
and are key to our economic prosperity. The timely
reauthorization of the surface transportation legislation is
critical to addressing our current infrastructure gaps and our
future investment needs.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to your
questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Wicks follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Barrasso. Thank you so much for your testimony.
Ms. Arroyo.
STATEMENT OF VICKI ARROYO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GEORGETOWN
CLIMATE CENTER
Ms. Arroyo. Good morning. Good morning and thank you,
Chairman Barrasso, Ranking Member Carper and committee members.
I am Vicki Arroyo, Executive Director of the Georgetown Climate
Center and Professor from Practice at Georgetown Law. I also
chair the Executive Committee of the Transportation Research
Board, and recently chaired the TRB Resilience and
Sustainability Task Force, and served on the study of the
future of the interState highway system. While I am proud of
these affiliations, my comments today are my own.
Since my initial introduction to global climate change as a
staffer to Governor Buddy Roemer of Louisiana, my home State,
on an NGA task force 30 years ago, the science underlying our
understanding of the causes and impacts of climate change has
only become more definitive. As our Federal agencies and
academies of sciences have determined, multiple lines of
evidence indicate that our atmosphere is warming, sea levels
are rising, the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather
events are increasing, and human activity is the primary
driver. The world must rapidly decarbonize, cutting greenhouse
gas emissions in half by 2030, and to near zero by 2050.
Despite this, U.S. emissions increased in 2018. The
transportation sector is the largest sector and itself is
facing impacts from climate change.
There is an urgent need to transition to a low-carbon and
more resilient transportation system that would bring
additional benefits, including protecting public health by
reducing air pollution, providing more mobility options, and
driving innovation and economic growth from policy and through
public and private investment. U.S. States are seizing the
opportunity to transition to a low-carbon transportation
solution.
For example, the northeast and mid-Atlantic States launched
the Transportation and Climate Initiative, or TCI, in Delaware,
10 years ago, to develop the clean energy economy, improve
transportation and reduce emissions. This collaboration of
energy, environment, and transportation agencies from 12
States, it is bipartisan, and D.C., is facilitated by our
center, but very much led by the States that we serve. TCI
States have been working together to design a regional policy
that accelerate this low-carbon transition.
Congress has an opportunity to expand on such initiatives,
fund innovative programs that expand access to transportation,
and support new technologies that offer promise for emissions
reduction and economic growth. In the TCI process, diverse
stakeholders have offered strategies, including pricing carbon
and investing in solutions, such as electrification of
transportation, smart growth and transit-oriented development,
and improving ports and other freight facilities where
communities often face higher levels of pollution. The future
of the interState highway system study encouraged consideration
of our transportation system as a whole, recognizing the
importance of providing alternatives, including support for
complete streets and transit to address congestion.
Our highway system connects communities and supports
commerce. Federal leadership is needed to shift to low-carbon
and more resilient transportation. Reauthorization provides an
opportunity to remove barriers to innovative technology
deployment, such as barriers to solar power installations and
EV charging along highways. Electric cars, like my Chevy Bolt,
are more efficient and reduce pollution, even when considering
power plant emissions. As the grid shifts to cleaner
electricity, they will emit less over time. A robust network of
highway corridor fast charging will grow the market for EVs.
The FAST Act encouraged and instructed FHWA to designate
alternative fuel corridors but did not provide the funding
needed to drive investments in charging stations. This
important Federal funding can be strategically invested to
maximize impact, including by leveraging existing State and
regional partnerships and planning, and provide technical
resources to identify gaps in EV charging infrastructure. To
allow for innovation and avoid stranding assets, Federal
investments could require that charging stations funded by
Federal grants be interoperable. Federal investments can be
targeted in rural and remote corridor locations underserved by
the private market, growing the EV market while spurring
economic development.
Decarbonizing trucks and buses is also important. The
Federal Government can play a role in enabling deployment of
battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
There is also a need to ensure our transportation system
can withstand climate change impacts. This year, we have seen a
record number of flood disasters, as we have heard from Senator
Carper, in Iowa, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Vermont,
South Dakota, and even the historic flash flood that just
happened here in D.C. Coastal villages in Alaska are losing sea
ice and are vulnerable to storms that are causing erosion,
leaving communities to face difficult decisions about
relocation. Coastal States like Maryland and Delaware are
seeing nuisance flooding that is happening on even sunny days.
Federal hazard mitigation grants save $6 for every $1
spent, yet many States and cities are struggling to prepare and
need more Federal support. Congress should ensure that Federal
infrastructure investments are built to withstand flooding,
increased heat, and other climate impacts. Recipients of
Federal funding should consider how climate change will affect
infrastructure and assets in the future.
Our transportation resilience case studies featured in our
adaptation clearinghouse highlight State and local efforts,
including New York's Community Risk and Resiliency Act and
Maryland's Coast Smart program.
In summary, States and communities need tools and technical
assistance, and should have incentives to plan and modify codes
and standards ahead of disasters to facilitate resilient
rebuilding when funds are available. Beyond infrastructure,
Federal funding should also support operational improvements,
including strategies to help people evacuate safely.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Arroyo follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Senator Barrasso. Thank you so much for your testimony and
the testimony of each of you.
We will start with rounds of questions, and I would like to
ask the representatives here from Wyoming and Utah and
Delaware, if Congress fails to enact a multi-year highway bill
and instead passes a series of these short-term extensions,
what the impact is going to be on States like Wyoming and Utah
and Delaware in terms of planning, in terms of highway
construction, in terms of road and bridge maintenance and even
safety. Ms. Wicks, if you would like to start.
Ms. Wicks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, it is extremely
disruptive to programs. Engineering projects take time, whether
you are planning, design, funding for construction. All of that
becomes very unpredictable if you can't know for sure how much
money and resources will be available going forward.
There is also a psychological effect on staff. When you are
trying to motivate your staff to continue to aggressively go
after projects, work hard, keep them delivered on time, it is
difficult to maintain that enthusiasm and that energy level
when there is this roller coaster of, maybe we will have it,
maybe we won't. So there is even that factor that I think
sometimes we seem to forget.
I also think how the public interprets our inability to go
back out with confidence and say, yes, it is going to be here
in a year, it will be here in two, here is our timeline, here
is what we plan to do.
Senator Barrasso. Mr. Braceras, anything you would like to
offer and add?
Mr. Braceras. Yes. Just to add that a little bit, Mr.
Chairman, a couple of things. One, as a public official, the
currency that I have is the public's trust, the trust the
elected officials have in me. When we put together a long-term
plan, all States put together a State transportation
improvement plan, a STIP. It is usually a 4-year plan of
projects; we call them the funded 4 years of projects.
If you picture where we are right now, we are looking out
in our STIP, out past the FAST Act. So we all make assumptions,
what level do we program out past the FAST Act right now. I
have made, I have guessed, that it is going to be flat funding.
So we have programmed projects out in those out years based on
that Congress will reauthorize the program at a flat level.
Now, I could be wrong, I could maybe have over guessed what
we have done. You notice that unless we find new money, we are
going to be obligating at about 50 percent, 51 percent of what
is available in the trust fund. Then what happens is I have to
delay or cancel projects. That breaks down that trust. Because
every one of those projects is much needed, it is anticipated.
They are safety projects; they are projects that will improve
the infrastructure.
So having predictability, long-term predictability of
funding is really key for us to be able to build the public's
trust in order to deliver the right projects.
Now, the other key is, we all want to get the most value
out of the investment that you are making from Congress. The
way we do that is we advertise; we say we advertise the right
project at the right time. So we try to get some competition
from our contractors. We can't just dump the same type of
projects out onto the contractors at the same time in the same
geographic area, because then we will not get the level of
competition that we need to have to assure the public's
investment is best served.
So if we can have that predictability, that long-term
predictability in these projects, we will deliberately decide
that we are going to advertise it, this project, it is an
asphalt project, I have this many bidders that will compete for
that in this geographic area at this time and I will get the
best value. So from the end of the day, Mr. Chairman, if we can
keep the public's trust and get more value out of the public's
investment, that long-term that long-term predictability is
key.
Senator Barrasso. Thanks. Mr. Reiner, anything to add?
Mr. Reiner. Mr. Chairman, thank you. I agree with what Mr.
Braceras said. To put a Wyoming spin on it, very frankly, the
impact would be a change in how we do business. It will result
in slower delivery of smaller projects, because of the funding
uncertainty.
Certainly, in times of safety, we will find a way to handle
the emergency highway and bridge repairs. But there will be
many safety projects and other issues that are simply deferred.
As has been pointed out, planning certainly becomes more
complex and uncertain. It would, it would simply have a
significant impact on us as a State and how we do business.
Senator Barrasso. When you use the phrase, slower delivery
and smaller projects, it makes me think of what we have heard
from a number of State departments of transportation, that the
departments of transportation non-environmental requirements
could be reduced to give more flexibility and reduce
administrative burdens so States can focus on priorities and
actually do things faster rather than the slowing down of
things.
One idea is to make stewardship and oversight agreements
and make them simpler, less prescriptive. The agreements can be
unnecessarily complex that we have, often contain numerous
Federal requirements and approvals that really shouldn't be
required or aren't required by statute.
Could you see opportunities for these kinds of
opportunities to be improved by the Federal Government in terms
of being more flexible?
Mr. Reiner. Mr. Chairman, absolutely. You described it very
well. We would say simply that we would request for fewer
requirements and more flexible terms, and think there are easy
ways to do that.
Senator Barrasso. Thank you so much. Senator Carper.
Senator Carper. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
General Reiner, you were Adjutant General, weren't you, in
your State, for a number of years? How many years?
Mr. Reiner. Senator, I was the Adjutant General for 8
years.
Senator Carper. That is great. Did you know Frank Vavala?
Mr. Reiner. I did. He is a great gentleman.
Senator Carper. One of the two most popular nominees for
appointments I ever made as Governor, we nominated him, I think
he served for 20 years.
Mr. Reiner. He served us all for a long and faithful time.
Senator Carper. He sends his best to you today.
I want to start the questioning, again, thank you all for
this wonderful testimony. It is very much welcomed. I want to
start, if I can, with Secretary Wicks. Almost everybody has
said, we need to fund these projects, we need certainty, we
need predictability. We can look at the States, the States are
being bold in terms of doing their share, of meeting their
obligations. I think leading by example for us, we are too
timid when it comes to actually funding these projects.
Everybody knows we need to spend more money, we need to spend
it wisely, we need to make sure that the streamlining
provisions we put in, whether environmental or non-
environmental, are actually being implemented and the staffs
are in place at the Federal level and the local level to
actually fully implement those. We need to do oversight to make
sure that they are being implemented well.
I want to ask Carolann, if you will, in terms of funding,
talk to us a little bit to us about what we have done in
Delaware with respect to funding using tolling. Especially as
we have gone away from--if you will allow me to stop, I would
say to my colleague from West Virginia, I remember as a kid the
West Virginia turnpike where you would like, drive 10 miles,
stop, put in a quarter, drive 10 miles, stop. People hated
that. People hated the Delaware Turnpike, coming up 95, having
to stop and pay $4 for the privilege of going like 15 miles
through Delaware and have to wait forever to get through our
State. They hated it.
Now we have Express, EZ Pass, Highway Speed EZ Pass. People
go through, it is charged to their Master card or whatever, and
they are on their way. No muss, no fuss. I think this has
really opened up a new opportunity to make tolling a better
option for States than maybe we have done in the past. Would
you share what we have done with 301? If you come out of
Washington heading east on Route 50, go across, pass Annapolis,
over the Bay Bridge. You come to a place where you can turn
right, so on 50 you go to the beaches, the Delaware-Maryland
beaches. If you turn left, you are on 301, which is a
beautiful, beautiful, four-lane road through beautiful farm
country. And you get to Delaware.
For years, you would go to Delaware and you slowed down.
You had traffic lights, you had Middletown and congestion
before you could ever get up to I-95. We have done something
about it with some partnership. Would you just talk about that?
Ms. Wicks. Yes, Senator, the 301 project that you
referenced is really a shining example of how we have, as a
State, partnered with the Federal Highway Administration to
deliver a project that really, we could not do on our own. We
could not do it without really looking at ways to finance that
and using the tools that are in the toolbox from FHWA. We were
able to use Garvey bonds back when we were looking at
accelerating and starting the design and real eState
acquisition. So we were able to get out of the gate by being
able to have those bonds in place to do that and fund those
phases.
We were then able to use some TIFIA loans that also
provided us another source of funding to keep ourselves going
through the process. Then ultimately, we used revenue bonds,
actually a longer term, a 40-year revenue bond that was not as
traditional but that helped us be able to spread out the
payments and be able to have a sustainable source to pay back
those bonds.
It has gotten off to a great start. It has been a project
that has been long heralded as a needed project, not only for
safety and removing some truck traffic off of our local roads,
but it has also been recognized as something that would be an
important way to help the economy and the development of
southern Newcastle County.
Senator Carper. Thank you. Ms. Arroyo, did you say you
drive a Chevrolet Bolt?
Ms. Arroyo. A Bolt, which is 100 percent electric.
Senator Carper. I was at the Detroit Auto Show about a year
or two ago, it was named the car of the year. A decade earlier,
the Chevrolet Volt was named the car of the year. Volt is a
hybrid; the Bolt is all electric.
Ms. Arroyo. Yes.
Senator Carper. When the Volt was announced as the car of
the year, it got about 38 miles on a charge, then it had to go
on gasoline. Bolts, when it was announced as car of the year a
year or two ago, it was 240 miles on a charge.
Ms. Arroyo. Yes, I am getting over 250.
Senator Carper. And the folks who are driving the Bolts are
fortunately not putting out any pollution. But by the same
token, they are not really paying for the use of the roads,
highways, bridges, that they are using. The Chairman says that
there needs to be some way to collect funds for that.
I think ultimately what we need to move to is a vehicle
miles traveled approach. That is maybe by 10 years from now, we
ought to be doing that nationally, increasing the large pilot
projects leading up to that. Have I lost my mind on this,
General, or does this make some sense to you? We will just go
down the line, just very briefly, just one sentence.
Eventually, does vehicle miles traveled, is that where we ought
to get ready to go in terms of the user fee approach?
Mr. Reiner. Senator, we certainly see a need for increased
revenue. I am not here to tell the Congress how to fund it. But
certainly we will put the funding to good use.
Senator Carper. Mr. Braceras.
Mr. Braceras. Yes, Mr. Ranking Member, maybe a little
example on what we are doing with our legislative in Utah might
be useful. Two years ago, the legislature increased the fees
for electric vehicles. It ratcheted it up 30 percent each year,
and it is going to top out here in January 2020. This was done
in conjunction with directing the department of transportation
to develop a voluntary road usage charge program. So we will
have that up and operational this January. Folks that drive
electric vehicles can choose to continue to pay the increased
registration fee, or they can participate in the road usage
charge program. If they participate in that program, we have
capped it, so no matter how many miles they drive, they will
not pay more than they would have paid under the registration
fee.
So for us, this is a time to ask some really good questions
about how this can work. So we will have an operational road
usage charge program coming up here within 6 months.
Senator Carper. Good. We can learn from you. Max, really
quickly.
Mr. Kuney. When you look long term, VMT is potentially
where we might need to be. AGC is very supportive of anything
that will fund the Highway Trust Fund for sure. The gas tax is
the easy, short-term answer. But when you look long-term, we
are supportive of a national pilot to see.
There are some real challenges in collection and the costs
associated with it, but you are correct, as you move to more
and more fuel-efficient vehicles, more electric vehicles that
don't use any gas at all, the gas tax is a diminishing return
for a funding source.
Senator Carper. Very briefly, Secretary Wicks, and then Ms.
Arroyo.
Ms. Wicks. I would concur with my colleagues. It is, I
think, a very positive future, forward-looking way to look at
the funding. It hopefully would be more equitable, because it
would focus on who is using the roads and for how long and how
much. Working out the technology of it is already underway with
pilot projects, with the I-95 Corridor Coalition and other
programs throughout the Country. We should be hopeful that will
provide us a new source.
Senator Carper. Thanks. Very quickly, Vicki.
Ms. Arroyo. I agree that I think Congress needs to consider
EVs as part of a longer-term strategy for funding the highway
system that we all agree is underfunded. Some States, like
Oregon and the I-95 corridor States are experiment with
mileage-based user fees. Some through the Transportation and
Climate Initiative, or in California, are looking at carbon
pricing.
Many, as you heard, over 30, have raised their own gas
taxes. Some are going to tolling. So there are a lot of
different ways that we can raise revenues without only focusing
on EVs, which a lot of States are trying to promote right now.
Senator Carper. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I like to say
there are no silver bullets in this funding issue. Lots of
silver BBs, and some are better than others and we need to
learn from the States and see which are good.
We now have with us our chair and the ranking member from
our Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee. I want to
salute them and their staffs for the great work and leadership
they are providing as we go through this process.
Senator Braun.
[Presiding] Thank you, Senator Carper. Senator Boozman.
Senator Boozman. Thank you, Senator Braun. Mr. Braceras,
Arkansas recently had, I started to say significant, but it was
record-breaking floods, both in height and just the force of
the water. Tremendous damage, lots of damage to the
infrastructure.
The good news is, like Utah, Arkansas is working very hard,
and they are going to recover. Great leadership in our State
and all those kinds of things. I guess what I would like to do
is, and again, so many of our States have gone through this
lately. You experienced it, I believe, in 2015, in that area.
Tell us what you learned, how you built back and mitigated
perhaps from future floods, to help in that regard.
Mr. Braceras. Thank you, Senator, for the question. I think
one thing that all State DOTs excel at is responding to
emergencies and disasters. The men and women that work in these
departments are amazing people.
Senator Braun. They do a tremendous job.
Mr. Braceras. They just do a great job responding to that.
I think the partnership that we have with our contracting
industry and our consulting industry was key to our ability to
respond. We have limited staff, as every DOT does. When a
disaster happens, whether it be flooding, whether it be
avalanches that we deal with, or lately, some massive forest
fires, we rely on our partnerships with our consultants to help
give us the answers and for our contractors to respond 24-7 to
emergency contracting proposals.
I would say that the challenge isn't over once the public
thinks we have mitigated the danger. We get the roads back
open; I think that's the time when we need to step back and we
need to think about, what are we going to do to help this
facility be more resilient to this type of occurrence in the
future. That is something all the DOTs are working on right
now.
I just picked up yesterday, I was up in Delaware attending
the national conference. And a document that we are putting
out, with the help of TRB, Transportation Research Board, it is
for all DOT directors, talking about resilience, a DOT
imperative. What we can do to help make our systems better
prepared for this changing environment.
Senator Boozman. In regard to the Federal Government
response, what did you learn in that regard? Are there some
things that we can do better?
Mr. Braceras. First of all, we are blessed in Utah with the
partnership we have with our division administrators. I think
that is one really important lesson. When you look at USDOT and
even some of the other Federal agencies, the Federal Highway
Administration, that modal administration, has people,
employees on the ground in every State. What we do is we
develop these working relationships with them that allow us to
get things done.
So when an emergency happens, they are one of the first
people we contact, and they are working shoulder to shoulder
with our employees. Because if we are going to be turning
around and asking the Federal Government to help us, either
through emergency relief or through FEMA funds, to help pay
back some of the money that we have had to lay out there, and
we basically pull it from other projects, much-needed projects,
we need to do the right things. We need to document things in
the right way.
That is one thing that they do really well. That process
could probably be streamlined a little bit. The ability to be
able to incorporate more resilient features with the use of
some of that emergency money I think would be a much better
investment for the public right now. Pretty much, we can
replace what is there in kind. That is not, sometimes, the
smartest thing to do with the public's investment.
Senator Boozman. Mr. Kuney, Arkansas is a small State, but
we are blessed with a thriving trucking industry. I believe we
have 5,000 trucking companies. Of those, 90 percent operate
with 20 or fewer trucks. We have the bigs and the littles. The
transportation industry is critical to our State and critical
to the Nation.
Tell us about the impact, if we don't take care of the
infrastructure, what that does to the economy, and also what it
does to the trucking industry in regard to wear and the cost in
that regard.
Mr. Kuney. Sure. One dramatic instance that I know of where
in the trucking industry and not taking care of our
infrastructure came together was in 2013, when a truck hit the
Skagit River Bridge north of Seattle and collapsed that bridge
into the river. My company did the permanent replacement of
that on an emergency design build. But that was a very dramatic
instance of substandard bridge, too low, the cross members
arched down, the truck was in the wrong lane, and hit it and
down it went.
Senator Boozman. The really great example there was the
fact that they rebuilt it in a year. If they had , again, not
skirting any issues in regard to safety, but everybody working
together as opposed to, probably 10 or 20 years.
Mr. Kuney. So actually, there was one company that put up
the temporary bridges in about a month, and we did the
permanent replacement in 88 days. We were way short of a year.
Senator Boozman. Oh, yes. So why can't we do that?
Mr. Kuney. Well, that was obviously an emergency. It is
InterState 5; it was the main north-south corridor for the
State of Washington. But you are right, every agency came
together to make that happen from Federal agencies right down
to the dike district, that we had to get access over their
levee to get to the site. Everyone was absolutely committed and
focused and when you do that, I wouldn't say that is possible
in every job, this was a pretty extreme example, but it
definitely worked there.
Senator Boozman. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Senator Braun. Senator Cardin.
Senator Cardin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First, I want to
concur in our Chairman and Ranking Member's initial comments
that it is very important that this committee take the lead and
pass a multi-year reauthorization. I hope it is at least 5
years. I was whispering to the Chairman, it would be nice to
get beyond 5 years, as we have done in the past. But at least a
5-year, to get predictability, so that those that are planning
major projects know that there is a dependable Federal partner.
I look forward to working with the Chairman and Ranking
Member and Chairman Capito on the subcommittee on getting this
moving forward.
There are so many needs out there. There are so many major
needs. I think I will start with first, the north-south highway
in the western part of my State that connects West Virginia,
Maryland, and Pennsylvania, which is critically important for
the economic growth of that region of our Country. I could talk
about the Howard Street Tunnel, which is critical for freight
rail on the east coast of the United States, that needs to be
replaced. It is only about 120 years old, that tunnel, and it
can't do double-stacking. That needs to be done. I could talk
about the bridge between Virginia and Maryland, the Nice bridge
that literally needs to be replaced before it falls down and we
have another terrible episode that we could talk about. The
need for commuter rail, rapid rail transit, the list goes on
and on.
I am particularly pleased that we have been able to
accommodate not just our State partners, but our local
partners. And the Transportation Alternative Program dollars, I
hear about that every time I visit a county in Maryland, they
tell me how important those funds are for the local community
to stay connected, so that they can transverse their community
without having to get into cars, or a much more efficient way
for safety issues or to accommodate their local development
issues.
So for all those reasons, it is important that we move
forward with reauthorization, and I very much appreciate the
Chairman's candid comments about making sure that it is
adequately funded. I think all of us have to step back a little
bit, Senator Carper and I, and Senator Whitehouse, are all on
the Finance Committee, so we are going to have to deal with it
on both committees. But I think we are all going to have to
back up a little bit and say, look, we are going to have to
compromise here, and figure out a way that we can get a bill to
the finish line that has adequate revenues in it. That is going
to be one of our challenges.
I want to followup on a point with Mr. Braceras, that you
pointed out, about resiliency. We experienced a pretty bad week
here in Maryland and Washington. In Frederick County, we had
about six inches of rain in 2 hours, which is unprecedented. It
has really challenged our infrastructure.
So you mentioned resiliency. What can we do in the Federal
reauthorization to put attention to the realities that we have
to deal with what has happened out there, with our
infrastructure being able withstand the assault that is taking
place every day?
Mr. Braceras. Thank you for that question, Senator. The
realization with most of us in the State DOTs right now is that
the infrastructure system that we have built over the last 100
years is not going to be the infrastructure system that we need
in our Country for the next 100 years. It needs to change and
we need to help it adapt.
One of the things we have been working on within the State
of Utah, and we have been working on it within our association,
AASHTO, to help all the other State DOTs, is to start to better
understand what those risks are associated with our different,
we refer to them as lifeline corridors. So we will try to
narrow in on our transportation system, identify what are those
lifeline corridors, what are those roads that get us to the
hospitals and to those critical areas that people need to be.
Then design those, basically, to a higher level. So we will
design them at a higher seismic level, we are in a high seismic
area in Utah. So they will have a higher seismic level. We will
also look at it from a flooding perspective, from a wildfire
perspective.
Senator Cardin. And that is important. But how does the
Federal program help you do that?
Mr. Braceras. Sorry, Senator. I believe that the Federal
program first needs to--this is an evolving field right now.
This is a research project that just got done at this point. I
think the Federal Government can continue to help support our
associations and our State partners in helping develop these
risk assessments for these facilities. Help us better
understand--we need a programmatic way in which to make these
decisions. As you mentioned, there are so many needs out there.
If we are not deliberate and strategic about picking which of
those areas that we need to focus on to give us the highest
return, based on a good risk analysis, then I think we are
going to be shotgunning this approach.
So I think helping us identify a good way to approach this
from a risk-based statistical analysis would be very helpful.
And then as we move forward, States would be able to start to
put together a program.
Senator Cardin. Let me take my last 3 seconds and ask Ms.
Arroyo.
Ms. Arroyo. If I could just build on that a little bit,
because our center, our adaptation work is led by Jessica
Grannis, behind me here. We work with States and cities. They
need more guidance and assistance from the Federal Government
with expertise, down-scaled modeling to inform what changes are
underway. They need pre-disaster assistance so that they can
plan for the next disaster, change their codes and standards so
they are allowed to build differently when the disaster money
flows.
And post-disaster, there could be better coordination
across agencies. I think FHWA has done some really great work,
but to coordinate with FEMA and align definitions and cost
benefit analysis, that would really streamline things quite a
bit.
Senator Cardin. I will just make a very quick comment. I am
ranking with Small Business. We are looking at disaster relief
funds for planning before disasters occur. We are having that
in Transportation. We need to beef up the planning capacity
that we have. I think we can play a role in that in the
reauthorization.
Senator Braun. Senator Capito.
Senator Capito. Thank you very much. I want to thank the
chairman and the ranking member, and also my cohort on the
Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Our staffs
have been working very well on this. We are very close to a
bipartisan bill and we have such mutual desire to get this
done. I refuse to be pessimistic.
Some of the things that we have looked at are regulatory
improvements to expedite project deployment. Many of the things
that you have talked about, supporting utilization of our
natural infrastructure, and also other ways to reduce cost and
increase resiliency. We have talked about this.
In terms of the pre-disaster mitigation, we did pass--I
chair the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Appropriations,
which funds FEMA. We did have in there this past year a pre-
disaster mitigation fund that I think is going to be very
helpful for big and small communities. I would start, I guess,
with those that have repetitive issues, which in my State of
West Virginia, we have several of those.
I want to talk about economic recovery has had divergent
paths for rural and urban America. I live in a rural State. Our
biggest city is 50,000, and I wouldn't say that is too urban. A
beautiful State, but we have declining tax revenues, we have
issues in terms of difficulty getting from place to face, we
have a lot of deficient bridges, we are in the top five for our
deficiency in bridges. I want to make that a separate question.
Starting with you, Mr. Reiner, where do you see the biggest
obstacle for rural America in terms of the next highway bill?
You mentioned the capacity it takes to meet all the challenges
of the regulatory environment, and that could be streamlined.
If you could dig into that a little bit for me.
Mr. Reiner. Senator, thank you for that question. We would
certainly, as we look to the future, really say that
maintaining the formulary and the formula funding is important
to us in rural States from a standpoint of quick and efficient
use of the money.
Senator Capito. Right.
Mr. Reiner. And then in terms of regulations, we do think
there are ways to streamline, specifically in the stewardship
and oversight types of agreements, to make them simpler and
easier to understand, and less onerous in terms of regulation.
Senator Capito. Mr. Braceras, do you have a comment on
that?
Mr. Braceras. Yes, thank you, Senator. The State of Utah is
interesting in that as a State we are doing tremendously well
from an economic growth perspective. But that growth is taking
place really in our six urban counties. We have 23 counties
that Governor Herbert is really focused on that are not doing
as well.
So we are looking at aspects of how our transportation
planning, we can come in and provide transportation planning
services for these communities. We are doing it with State
dollars. What we are doing is, we are asking them the question,
what can we do to help you become the community of your dreams,
and then, how can transportation help facilitate that.
The government is bringing all the State cabinet agencies
together on this mission of trying to help these communities
kind of develop that uniqueness that might give them that
little bit of advantage. We are trying to move State jobs out
into rural Utah and provide the opportunity for State employees
to telecommunicate more, so that they can still have a State
job, but they can do it from rural Utah.
So I think any type of flexibility you can provide in the
program to allow States to use the funding to be able to help
these communities, because there is not one size fits all. I
can go to so many rural counties and it is going to have
different issues.
Senator Capito. Right. Ms. Wicks, I am going to shift to my
bridge question, because I would imagine in Delaware, you have
quite a few bridges. We have quite a few deficient bridges.
What we have found, I think, and I think we are trying to
remedy this in our legislation is, if a Governor has a choice
to build a five-mile, four lane highway or fix a deficient
bridge, we all know what is going to have a bigger kick back
home. Not to say they are ignoring bridges, but you have to set
priorities.
What are you finding in Delaware with your bridge
reconstruction, and what could we do in this bill to help with
that?
Ms. Wicks. I think you are right, rehabbing a bridge and
its substructure is not very sexy.
Senator Capito. Right.
Ms. Wicks. So another project can certainly seem to get a
better headline. We have maintained a rehabilitation approach.
We have been able to educate our legislators and our elected
officials and the public that preventative care will then yield
greater rewards financially than having to wait too long and
then we have a reconstructive approach to the bridges.
This has served us well, and we are able to have that
timely inspection, to be able to act upon that, to use
technology to make the assessments and be able to efficiently
combine improvements into a package that is either done by our
maintenance folks or that we put it out to bid.
So I think trying to be able to communicate the benefits of
doing that early, rather than waiting and how much more costly
those improvements will be. And just the whole sense of safety
to the traveling public, and not seeing the postings and school
children having to go around and school buses. That message is
something we have just continued to drive home year after year.
It has paid off.
Senator Capito. All right. Thank you all very much.
Senator Barrasso.
[Presiding] Thank you, Senator Capito. Senator Whitehouse.
Senator Whitehouse. Thank you, Chairman, and thank you for
your work to try to push this forward. I know we don't have a
budget, a capped funding agreement with respect to this, which
is, I think, a real liability. But as we continue to push
forward, I think we are making that more likely. So thank you
for doing that.
In the FAST Act, we required the National Academies of
Science, Engineering and Medicine to do a report on innovative
materials. They did so. It took a while, but it is out. And
they came up with three recommendations. I am quoting from page
73 of the report. ``A new Federal program to provide incentives
for innovation in bridge construction, research needs to
develop and evaluate innovative approaches to reducing the
installed and life cycle costs of highway bridges, and other
actions to encourage innovation to reduce life cycle costs of
bridges.''
On the program, they describe the Federal program can
provide incentives for innovation and bridge construction, they
point out the numerous technologies, I am reading again here,
``at various stages of development, hold the promise for
improving bridge performance and reducing life cycle costs.
However, most require further development, evaluation or
promotion to increase awareness of their potential among bridge
owners. Congress should create a new Federal bridge innovation
incentive program, administered by the Federal Highway
Administration, to advance such technologies and to promote
their use in U.S. highways.''
Back in March, Mr. McKenna, an AASHTO witness, said in
response to a QFR of mine, ``It is important that any
infrastructure bill include provisions to encourage the use of
innovative materials for not only bridges, but other material
as well. The use of new, innovative materials can make a bridge
last longer, signs appear brighter from a long distance, or
traffic signals operate more efficiently. Innovative materials
can improve safety, reduce costs and increase the overall life
of the Nation's surface transportation infrastructure. Specific
to bridges, AASHTO agrees with the conclusion of the National
Academies of Science report that using advanced materials and
technologies does reduce costs and construction time, resulting
in less impact to the traveling public.''
Mr. Braceras, I assume you still agree with that statement?
Mr. Braceras. Senator, we absolutely agree that taking a
strategic approach to research, innovation and advanced
materials is critical for our future. If you look at where the
great advances have been in the development of our highway
program, you can go back to the Strategic Highway Research
program that Congress funded and was carried through by the
Transportation Research Board. Then FSHRP and SHRP 2, all the
big things that we are doing today have helped and facilitated
through that research program.
One of the things that the SHRP 2 program did that was
really good is there was money provided to help States
implement those types of things. That is really sometimes the
difficult leap for States to make, is that implementation
piece.
Senator Whitehouse. And the reason is that there might be a
spec for legacy material and not a spec for the new material,
and it takes a little bit more effort and a little bit of, as
you say, kind of intellectual risk, although these tend to be
safer materials, to work through it at the bureaucratic level.
And that is where the program that the National Academy of
Sciences recommends comes in, to help balance the equation
toward helping the innovative materials be at least on a level
playing field with the legacy materials.
Mr. Braceras. And having Federal Highways work in
partnership with the States, so that the States still get to
choose what to implement and where. If the Federal Government
is working in partnership to help mitigate that risk, give the
States a little bit of cover, that will help with that
implementation decision.
Senator Whitehouse. So let me thank the Chairman and the
Ranking Member for their continued work to help get the IMAGINE
piece, the innovation materials piece, agreed to under this
draft. I also want to thank the Chair and the Ranking Member
for getting the Bridge Investment Act in. We still need,
obviously, dollars for it, but it is important that it got in.
There are two programs, the Coastal Infrastructure Program,
which is obviously very important given Ms. Arroyo's testimony.
It is really important for those of us who have coastal
infrastructure that is facing basically being overwashed by
rising seas and storms. But at the moment, it is not yet
subject to Highway Trust Fund dollars. So we are going to
continue to work to make sure this is not just an orphan
authorization sitting out there, but it actually is an avenue
for providing access to Highway Trust Fund dollars. I thank you
for showing me the nodding heads in support of that.
Similarly, port electrification, that can be very valuable
to nearby communities, when you are not requiring ships to run
bunker-fueled engines to keep the power on, that there is in
fact enough local electricity to run a clean port. Again, that
is part of our very important transportation infrastructure,
and I am hoping that can get in to trust fund dollars.
So I guess I conclude with 2 seconds over, with that. Many
thanks to many for great work so far, and we look forward to
wrapping this up with those issues resolved to our
satisfaction. Thank you.
Senator Barrasso. Thank you, Senator Whitehouse, for all of
your help and all your cooperation and contributions.
Senator Markey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Complete streets
are designed to provide safe and accessible options for
multiple modes of travel, as well as for people of all ages and
abilities. Streets should accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists
and public transit users, not just cars and freight vehicles.
Streets should also be safe for children, older individuals and
individuals with disabilities.
That is why I am today introducing the Complete Streets
Act. My legislation will promote these kinds of neighborhoods
by requiring that States set aside a portion of their Federal
Highway money to create a competitive grant program to fund
Complete Streets projects at the regional and local level. I am
proud that my legislation has been endorsed by Uber, Lyft and
Via.
Ms. Arroyo, do you believe that a Complete Streets approach
to our transportation network is an important priority for
surface transportation reauthorization?
Ms. Arroyo. Absolutely. It is really important to give
people alternatives. It is something that we covered in the
future of the interState highway system study, especially in
urban areas with the congestion, and suburban areas, giving
people safe alternatives like Complete Streets, investment in
transit, arterial roads is as important as doing things on the
highway itself. So thank you for your leadership.
Senator Markey. Thank you. So the transportation sector is
our largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. In fact,
vehicles driving on our roads represent 83 percent of those
emissions. I have been working with Senator Carper and other
members of the committee to focus on establishing goals and
standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Federal
Highway program. I have been working on legislation to
accomplish this.
It is my hope that these principles can be included in the
final Surface Transportation bill that the committee produces.
We greatly appreciate the openness from the chairman on these
concepts, given the reality our States are facing.
So again, Professor Arroyo, do you believe that reducing
emissions in transportation is imperative to avert the worst
effects of climate crisis?
Ms. Arroyo. Absolutely. It is the largest source, as you
just said, of emissions. We have to tackle it.
Senator Markey. Do the States have the resources to
accomplish those goals right now?
Ms. Arroyo. No, they do not. Part of why the States have
banded together in the Transportation and Climate Initiative is
to look at the twin challenges of the lower revenue that the
transportation system is getting at the same time that we need
to increase investment in low-carbon transportation solutions.
So, looking at that together.
Senator Markey. So it makes sense then that any bill that
we are going to be passing creates incentives to try to
accomplish those?
Ms. Arroyo. Yes. If you can help invest in some of those
strategies, they would be very grateful.
Senator Markey. Thank you. And we must also respond to the
impacts of climate change that are happening now, rising
temperatures, sea level rise and more powerful coastal storms.
Our infrastructure is not as resilient to climate change as it
should be. There are only two bridges that connect Cape Cod to
the rest of Massachusetts. Should an extreme weather event
strike the Cape, these bridges would serve as vital escape
routes for residents and vacationers alike. However, these
bridges are currently in a dire State of disrepair and must be
replaced.
In response to those concerns, I have introduced the ESCAPE
Act, which would provide Federal funding for State, local and
tribal governments to strengthen and protect essential
evacuation routes, or construct new routes. Professor Arroyo,
again, are current evacuation routes in our Country sufficient
to deal with extreme weather events?
Ms. Arroyo. No, and on this I can speak from personal
experience, in addition to the fact that I work on these
issues. Because I am from New Orleans. My father, Sydney
Arroyo, lost his life in the evacuation from Hurricane Ivan,
which was a very stressful evacuation in 2004.
Senator Markey. I am so sorry.
Ms. Arroyo. And the fact that evacuation and the contraflow
issues were so severe meant that a lot of people chose to stay
at home the next year when Katrina hit, and obviously, over
1,000 people died from that, because they didn't leave, because
of the faulty evacuation the year before.
So thank you for your leadership on that as well.
Senator Markey. Thank you, and we are so sorry for the
tragedy.
So you believe that a surface transportation
reauthorization should include substantial direct funding and
grants for States and municipalities to improve resilience?
Ms. Arroyo. Yes, we appreciate that.
Senator Markey. Thank you. So, I think that is something
that we just have to make a priority as we work through the
legislation, just to ensure that we protect against what is
inevitable, if we don't take action. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Barrasso. Thank you so very much.
Mr. Braceras, the Trump Administration has developed and
implemented a one Federal decision policy for large, complex
infrastructure projects. Among other things, one Federal
decision requires Federal agencies to develop formal processes,
as you know, for developing a schedule, for elevating disputes,
and then also for working together to complete reviews and
authorizations within 2 years. That is the whole goal of this
one Federal decision.
Many of these elements are already the law, but some key
aspects of one Federal decision, like the 2-year goal, are
still missing. So could you, in your view, talk a little bit
about this and would State departments of transportation
benefit from adding the missing elements of one Federal
decision to existing statute? And what else would you
recommend?
Mr. Braceras. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Utah and AASHTO
applauds the Trump Administration's goal here of trying to make
this process more efficient and effective. Any time we can make
this process easier and faster, we are going to improve the
investment of public dollars.
I believe we have to look at the 2-year goal kind of in the
same light that I look at my goal in Utah of zero fatalities.
It is a bold goal. But there is a lot of underlying details
that I believe will make attaining that goal more difficult
than it may sound initially.
There is also, I think just from a challenge perspective,
it makes sense to have one Federal agency take the lead on this
and to be a champion for this decision, instead of basically
passing you off between different Federal agencies. So we
really like what the goal is stating and where it is going. We
believe there is a lot of work that needs to be put into it to
make that a reality.
Senator Barrasso. Anyone else want to add to that? Thoughts
on that?
Mr. Reiner. Mr. Chairman, from our perspective, we are
certainly confident that schedules can be shortened, really
without reducing environmental protection concerns.
Senator Barrasso. Good. And also for you, Mr. Reiner and
Mr. Braceras, one of the safety issues that disproportionately
affects several States with membership on this committee is
wildlife-vehicle safety. Not necessarily just in the Rocky
Mountain West, but all across the Country.
According to a recent study, Wyoming, West Virginia, Iowa,
South Dakota, Mississippi, represent five of the top ten States
for incidents of deer-vehicle collisions. In Wyoming, roughly
15 percent of all reported vehicle collisions involve big game
animals. This adds up to more than 6,000 annual collisions,
costing nearly $50 million in damages to vehicles, and human
injury as a result. As a surgeon, I have taken care of people
involved in these situations, wildlife loss, it happens every
year.
Fortunately, research shows that effective measures, such
as wildlife crossing structures, can reduce wildlife-vehicle
collisions, they say by up to 80 percent. So could the two of
you, and if any of you have other issues or knowledge about the
issue, do you believe this is an area where Federal Government
could help States do more to reduce collisions, and what might
those be?
Mr. Reiner. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Certainly the short
answer is yes, we do think there are some issues that the
Federal Government could help with. Wyoming has been a national
leader in improving safety for humans and animals alike by
building the crossings that you discussed, and upgrading
fencing and making some other improvements.
We have game migration and collision data, we have
identified or prioritized a top ten list of locations for
crossing improvements. In locations where we have installed
crossings in the past in our State, we have seen dramatic
reductions in collisions. What we lack, and where the Federal
Government could assist, is adequate, flexible funding to
address these crossing issues and we certainly hope to find
help in the committee's bill.
Senator Barrasso. From AASHTO's standpoint, what do you
see?
Mr. Braceras. Yes, this is an important area, and it is
both from the safety perspective that you mentioned, Mr.
Chairman, but it is also from an economic perspective. In the
State of Utah, our big game is a very important part of our
economy. It is really a defining element of our State. A lot of
our families, that is their thing that they look back on that
talks about what is important to them.
We just recently completed, using Federal money, we just
recently completed a major bridge over InterState 80, an
eight--lane section of I-80, between Salt Lake and Park City.
We usually like to tell people that we need 3 years of data
before we want to talk about this being a success.
Well, the media started getting some of the pictures of the
cameras that we have set up there. And even the wildlife
professionals have been shocked at how quickly the game have
become accustomed to this. It is wide enough, and it is built
in a natural way. We are not letting people or bikers go on
that. As a biker, I was disappointed.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Braceras. But it is being very successful. We have,
with the combination of the crossing in the right place,
because you can't force it, you have to look at the migration
patterns, that, with the wildlife fencing, we have had a
dramatic decrease in crashes. This is moose crashes with cars
and deer. And a moose with a car is quite a bit different
situation than a deer.
Senator Barrasso. The moose often walks away, the driver
often does not. These are amazing. This is a major collision.
Ms. Wicks, I don't know from a Delaware standpoint, but
certainly neighboring States, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New
York, this is not just a Rocky Mountain west issue, is it?
Ms. Wicks. No, and you are right, we don't have the moose.
But deer certainly are a part of the issues that we wrestle
with as a State. We haven't, to my knowledge, looked directly
for an overpass like that. But a lot of the rural roads, it is
happening there. You wouldn't have the ability to have the
kinds of crossing you are referring to. But the challenge is
for all of us.
Senator Barrasso. And to Mr. Braceras and Mr. Reiner, minor
projects in the operational rights of ways often address
preventive maintenance, preservation, safety issues, the things
that you just need to do as part of the routine maintenance.
But before proceeding to construction, often State departments
of transportation need to get Federal permits or approvals for
these projects in the right of way. Some of the Federal
agencies can be slow in terms of evaluating or even to respond
to you for the requests.
I don't know if either of you have run into problems in
Utah or Wyoming ,and what can we do to incentivize Federal
agencies to be more responsive to State departments of
transportation, working on maintenance and preservation and
safety projects?
Mr. Braceras. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Maybe just a few
elements on this. This was an important element to the former
chairman of this committee, Chairman Inhofe, at the time, on
the operational right of way. When we go and build a road, or
widen a road, we do an environmental document, we go through a
very deliberate process on this, and we clear that for
operational right of way. Then if we have to come back and do
some maintenance work, we typically have to go back and go
through that permitting process again, which seems redundant.
What we have done in Utah is we have taken advantage of some of
the tools that you have provided to us.
What we have done is, we have taken on NEPA assignment.
Through NEPA assignment, we have been able to become the
decisionmakers to be able to make those decisions much quicker
within that operational right of way. It has saved us time and
money, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Barrasso. I know that Senator Braun is going to be
coming back, I will get to you in a second, Mr. Reiner. He is
going to be coming back and he has some additional questions.
You just heard the buzzer, which means the second vote has
started, and he was going to speak, he was going to vote at the
end of the first and the beginning of the second, but they
didn't close the first vote until Senator Whitehouse got there.
[Laughter.]
Senator Barrasso. This is known as a transportation
program. So this is why we are having this hearing today.
Mr. Reiner. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To add to Mr.
Braceras, really in our mind I think allowing other agencies
the opportunity to use categorical exclusions which are
available to the Federal Highway Administration would help
speed up the environmental review process, and would still
certainly allow us to protect the environment.
Senator Barrasso. Thanks. And Mr. Kuney, what has been your
experience from the contracting side, when Congress fails to
enact a highway bill, States don't know much funding is going
to be available? I think we heard from Mr. Reiner, it is
slower, smaller projects, I think is the way you put it.
So I am especially interested in understanding how that
uncertainty can affect things like what you do in terms of
project delivery schedules, costs, equipment, purchases,
hiring, how that all plays out when you have so much
uncertainty.
Mr. Kuney. That uncertainty certainly flows right downhill
to the contracting community. We look at the STIP, we look at
the 6-month projections and different DOTs do different things.
But we absolutely are using those to plan what the
opportunities are in the future, what projects we are going to
chase, where we think the market will be.
If we know that our folks at the DOT aren't sure if they
are really going to have any projects, then we are certainly
going to be looking at hiring, we are going to be looking at
investing in our employees, we are going to be looking at
equipment. We are probably going to be cutting back on all of
that, because unless we know that there is going to be a market
in the future, you can't make those investments.
The other problem, too, and I think Carlos, you said this,
but when funding comes, you can't just all dump it in one big
chunk, too. Because first of all, now everybody is unprepared.
They have been holding off on investments. You dump a whole
bunch of work on everybody all at once, and you are going to
get higher prices because people are going to have to pick and
choose. They aren't going to be geared up for that level of
work.
So this up and down thing is really hard on our work force,
frankly, both the craft workers and the engineers. Because you
can't keep gearing up and down constantly. So the smooth level
probably hopefully trending upward line is the best for the
contracting community.
Senator Barrasso. Thanks. Director Braceras, innovations
can help save project costs. They can help us do things faster,
better, cheaper, smarter, accelerate project delivery. What
more can the Federal Government do to support and encourage
States to use innovation and technological developments and
deployment of the technology that is out there to deliver
highway projects faster, better, cheaper? What kinds of things
do you see that would work?
Mr. Braceras. Mr. Chairman, it is all about partnership.
When I talked to Senator Whitehouse's comments, I talked about
the risks that States take when we do something different,
something new. I mean, we are inherently--we have been trained
to be risk-averse. There are very little accolades coming from
taking a risk and being successful, but we are pretty good in
the media, and I am sure Members of Congress know how this
goes, at being punished for perceived mistakes. So we tend not
to be the riskiest types of people.
What the Federal Government has done really well, I will
give an example. We were the first State to build a bridge off
to the side of the highway and then move it into place on an
interState over the weekend. When we did that, yes, there was
additional cost. When the media came and said, how much extra
money is this costing, I was able to say, it is about $600,000
but the Federal Government gave me a grant to cover that
additional cost, that additional risk. I was able to pass that
kind of red-face test that you have to do with the media and
with my legislators.
So that type of partnership, to help us make that step
forward, to implement something new, something exciting,
something that is going to benefit the entire Country in the
future, would be really good for Congress to do.
Senator Barrasso. What did you call that, the red-face
test?
Mr. Braceras. Yes, that is what I tell folks. When you are
standing in front of the media or my legislature, if you can
pass the red-face test, so you are not getting embarrassed
about what you are saying, then you are probably doing
something OK.
Senator Barrasso. We will share with the other members of
the committee. They may find it helpful someday.
[Laughter.]
Senator Barrasso. Thank you very much. Senator Braun.
Senator Braun. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is when the
Senate really moves, when you are in an Aging Committee about
45 minutes ago and you go make two votes, and then you hustle
back here. I didn't want to miss it because--and put on a tie.
[Laughter.]
Senator Braun. I am setting a new sartorial trend here in
the Senate, no ties until you go on the Chamber floor. I don't
think anybody has followed suit yet, but maybe in time.
Infrastructure is a big deal to me. I was a State
legislator in Indiana and ran for the State legislature for one
reason: roads and bridges. I live in the southern part of our
State, and we have always been the stepchild of infrastructure
in Indiana. We are the crossroads of America. When I had the
stark realization, when I went there, to be a proponent for a
road in my neck of the woods, I got dressed down quickly; do
not come here asking about a road, help us figure out how to
pay for it.
So I took that seriously, and in 2017 I served 3 years. We
actually passed long-term road funding. I am going to give you
a few things that stand out vividly.
Seventy percent of Hoosiers wanted better roads and
bridges. Seventy percent did not want their taxes raised to pay
for it. That was depressing.
Tolling, we polled that significantly. Everyone was for a
toll road if they didn't live near one. So it got to be very
complicated as to how you would do it.
We have not raised the gas and diesel tax in many years, I
think it was 2002, maybe. That was a stretch of 15 years. Here
I think it has been 1993.
So with that being said, I did, along with being a rookie
there, and a co-author of the road funding bill, which I was
very proud of, we put a stream of cash-flow out, nearly a
billion dollars a year, that would get to a billion after
three, four, 5 years, and then continue on that plane through
10 years. Then we will have to look at what the next round of
funding would be.
We are going to address all of our tier one projects, which
includes a bridge across the Ohio, completing InterState 69. I
also authored a bill that I think is going to be the essence of
what we do here, and in other places. And that is to somehow
figure out how you get skin in the game from all the government
entities that are below the Federal Government.
The reason I say that is, I am a finance guy, a Main Street
entrepreneur. The balance sheet could not be worse here to take
on a project that is anywhere from a couple trillion to four
trillion, if you want to really do it right across the Country.
I am worried about that. I am worried about that for defending
our Country, I am worried about that for infrastructure, and I
am worried about that for the three programs that most would
think are important here that are going to quickly not fund
themselves anymore: Medicare, Social security and Medicaid.
So how do we do it? There I crafted a bill, it was called,
it was through a regional development authority. Areas like
mine have always been interested in infrastructure, never had
any involvement in its own destiny, or a way to pay of it. We
got a bill across in 1 year that both the head of
transportation and ways and means, both of which I sat on, said
it was going to be too complicated to do, but we did it.
Because the need was there. We were losing infrastructure to
the tune of 5 percent a year in maintenance and deterioration.
Long story short, that was 2017. In 2018, we teed up that
bill with a regional development authority, raised $7 million
between local governments, led first by local industry, to
shame the local governments into matching it, paid for the EIS,
environmental impact study. We are now doing something that we
had talked about for 40 years.
We also did something called community crossings grants,
and that was cities and counties always asking for the State to
do more. Well, someone had a novel idea, and as soon as I heard
it, I got with it and said, hey, let's throw $100 million out
there on a 50-50 match. The complaining was, it is your
responsibility, we don't want to pay for any of it, over-
subscribed in the first year. It is now into its second or
third year, and it is the most popular program there, because
we are fixing roads and bridges.
I think you can get where I am coming from. This place, if
you are looking to the general fund to pay for anything, you
don't have an eighth-grade arithmetic education, you certainly
don't know anything about the finance. And transferring from
the general fund, when the general fund is running trillion-
dollar deficits, that wouldn't fly anywhere else.
So I think the solution is, I have introduced an idea of
infra grants, which we will discuss, to where we start letting
States that have been responsible to bid for more of the
infrastructure bill. Start encouraging skin in the game,
especially when you are looking at a place like this that has
set a very bad example to defend our Country and pay for it, to
take care of infrastructure or entitlement programs.
By virtue of, I think I am the last one here other than
Senator Carper, I am going to run a little bit over my time and
take advantage of it. I do want to ask the question, do you
think in your own mind, and whoever wants to jump in and answer
the question, how can we pay for infrastructure with the
financial condition that the Federal Government is in, and the
only other options are States who have great balance sheets,
mostly, the private sector since 2008 has great balance sheets
through private-public partnerships, which I know some people
don't like.
Aren't we just whistling into the wind if we think that you
can continue like we have been relying on general fund
transfers without at least doing what the chairman suggested,
raising user fees, which we did in Indiana? Forty-eight out of
50 testifiers, other than the Petroleum Institute and the
Americans for Prosperity, who I generally would agree with, but
I believe a user fee needs to be paid, the tool that you are
going to use to pay for infrastructure. Give me your honest
opinions, because you can see what mine is.
Mr. Braceras. I will be the first to step out, and I will
say I am speaking as Executive Director of UDOT right now.
AASHTO is working on trying to bring forward----
Senator Carper. Let me just interject a second. I want to
hear all you have to say. We have one more vote, and I have two
places I am supposed to be, so I would ask you if you could,
just to be brief. Thank you. It is an important question.
Mr. Braceras. Thank you. AASHTO is trying to bring forward
specific revenue suggestions, but won't have those votes done
until our annual meeting later this fall. So I am going to
speak from UDOT. I believe we need to be user-based, I believe
we need to have it, I believe the gas tax is the right way to
go initially, looking at road usage charges in the 10 to 15-
year timeframe.
As a State that is only about 19 percent of our program is
Federal funded, the rest is State funded. I like the idea of
recognizing those States that have been able to self-help. But
there is a need for a Federal national transportation system.
The State of Utah relies on good roads in Arkansas, it relies
on good roads in Mississippi. Our businesses need to have that
national transportation system.
So because we have been able to help ourselves, it might
not be the same case in other States. I believe, if you want to
look at tolling, there are places for tolling. But for us, the
challenge is, on the interState we can only go apply for a
pilot program. So it is one road versus another road.
I think if we are successful at tolling, we are going to
have to toll a system, so that there is a little bit more
fairness across the board. So our legislature has given us as a
department and our commission the authority to make those
tolling decisions. That is my comment.
Senator Braun. Thank you.
Mr. Kuney. AGC certainly supports that the Highway Trust
Fund needs to be funded by the users of the system, and a user
fee is the best way to do that. The gas tax is obviously the
one that is in place right now. But those who benefit from the
use of the system need to be the ones to pay for it.
Ms. Wicks. I concur with my colleagues. Being able to
support user fees is the way to go. It is not always easy,
though, on existing road systems that you already have to do
that. Transitioning to mileage-based user fees is something we
should not take our eye off the ball, because that may be a
more equitable way to generate those funds.
Ms. Arroyo. Thanks for the question. This is something that
we looked at in the future of the interState highway system and
talked about alternatives, some of which are being piloted by
the States, like mileage-based user fees, tolling, even on
highways, but the feds would have to allow that, like we are
doing now in Virginia in I-66 inside the beltway. States are
raising their gas taxes. As you said, it was 1993 since that
has been done.
Because I work on climate with the States, I see carbon
pricing as a potential solution, because then you are creating
a disincentive to have carbon-based fuels. While I am on that
topic, I will just mention that there are significant
subsidies, still, to fossil fuels in the U.S. The range is from
$5 billion to $15 billion that could probably be saved. That
doesn't factor in the cost, of course, to the military budget
or the cost of externalities in terms of air pollution, which
is well over $100 billion.
Then finally, large trucks on the roads, Class A trucks,
are probably underpaying their share based on the roadway
impact relative to their weight and their use. That might be
something else to look at.
Senator Braun.
[Presiding]. Thank you.
Mr. Reiner. Senator, I would certainly say it is one of the
options that needs to be explored.
Senator Braun. Very good. And that was one of the hardest
things, as a fiscal conservative in Indiana, I got up on the
microphone and actually depicted how much it would cost my own
trucking company. Every trucking company in the State of
Indiana was for the higher diesel tax, which was 20 cents, and
the gasoline tax was 10 cents. Thank you.
Senator Carper. On the proposals for more revenues,
including user fees, one of the strongest advocates for that
are the trucking folks. And they conditions of the roads,
highways, bridges, every day, they are willing to do their
part. This actually should be helpful to us and give us the
courage to do the right thing.
Senator Braun. Exactly.
Senator Carper. Thank you. One question and then I have to
run. Thank you all so much for coming, this has been great. A
special thanks to Secretary Carolann Wicks, but all of you as
well. It is great to see you.
A question for Ms. Arroyo. How can the highway bill, how
can a transportation bill encourage States to try to reduce the
climate impacts of driving on the highway system, including
reducing vehicle miles traveled in single occupancy vehicles
with internal combustion engines? How can we do that,
especially with a focus on reducing vehicle miles traveled in
single occupancy vehicles with internal combustion engines?
Ms. Arroyo. Sure. So again, price signals like tolling or
carbon pricing would make a difference, especially if you
reinvest those proceeds in alternatives to internal combustion
vehicles. That might include continuing the support for
electric vehicles, building up the charging infrastructure, as
we discussed, based on what the State and regional folks are
already trying to do with interState corridor planning but
don't have the funds to actually implement.
Looking at investing in maybe cash on the hood for EVs as
opposed to credits later, so that other people, including
people who can't afford EVs right now might be able to afford
them up front, investing in alternatives like transit-oriented
development, Complete Streets, things that allow people to have
active transportation as an alternative to conventional highway
use.
Senator Carper. That is a pretty good list. A quick
question, if I could, for Carolann Wicks and Carlos. What
changes do we need to make in this reauthorization bill to help
the public understand what they are getting from highway
spending, from transportation spending? Very briefly, please.
Ms. Wicks. I think we mentioned earlier that there is a
great recognition by the public when we have community-based
improvements. So the TAP program really focuses on things that
need, you know, Main Street, USA. And people recognize then
that their tax dollars are going to something right in their
community, things that are very important to their own safety,
to their biking and walking, their businesses, all of those
things contribute to a healthy local economy.
I think once you have been able to help the public see
those realities, those on the ground projects, being able to
then promote and talk about larger projects is going to be an
easier way to prove to the public that their investments are
going to go to the right places, and that it is a long-term
investment. Not everything can be done as quickly. But once you
have proven some of the good projects and the things that
people want in their own backyard, it will go a long way to
being able to convey the entire program's needs.
Senator Carper. Good. Thank you. The last word, yes.
Mr. Braceras. I think we have to do a better job describing
why we do what we do. As an engineer, we like to talk about
bridge sufficiency ratings, we like to talk about pavement
smoothings. I think we need to be talking more directly with
the public about why we are doing this project here, what is
the benefit they are going to see from this project, will they
see less maintenance on their vehicles, will they see a safer
facility where there will be less crashes happening.
We just have not tied that to the type of funding that we
are providing right now. It is a little bit more difficult to
do. Engineers aren't the best communicators in the world. But I
believe we can do a better job communicating why transportation
is important to our economy and the quality of life and tying
the Federal program to that more directly I think will help the
public get behind the difficult decisions that have to be made.
Senator Carper. Good. You said engineers aren't the best
communicators. Really, some of you are engineers, and I think
you have done a pretty good job communicating today. Message
sent and received. Thank you so much. God bless you all, great
to see you. Thank you.
Senator Braun. With no further questions, members, who are
mostly vacated, can submit questions to the record for up to 2
weeks. We did have a lively discussion here, because it is such
an important issue. I want to especially thank all of you for
great conversation. You can see that we know the need is there.
We have to figure out how to pay for it.
Thank you so much for coming in to discuss our Nation's
surface transportation needs. This hearing is adjourned. Thank
you.
[Whereupon, at 11:38 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
[Additional material submitted for the record follows.]
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