Greg Cohen is President of the American Highway Users Alliance. Cohen serves motorists and highway supporters as their advocate in Washington - pursuing federal policies that improve highway safety and reduce congestion. Members of The Highway Users include 300 diverse businesses and non-profit associations that rely on safe and efficient roads to transport their families, employees, customers, and products.
Prior to joining The Highway Users in July 2002, Greg served as a professional staff member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on the Highways and Transit Subcommittee where he was responsible for oversight of the Federal Highway Administration's implementation of the 1998 highway bill, TEA 21. As a licensed Professional Engineer, Greg's primary role on the Committee was to provide policy assistance in areas of highway planning, engineering, and construction. Cohen worked on legislation to eliminate highway funding cuts and streamline environmental reviews and coordinated oversight hearings that laid the policy groundwork for the 2005 highway bill, "SAFETEA-LU".
Yes – Americans have become complacent about transportation safety and there is no doubt that more must be done by the transportation community to promote greater safety awareness, both on the part of average Americans and among the transportation professionals who are responsible for ensuring the safety of millions of passengers. As Peter Kissinger, President and CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety promotes, we need to change the traffic safety culture in this country. As Kissinger states on his own blog on traffic safety, findings from this year’s AAA Foundation Traffic Safety Culture Index survey found 80 percent of… Read more
I am in complete agreement with Secretary Peters’ excellent post. From the motorists’ perspective, however, some additional public interest protections are important. It is logical that private investors would only consider spending capital on projects that are expected to have a good return. With most PPPs, highway users are expected to provide that return over time. So it is important that highway users’ such as the local AAA club, trucking association, local business group, and state highway users federation are well represented in PPP negotiations. PPPs are diverse and some deserve the support of motorists – particularly when they enable a road to… Read more
I’m pleased that the first two comments focus on the impacts of transportation and land use policies on the poor and un-included in our society. The issue of livability for everyone in our society is an important one. High direct costs and high opportunity costs are some of the greatest barriers to a livable community. Easy access to a full range of competitive jobs, stores, places of recreation, doctors and hospitals, and entertainment improve our quality-of-life. I recommend reading research by Margy Waller such as “Employment and Housing Mobility: A New Report from The Mobility Agenda” and Wendell Cox, such as “How Smart Growth… Read more
I cannot add anything to Jack Schenendorf's excellent post. His analysis of this issue just reminds me of how much of an honor it was to work for him when Bud Shuster was T&I Chairman. I recommend reading his post in its entirety.… Read more
Not my area of expertise, but it seems to me that the $100-200 Billion High Speed Rail capital costs would serve a heck of a lot more people if it was redirected to NextGEN. I expect that it would also have a greater impact on greenhouse gas reduction than rail and serve a far wider demographic base.… Read more
This article by Wendell Cox is an excellent summary of concerns expressed by many in the transportation community with the "Moving Cooler" report . http://www.newgeography.com/content/00984-taking-fun-out-fighting-global-warming… Read more
There is a broad consensus that it is in our national interest to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. All sectors of the economy that emit greenhouse gases should participate in this national (and global) effort. Given economic, technological, and social constraints, some sectors will be able to reduce emissions more than others. The transportation community is in agreement that our sector will have an important role to play in reducing emissions. While most experts agree that greenhouse gas emissions can be most cost-effectively reduced from fixed point sources, we agree that mobile source emissions also need to be reduced. About 17%… Read more
No, existing Interstate highway lanes built with taxes should not be tolled, monetized, and reverse-mortgaged. The Pennsylvania example shows clearly why such a plan is not in the public interest. Here is a case where the road users face a new and exorbitant tax and the State promises absolutely no benefits in return to the tolled users... i.e. no new lanes, no new bridges, nothing except growing tolls! Anyone who lives along this road, runs a roadside business, or has an established logistics system that relies on this road would be held hostage to automatically increasing tolls. As DJ Gribbon points out in his post: "The lease agreement ... represents little… Read more
I agree with the 47% of respondents who indicated that excessive bureaucracy is a major problem for efficient project delivery. SAFETEA-LU's Title VI was the first in-depth legislative effort to reduce the bureaucratic delay associated with project planning for highways and transit. Without reducing substantive environmental protections and public participation requirements, the bill required more streamlined procedures, schedules, and deadlines and gave States greater responsibilities for project approval in certain cases. Nevertheless, the planning and project approval processes for federally-funded projects remains extremely comprehensive -- as well as onerous and time-consuming. Congress should review the many regulatory hurdles that impede project delivery and eliminate or streamline… Read more
No. Reducing travel should not be national policy. VMT is not an environmental metric. In fact, since the 1970 Clean Air Act, VMT has grown dramatically while regulated pollutant emission levels have plunged. The same will be true for regulated greenhouse gases. A proper environmental performance goal would be to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the lowest possible cost to taxpayers. Similarly, a reasonable transportation performance goal could be to cost-effectively reduce delay or VHT (vehicle hours traveled) instead of VMT. VHT reductions should come from congestion relief projects. The one variable that is most closely correlated to VMT is actually Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In… Read more
Like all demographic groups, seniors overwhelmingly travel by private automobiles (either as drivers or passengers) and do not wish to have that option restricted or to have Washingtonians try to coerce them from using cars. Seniors use private vehicles for the same reasons we all do: auto access via roads provide the most opportunities to shop, recreate, & visit family in any region than other modes. This is true both now and into the foreseeable future in every corner of America. For Seniors who need special care, automobiles provide a much wider range choice in their caregiver options. Another… Read more
Voters do not share Congress’ enthusiasm for federal funding of bike paths and walkways. A national Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates survey found that 72% of voters believe the federal government should lead in funding major highway and bridge projects. Only 4% of voters felt the federal government should take the lead in funding bicycle paths (5% for pedestrian paths). But the question for this week’s blog seems to presume that state and municipalities funded under SAFETEA-LU do not currently receive enough federal funding for new bicycle lanes and pedestrian walkways and want more money for these purposes. In fact, 100%… Read more
Public-Private Partnerships have a role to play in the future of U.S. transportation but it is critical that governments use PPPs in a way that protect the public interest and that elected officials understand that PPPs are no substitute for a well-funded, nationally oriented federal-aid highway program. Broadly defined, a PPP could mean almost any government activity that involves some private participation. There are many government activities that can perform better, faster, and less costly by the private sector. For highways, private companies are regularly involved in planning, design, and construction. Some see a growing opportunity for large private constructors to also maintain their projects. But the current controversy surrounding… Read more
The sudden inclusion of billions of new funding for high speed rail was a surprise to just about everyone. Neither the House nor Senate bill had anywhere near this level of funding. No hearings were held to discuss the pros and cons of this "down payment" or the ultimate cost of the full plan. Therefore, it is important that Lisa has brought this issue up so we can begin a real debate. In the absence of a real debate, an enormous sum of money could be spent upgrading our system for relatively (to Europe and Japan) low-speed 110 mph trains. To… Read more
I was extremely disappointed with the FY10 budget framework for the Department of Transportation. It represents a sudden and surprising reversal in priorities at a time when continued Presidential leadership is critical to advance Congress toward a timely, well-funded highway authorization. I hope that the reaction is being heard loud enough at the White House to bring substantive changes to the plan by its final submission in April. A little background is needed to understand why so many people are so frustrated by the budget plan: Throughout the election campaign, President Obama was an ardent supporter of mobility and improvements… Read more
It appears that the "damage control" effort is based on an assumption that the public is not ready of a VMT-based user fee system. Yet it is likely that state pilot programs will continue to expand and the pockets of the public will begin to get used to these systems. The reality is that VMT-based taxes will take some time to develop and could not be implemented as a "solution" during an Obama Administration anyway. As long as the pilots continue and expand, the public will have opportunities to weigh in on privacy and zone pricing schemes that may concern them. … Read more
President-Elect Obama is on the right track by sticking to a simple earmark ban. He has wisely avoided the trap of attempting to turn this bill into a mini-transportation authorization bill with special restrictions, mandates, and complex goals unrelated to the economy and jobs. Although motorists care deeply about the effectiveness of our transportation programs, it is imperative to the economy that a stimulus bill be enacted quickly, without micromanagement from special interest groups. Right now, the focus needs to be limited to jobs and the economy. But this is just the first of a one-two punch. The second punch, the multi-year highway and transit bill, will be the appropriate place… Read more
Environmental progress generally goes hand-in-hand with economic growth. Richer societies have the means to spend more money on environmental programs than poorer societies. While there are certainly some positive outcomes associated with high fuel prices, we should not wring our hands about a drop in fuel prices. Lower prices also lead to more disposable income – certainly a good thing for our country at this time! A stronger economy may also lead to more money being spent on environmental technologies. It is important to add some perspective to what happened in the summer. When gasoline hit $4 a gallon last summer, Americans drove… Read more
Public transit supporters definitely have the political clout needed to increase mass transit funding in the next surface transportation bill. In fact, funding for transit has grown at a faster rate than highway funding increases for every recent authorization bill. But transit advocates need to be careful not to overreach in 2009. Advocates for both highways and transit have generally agreed on a traditional 80/20 split for revenue increases for highways and transit. This split has kept most transportation advocates united. If transit advocates overreach and press for a greater share at the expense of highway programs, the good will and support of many highway… Read more
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