History of federal transportation policy

TTP 220S. Handy4/4/16

http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/FactBook/2013-APTA-Fact-Book.pdf

http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/FactBook/2013-APTA-Fact-Book.pdf

Federal Transportation Policy

• Rise of road building (1910s +)• Rise of mandated planning (1960s +)• Rise of transit funding (1960s +)• Rise of citizen participation (1960s +)• Rise of intermodal planning (1990s +)

Support for roads from the start!

Support for transit started much later!

Why public funds for roads and not transit?

• Seen as quick and cheap in contrast to long-term investments in fixed-rail transit

• Highways served both public and private transportation

• More in American tradition of individualism• Seemingly paid for by gas and tire taxes

Key Concept: Types of Congressional Acts

• Authorization bills:– Authorizes some amount of funding for some

period of time, for specific domain– Sets policy to go with that funding

• Appropriations bills:– Appropriates the funding for that year, i.e. the

annual budget– Usually less than the authorization– Can also change policy or set new policy

http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/artifact_detail.cfm?aid=a_000288

http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/artifact_detail.cfm?aid=a_000230&oid=ob_000229

Back to about 1900…

US Census 1900: “Few articles ever used by man have created so great a revolution in social conditions as the bicycle.”

http://www.roadswerenotbuiltforcars.com/few-articles-ever-used-by-man-have-created-so-great-a-revolution-in-social-conditions-as-the-bicycle/

http://gallery.roadbikereview.com/showphoto.php/photo/114655/si/circa

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/rock-limestone-and-clay/2/2

http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/artifact_detail.cfm?aid=a_000345&oid=ob_000229

Pavement innovation

Rise of road building (1910s +)

• State highway departments – Beginning before WWI in some areas– Initial push for improved roads for bicyclists– Revenues from licensing and taxing vehicles and

fuels – user fees as basis for road improvement– Centralization of what had been local activity -

supposed to be more professional than local…

Rise of road building (1910s +)

• Federal involvement– Initial interest in Farm to Market Roads – Office of

Public Roads in the Dept. of Agriculture in 1901– Constitutional basis for federal involvement found

in 1916 – Federal Aid Road Act passed to “promote the general welfare”

– After WWI, dominant force in highways –justification was national defense, given rising importance of motor trucks

Rise of road building (1910s +)

• By 1920s– Federal and state highway systems– Local roads left to city governments

• City streets– Couldn’t widen so street design, traffic signals– Growing focus on safety, e.g. wider shoulders,

better lighting, more gradual turns, reduced grade crossings, etc.

– Development of outlying areas as the focus –designed for cars from the start!

Rise of road building (1910s +)

• By 1930s– President Roosevelt says that auto not only flexible

means of transport and vital industry but an integral part of the daily lives of American families

http://autos.aol.com/gallery/presidential-candidate-cars/

http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/quote-of-the-day-a-stimulus-for-good-design.html

1937 Film on Modern Highways

Conquering Roads“Highway Development and

engineering in the pre-Interstate Era”

8:48 minutes

Pasadena Freeway – 1940(Arroyo Seco Parkway)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/North_Figueroa_Bridge_1938.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kr4I8myObOg/Sia0YnhGp4I/AAAAAAAAAeM/0BG90sNXbBg/s400/Pasadena+Frwy+Shults+Street+1940s.jpg

Pasadena Freeway – Today(Arroyo Seco Parkway)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FigueroaStTunnels.jpg

http://www.aaroads.com/california/images110/ca-110_nb_exit_026a_04.jpg

Now called State Highway 110

Growth in Auto Ownership

0

50,000,000

100,000,000

150,000,000

200,000,000

250,000,000

300,000,000

350,000,000

1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Vehicles

Population

Source: Highway Statistics, Bureau of Transportation Statistics

1948 San Francisco Planning Department Freeway Plan

Source: http://www.cahighways.org/maps-sf-fwy.html

National Interstate and Defense Highway System of 1956

Futuristic elevated highway as imagined in "Interregional Highways." From original caption: ". . . a [department store] show window [seen on the left] at the elevated level [is] dressed appropiately with the kind of large display that would be needed for comprehension by express traffic."

In the original 1960s design for an elevated I-10 Papago Freeway, the Arizona Highway Department proposed a new interchange design called a "helicoil" that would require traffic to take a 280-degree loop to the ground.

Source: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/history.htm

Evolution of the Interstate Concept

• 1920s Mussolini’s Autostrade• 1930s Nazi’s Autobahn• 1944 “Interregional Highways” report submitted to

Congress• 1949 “Highway Needs of National Defense” report

submitted to Congress• 1954 DDE appoints committee to study national

highway needs – GM board member as chair, no alternatives considered, justified partly on need to evacuate in case of atomic attack…

• Mid-1950s American Road Builders Association lobbies for highway investments – oil, rubber, asphalt, construction industries, car dealers, etc.

The Interstate Highway Act

• 41,000 miles• Federal government paying 90% of cost• About 20% of mileage into, through, or

around urban areas• 30 years to complete

http://thingsappleisworthmorethan.tumblr.com/post/18251652282/the-construction-of-the-interstate-highway-system

Highway Revenue Act of 1956

• Increase federal gas tax to 3 cents• Created Highway Trust Fund – a new

precedent

http://www.tnhistoryforkids.org/students/h_11http://www.tnhistor

yforkids.org/students/h_11

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c7/Interstate_Highway_plan_September_1955.jpg/800px-Interstate_Highway_plan_September_1955.jpg

1958 Disneyland TV Show: "Magic Highway USA"

“A happy 1958 Disney cartoon about the future of highway transportation”

8:47 minutes

http://www.northwoodswild.org/newspro/images/Hwy%20Construction.jpg

http://svenworld.com/2009/09/14/ecocities-from-the-bottoms-up/

Embarcadero Freeway Proposal

http://www.sfcityscape.com/features/freeway_map.html

Rise of mandated planning (1960s +)

• Federal Aid Highway Act of 1934 – some funding for highway surveys

• Chicago Area Transportation Study in 1950s – birth of travel demand modeling

• Federal Aid Highway Act of 1962 –– established 3C planning process: continuing,

comprehensive, and cooperative– Called for planning at level of metro region– Bureau of Public Roads published manuals on forecasting

and planning

Rise of transit funding (1960s +)

• Federal support justified based on…– Imbalance between transportation

modes – 90% of interstates but nothing for transit

– Seemingly uncontroversial way to provide federal financial aid to increasingly troubled cities

– Most persuasive: Need to get people off the road to relieve congestion

http://fastlane.dot.gov/2012/04/50-years-later-transportation-remains-the-thread-that-connects-our-nation.html

Rise of transit funding (1960s +)

• Housing Act of 1961 – small, low-interest loan program for acquisitions and capital improvements for mass transit

• Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 –– “to encourage the planning and establishment of

areawide urban mass transportation systems needed for economical and desirable urban development”

– Capital grants for up to 2/3 of project cost; only 50% share if no 3C planning

– BUT not much money ever authorized…

Rise of transit funding (1960s +)

• 1970 Urban Mass Transportation Assistance Act – Provided long-term

commitment of federal funds for transit

– Established strong federal policy on transportation for elderly, disabled

http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestand:GM_1970s_bus_1_3_(247694123).jpg

http://transpressnz.blogspot.com/2011/02/bay-area-rapid-transit-san-francisco.html

Rise of citizen participation (1960s +)

• Situation in the late 1960s– Growing frustration over impacts of highways in

urban areas – the Freeway Revolt– Growing environmental concerns– Growing concern about mobility for special groups

– minorities, poor, elderly, persons with disabilities

http://www.flickr.com/photos/streetshooter45/5567612287/sizes/m/in/photostream/

http://sunnynash.blogspot.com/2011/02/rosa-parks-montgomery-bus-boycott-jim.html

Rise of citizen participation (1960s +)

• 1969 3C process amended to require citizen participation at all stages of process

• 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) – required Environmental Impact Statements (EISs)

• 1970 Clean Air Act Amendments – created Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Then…

1980s?1970s?

Rise of intermodal planning (1990s +)

• 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAA)• 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)• 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation

Efficiency Act (ISTEA)

http://www.lightrailnow.org/news/n_newslog2007q1.htm

http://www.spokanetransit.com/ride-sta/view/bikes-on-buses/

Rise of intermodal planning (1990s +)• 1991 ISTEA - Intermodal Surface Transportation

Efficiency Act• 1998 TEA-21 – Transportation Equity Act for the 21

Century• 2005 SAFETEA-LU – Safe, Accountable, Flexible,

Efficient Transportation Equity Act – a Legacy for Users

• 2012 MAP-21 – Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century

• 2015 FAST Act – Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hep10/images/nhsjpg.jpg

Transportation Problems as seen in the New York Times...

• Growing impatience for new rapid transit lines and diminishing hopes of getting them

• Promises of better transfer systems and faster transit times to the suburbs

• Controversy about allowing cars in Central Park• Calls to provide space for bicyclists on bridges• Concern over accidents caused by reckless driving• Disappointment over budget cuts for boulevard project

Transportation Problems as seen in the New York Times...

• Annoyance over delays caused by road construction and resurfacing

• Promises for a new Second Avenue subway• Reports on the contribution of emotional factors to accidents

and on teenage drivers as a danger• Protests over unsafe conditions for kids getting to school;

concern over auto death toll for kids• Suggestions for how to bypass traffic jams• Calls for better signal timing to ease traffic

OCTOBER 1899!

• Growing impatience for new rapid transit lines and diminishing hopes of getting them

• Promises of better transfer systems and faster transit times to the suburbs

• Controversy about allowing cars in Central Park• Calls to provide space for bicyclists on bridges• Concern over accidents caused by reckless driving• Disappointment over budget cuts for boulevard project

OCTOBER 1949!

• Annoyance over delays caused by road construction and resurfacing

• Promises for a new Second Avenue subway• Reports on the contribution of emotional factors to accidents

and on teenage drivers as a danger• Protests over unsafe conditions for kids getting to school;

concern over auto death toll for kids• Suggestions for how to bypass traffic jams• Calls for better signal timing to ease traffic

Continuing Challenges...

• How to provide needed transportation infrastructure - cheaply and quickly?

• How to address the negative impacts of transportation?

Congestion as a Continuing Challenge...

Congestion = ?

Key Concept: LOS = f(Volume/Capacity)

Level of Service

Options for increasing LOS – v/c?

Katy Freeway,Houston, TX

Key Concept:Performance-Based Planning

U.S. DOT effort on performance-based planning

GOALS Performance measures

2009 Federal Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities

aka Obama’s Livability Initiative

Actions to “encourage state and local government to make their communities more sustainable by strategically aligning their environmental, transportation and housing investments.”

The End of the Auto Era…?

Remarks by the president on the American automotive industry - 3/30/09

“We cannot, and must not, and we will not let our auto industry simply vanish. This industry is like no other --it's an emblem of the American spirit; a once and future symbol of America’s success. It's what helped build the middle class and sustained it throughout the 20th century. It's a source of deep pride for the generations of American workers whose hard work and imagination led to some of the finest cars the world has ever known. It's a pillar of our economy that has held up the dreams of millions of our people. ”

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-on-the-American-Automotive-Industry-3/30/09/

Next Time: Institutions