A new transportation bill in the U.S. Senate aims to establish a comprehensive and unifying mission for the nation’s surface transportation system.
Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller, IV (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, introduced The Federal Surface Transportation Policy and Planning Act of 2009 last week.
“The United States’ population is projected to rise to 420 million people by 2050, a 50% increase from the year 2000. This growth will only exacerbate the congestion and mobility challenges that plague our national surface transportation system today. We need to establish a blueprint for a 21st century surface transportation system,” Rockefeller said. “This bill does just that.”
Major goals of the bill include:
- Reduce national per capita motor vehicle miles traveled on an annual basis
- Reduce national motor vehicle-related fatalities by 50% by 2030
- Reduce national surface transportation-generated carbon dioxide levels by 40% by 2030
- Reduce national surface transportation delays per capita on an annual basis
- Increase the percentage of system-critical surface transportation assets that are in a state of good repair by 20% by 2030
- Increase the total usage of public transportation, intercity passenger rail services, and non-motorized transportation on an annual basis
- Increase the proportion of national freight transportation provided by non-highway or multimodal services by 10% by 2020
- Reduce passenger and freight transportation delays and congestion at international points of entry on an annual basis.
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