[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 112 (Tuesday, August 3, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1726]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCTION OF THE METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES P. MORAN

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, August 3, 1999

  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my House 
colleague Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Senator Charles Robb today 
in introducing the ``Metropolitan Washington Regional Transportation 
Act.'' This legislation will help jump start relief and ease congestion 
within the metropolitan Washington, DC region.
  For more than four years running, we have the second longest average 
commuting time in the nation. According to the Greater Washington Board 
of Trade, this increased commuting time and congestion costs each man, 
woman, and child in the region more than $1,050 per year in lost time, 
wasted fuel, and environmental damage. Long commutes and traffic 
congestion have also become quality of life issues to area residents, 
robbing many families of the one commodity Washingtonians never seem to 
have enough of--time.
  Some drivers facing a longer commute have even become a safety hazard 
as they race recklessly to cut a precious few minutes from their daily 
commute. For those who lack cars, the distance between employment 
opportunities and affordable housing has grown more and more difficult 
to traverse. Our economic prosperity and quality of life hinge on 
improving our congestion problem.
  Unfortunately, as we look to the future the traffic situation only 
grows worse. Even with the increase in federal funds Virginia, Maryland 
and DC will receive under legislation reauthorizing federal surface 
transportation programs, ``TEA-21,'' this region will still fall 
seriously short of meeting the growing demand for transportation 
improvements.
  For the period of 1990 through 2020, this region can expect both a 43 
percent increase in population and 43 percent increase in employment. 
This growth and increased dependency on the automobile is expected to 
increase, by 79 percent, the number of vehicle miles traveled in the 
region by 2020. The Board of Trade estimates that transportation 
spending is expected to fall short of the region's transportation needs 
more than $500 million annually.
  Any solution to current and future congestion demands strategic 
investment in both our road and mass transit system. It demands better 
land use and planning decisions and better interjurisdictional 
cooperation. And it also demands that this region come together and 
raise additional revenue to finance priority transportation projects 
that will provide immediate congestion relief. It may not be a popular 
idea, but we have to do more, and we have to do it ourselves. It seems 
to me, that the only way to ensure that we get 100 percent of the funds 
we need for our transportation projects is to raise more ourselves and 
spend it locally.
  It is also a process that ensures that the money gets spent where we 
determine it is needed most. I think the key to public support is 
identifying a list of priority projects that could be completed on a 
fast track providing the public with the assurances that their 
additional tax dollars will buy specific congestion relief. A large 
number of urban communities have already established a dedicated 
funding source for their transit systems.
  In the past, leaders from this region have shared a vision and worked 
together successfully to address important transportation needs, 
through such institutions as the Metropolitan Washington Airports 
Authority, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, and the 
National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board at the 
Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. We need a similar 
vision to carry us forward another 30 years. The Metropolitan 
Washington Regional Transportation Act will help us craft this vision.
  The legislation we are introducing today has five key elements.
  (1) It provides a new option to help the metropolitan Washington 
region more effectively address its transportation needs;
  (2) It empowers the National Capital Region Transportation Planning 
Board to consult with the metropolitan Washington region jurisdictions 
and the public to achieve consensus on a list of critical 
transportation projects and a funding mechanism that is needed to 
address the growing congestion crisis in the region but cannot be 
funded within the current and forecasted federal, state and local 
funding levels for such projects.
  (3) It establishes a corporation with the power to accept revenue and 
issue debt to provide short-term funding for projects that have been 
agreed to by the region;
  (4) It grants consent to the metropolitan Washington region 
jurisdictions to enter into an interstate compact or agreement that 
would help meet the region's long-term transportation needs; and
  (5) It provides $60 million in matching federal grants as an 
incentive to encourage the creation of the federal corporation.
  This legislation provides the framework under which regional 
transportation needs could be addressed. It requires consultation with 
state and local officials at every level and in an effort to win state 
support, the legislation preciously guards state control of both the 
corporation and the authority through veto power. It does not raise 
anyone's taxes, but it does provide a mechanism or a ``vehicle'' 
through which the local jurisdictions could coordinate and commit 
future revenues to finance the construction of specific transportation 
projects that otherwise will not get built or built anytime soon.
  The ``Metropolitan Washington Regional Transportation Act'' gives us 
a choice and helps start a debate on how we should take control and 
improve our future transportation system and improve our quality of 
life. Our failure to act and meet our transportation needs will have a 
much higher cost. The Board of Trade places the cumulative regional 
economic losses from the failure to meet our transportation needs in 
the year 2020 at between $70.2 billion to $182 billion. That economic 
loss includes: a 350 percent of $345 million increase in shipping 
costs; $1.3 billion to $2.6 billion in higher warehousing and inventory 
costs; $1.365 per household, per year, higher consumer costs; and more 
than $1,000 per household, per year, in higher personal travel costs.
  I note that this legislation is supported by the county chairs and 
mayors of all eight Northern Virginia jurisdictions, D.C. Mayor Anthony 
Williams and D.C. City Council, the Greater Washington Board of Trade, 
and the Alexandria, District of Columbia and Fairfax County Chamber of 
Commerce.

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