How Democratic Party like of them.
Posted on 05/19/2006 11:03:20 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
WASHINGTON -- Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta announced on Tuesday a White House initiative to relieve highway, aviation and freight congestion, largely with the help of private fees and tolls.
"Congestion is not a fact of life. We need a new approach and we need it now," he said.
The plan includes fast-tracking a modernized air traffic control system and building extra-wide interstate highways that could serve as "corridors of the future," he said.
Because of "trucks stalled in traffic, cargo sitting on the dock at overwhelmed seaports (and) airplanes circling over crowded airports, congestion is costing America an estimated $200 billion a year," he said.
Mineta, speaking to the National Retail Association, said the administration has developed a National Strategy to Reduce Congestion on America's Transportation Network, a broad blueprint for federal, state and local cooperation.
With the help of more airline user fees, truck tolls and other types of private fees, government will use "existing transportation networks better and add capacity where it makes the most sense," he said.
For example, the Transportation Department is seeking $100 million from Congress to help pay for the building of transportation corridors that might involve toll lanes for semitrailer trucks, as well as tracks for commuter trains and space for large power lines, a department spokesman said.
Creating a corridor could involve connecting unfinished roads, widening existing ones or building new stretches of roadway.
"We will embark upon a competitive process to select three to five 'corridors of the future' that have the greatest potential to relieve traffic based on current and projected growth patterns," he said.
Also, transportation officials will prod bus systems to "tailor services specifically for rush-hour commuters; speed up the review process for highway projects under way and seek commitments from major employers in the region to allow more of their employees to flex their schedules and/or telecommute," he said.
To accomplish the goals, states must "open up their transportation infrastructure to private investment opportunities" because tax dollars are scarce, he said. At the same time, "major financial institutions and their clients are expressing increasing willingness to invest billions of dollars in roads and airports."
Mineta said trucking industry officials have said they would accept toll roads, as long as they included truck-only lanes.
Mineta also said the White House would push Congress to change the funding structure of the Airport and Airway Trust Fund by moving toward user fees instead of larger taxes on passenger tickets and fuel.
He promised to "set ambitious permitting schedules for these projects ... without sacrificing appropriate environmental protections."
According to The Associated Press, five years ago, Mineta said "congestion and delay not only waste our time as individuals, they also burden our businesses and our entire economy."
When a reporter asked why it took so long to come up with a congestion strategy, Mineta said the Transportation Department first had to win passage of the six-year, $286.4 billion highway and mass transit bill. Greg Cohen, president of the American Highway Users Alliance, told the AP he's glad transportation officials are finally focusing on traffic jams.
"It is actually groundbreaking to see the Transportation Department say, 'Congestion is not necessary and we can make it a thing of the past,' " Cohen said.
But, he said, "I don't see a whole lot here in terms of actually paying for this stuff."
Cohen said the publicity surrounding earmarks to the highway bill -- epitomized by the "bridge to nowhere," a $223 million span in Alaska to an island with a population of about 50 -- made it clear that the highway program isn't doing what it's supposed to.
"Folks want to get out of traffic," Cohen said.
More (super)corridors...
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
That's big government for you, don't build more airports and more roads, just add fees, these will instantly open new places to land planes, make more ports available for shipping and have the affect of new roads sprining up across the country. I can't wait!
It's starting to look like the TANSTAAFL essay was prophetic.
$6/gallon would fix any such congestion problems.
BTTT
I like the idea of shipping goods on highspeed rails. Give the highways back to the people.
How Democratic Party like of them.
Take a piece of coastline, drill 5,000 feet down in about 9 places in a grid. Drop a 15kt nuke into the hole, detonate. Instant deep water capable port created.
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta
**
Question 1: Why is that clown still on the job?
I'm not likin' your urban development techniques.
LOL - yeah well I guess there is that....
What is really needed is a 60 to 65 foot deep channel that is 120 feet wide. Not a whole lot of places qualify for that. But I'm sure your solution would work very well.
Well, I know people go crazy thinking about radiation but if the blast is deep enough the top of the subsurface fireball would never even get close to the water's depth AND the rock would compress the fallout into a nice thin black line somewhere DEEP underground.
Hello. The easiest, fastest, cheapest and most efficient way to help traffic congestion is to allow/encourage every single worker who can do his/her job from home, or from neighborhood telecommuting facilities, to do so.
We have the technology. How many workers are sitting in a cubicle and communicating with their office mates in other cubicles by EMAIL anyway?
I sat in an office and emailed my boss back and forth in her office NEXT DOOR. Then when I finished my work product, I emailed it to her for review and she emailed it back with her remarks. Etc. etc. etc. So I had to sit in a cubicle next to her WHY? That story times every employee in the organization.
People don't want higher gasoline taxes, and the politicians misuse the ones that we DO pay.
How about we stroll over to a gas station that's selling Regular for $3.25 a gallon and suggest that it be $6 within earshot of the disgruntled customers. Do you want to go first, or shall I?
Bump.
Make sure your ships are lead-lined...
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