Ken Orski is editor and publisher of Innovation NewsBriefs, an influential and widely read transportation newsletter, now in its 20th year of publication. Orski has worked professionally in the field of transportation for close to 40 years. He served as Associate Administrator of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration under President Nixon and President Ford and, after leaving government, founded a transportation consultancy counseling corporate clients and agencies in federal, state and local government. He has served on numerous state and federal transportation advisory bodies including, most recently, the Blue Ribbon Panel of the congressionally-chartered National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Commission. Earlier in his career, he served as a senior officer (Class 2) in the United States Foreign Service and as an executive of the General Dynamics Corporation. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College and holds a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School.
In considering the future of the surface transportation program most of the attention has focused on the “supply” or revenue side: how to pay for the program. In her interview with National Journal’s Lisa Caruso (“Bush DOT Chief Discusses Reauthorization,” Insider Interview, October 8) former Transportation Secretary Mary Peters has reminded us that we also must look more closely at the “demand” side. She suggested that the time may have come when we should limit the scope and size of the federal-aid program to activities and investments “that are truly in the federal interest.” Over the years the federal surface… Read more
"Livability is in the eyes of the beholder. Suburban residents consider their communitied already eminently "livable." They cite good schools, low crime rates, leafy streets and privacy that comes with having one's own backyard as important elements of "livability." True, highway congestion detracts somewhat from the sense of "livability" for suburbanites who face long commutes, but most of them consider it a fair price to pay for the benefits and enjoyment of suburban living. Steve Heminger is right on the money when he says that local elected officials are best equipped to decide how best to enhance their communities "livability." A single federally-imposed standard… Read more
While there appears to be substantial (but by no means unanimous) support for raising the gas tax within the business community, none of the advocates have stated what they would consider as an "appropriate" or "adequate" increase in the price of fuel. According to Rep. Oberstar's testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, the fuel tax and other excise taxes are expected to generate no more than $236 billion at current rates over the next six year period --- or roughly $39 billion/year. To cover the annual $36 billion shortfall in Chairman Oberstar's proposed $450 billion 6-year program (or roughly $75 billion/year),… Read more
I would suggest to my colleague Deron Lovaas that there is no need to impugn the motives of those with whom he disagrees and those who report the views contrary to his own. The fact remains that a number of respected transportation professionals with whom we have spoken honestly believe that the "Moving Cooler" study was "deceptive, "misleading," "unrealistic" and "deeply flawed." (their words not mine). In reporting these views we tried to strike a balance by giving Lance Neumann, president of Cambridge Systematics, an opportunity to answer his critics and by publishing a commentary by James Corless, Director of the Transportation for… Read more
For a background to the current discussion, I am posting our recent NewsBrief (August 18, 2009). The debate flared up with the publication of the "Moving Cooler" report which lays emphasis on reducing driving and changing land use patterns as the key levers to reducing carbon emissions. The report has been severely criticized by the transportation community as lacking in balance and objectivity. A Controversial Report Has the Transportation Community Up in Arms While the nation at large and the political community are consumed by the current debate about health care, another controversy is being played out on a smaller stage but with no less… Read more
Like a majority of my fellow bloggers I think that the current federal prohibitions on tolling of the interstates should be abolished and decisions to toll should be left to the individual states and metropolitan areas. However, I do not see any ground swell of support for tolling at the state and local level either. On the contrary, evidence from Pennsylvania, Texas and, most recently, northern Virginia points to deep seated and widespread opposition to tolling at the grassroots level. Those of us who hope that giving the states greater leeway to toll will open the floodgates to tolling of… Read more
Back in 1995, EPA tried to reduce VMTs by executive fiat through a so-called employee trip reduction (ETR) requirement ( otherwise known as Employee Commute Options or ECO program ). The requirement proved so controversial that Congress repealed it even before it could take effect. The same fate awaits any proposals for VMT reduction mandates today. Indeed, I have yet to hear any one on Capitol Hill consider the Rockefeller-Lautenberg bill seriously.… Read more
Urging the passage of a new transportation legislation without knowing where the money to pay for it will come from is an exercise in sophistry. I take the liberty of posting the latest issue of our NewsBriefs which tries to understand what lies behind the Administration's decision to seek an 18-month extension of the current program. June 20, 2009 The House Transportation Bill: Two Key Questions Remain Unanswered Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, unveiled his "blueprint" for the next surface transportation authorization bill on June 18 to generally positive reviews. However he left two… Read more
The current accepted wisdom about the need for a "performance-driven, outcome oriented" transportation program brings to mind a piece of advice I once received from a wise colleague: Do not advocate a policy that you could never hope to put into effect. Do not ask policy makers to do something outside the range of practical feasibility. While setting performance goals and measuring progress toward their achievement is commendable, some of the goals advocated for the surface transportation program reflect more the advocates’ wishful thinking than achievable objectives. For example, the National Transportation Objectives Act of 2009 (HR 2724) (inspired by… Read more
The question this week brings to mind an online discussion that some of my colleagues and I engaged in a few weeks ago. Much to our colleagues' surprise, I suspect, my fellow journalist, Peter Samuel, Editor of TollRoads News and I expressed some doubts about the future prospects for private financing of infrastructure. I explained my reasons as follows: "Many of us who have been ardent advocates of private investment in infrastructure ---myself included--- have failed to realize how profoundly the world has changed since the financial/credit crisis. The rosy predictions of hundreds of billions of dollars eagerly waiting to… Read more
There seems to be no lack of strong opinions about public-private partnerships among my fellow bloggers. My own view is that it’s too early to judge PPPs on their substantive merit. There are only a few of them in existence so far, and the few that have been entered into are only in an early stage of implementation. It will take several more years before the effectiveness of recently-negotiated concessions (such as the Indiana Toll Road, the Chicago Skyway and the SH-130 in Texas) can be properly evaluated. Hence, any judgments expressed today are merely opinions and speculations, often colored… Read more
As some of my fellow bloggers have pointed out, much of the $8 billion in federal money will end up supporting incremental improvements in existing rail infrastructure rather than building true high-speed lines in new alignments, as France, Spain and Italy have done. But incremental improvements could include separating freight from passenger traffic by adding new freight-only tracks in existing RR alignments--- similar to proposals to separate trucks from passenger cars by adding truck-only lanes in existing highway rights-of-way. I leave it to Ed Hamberger, Matt Rose, Frank Busalacchi, Peter Gertler and other RR experts to tell me whether adding extra trackage in existing RR alignments of the proposed high-speed corridors is a… Read more
Background: For many years, a collegial group of transportation-oriented professionals in the Washington, D.C. area, known as the "NoName Group," has been meeting from time to time and exchanging views on various transportation-related issues of common interest. A recent comment by one of its members, Emil Frankel, must have hit a responsive chord among his NoName colleagues -- many of whom are former government alumni -- because it prompted a lively email exchange. Emil subsequently wrote to Lisa Caruso suggesting that this might be a useful question to pose on the National Journal Transportation blog. "Several of us," Emil wrote, "who are involved… Read more
The Administration's backtracking on the contract authority flap (as reported by Darren Goode in the Congress Daily) suggests to me that: (1) either the Budget Summary was drafted by a new OMB team that is inexperienced, politically insensitive and ignorant of the need to coordinate its policy positions with line agencies, congressional leaders and the stakeholders; or (2) it was meant mostly as a trial baloon, floating some long-held institutional biases held by OMB professionals, to be modified or disavowed as soon as political heat proved to be too much. A charitable posture would be to withhold final judgment until the Administration… Read more
The Commission has recommended a "modest" 10-cent increase in the federal gas tax and a 15-cent increase in the diesel tax in conjunction with the upcoming authorization of the federal surface transportation program, "if not sooner". But both the Obama administration and numerous congressional leaders (including those on the tax-writing House Ways & Means and the Senate Finance committees) are on record opposing a gas tax increase in a recession. Since, short of a miracle, the recession will not be over this year (we shall be lucky if it's over in 2010), this rules out a gas tax increase as a short… Read more
A quick survey of this blog, the daily press, congressional reaction and statements by a spectrum of interest groups and coalitions shows a near-unanimous approval of the Commission's report and its recommendations (compare this with the highly critical reception of the Policy and Revenue Commission's report back in December 2007). Admittedly, we have heard largely from the "Beltway Insiders" so far. We have yet to hear from the grassroots.… Read more
Those of us who attended the Financing Commission's press conference today could not fail but be impressed by the Commission's report, the compelling nature of the arguments the Commissioners put forward to support their recommendations and by the sincerity of their convictions as expressed in their brief remarks following Chairman Rob Atkinson's commanding presentation of the Commission's conclusions. I was particularly struck by the simple yet eloquent remarks of Commissioner Kathy Ruffalo, which I reproduce verbatim below: "This has not been an easy process and we certainly have had our disagreements over time. But we have learned from each other,… Read more
Most of my fellow bloggers have turned the question of "How Will We Pay...?" into "How Should We Pay...?" Predictably, the answers they gave were heavily colored by the interests they represent or the causes they champion, leavened by their personal convictions. Those of us who attended the just-concluded two-day Annual Meeting of the Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors were treated to a sobering factual assessment of the funding prospects. We heard from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), Rep. John Mica (R-FL), Ranking Member of the House Transportation… Read more
One of my early duties upon assuming the post of Associate Administrator at the old UMTA (now, FTA) was to take my boss , then-UMTA Administrator Frank Herringer on a whirlwind tour of European cities so that he could see for himself some of the exctiting innovations in transit service taking place abroad. To make a long story short, the outcome of that trip was UMTA's introduction and sustained promotion (continued by FTA) of light rail transit--- a technology that was already flourishing in Europe in the mid-1970s, but was virtually unknown in this country. The rest, as they say,… Read more
Contributors to this blog will be pleased to know that their views and opinions are being heard---if not necessarily followed. In my reportorial rounds, at think tanks, on Capitol Hill and among incoming administration officials I have heard references more than once to the National Journal's Transportation Blog. That said, the desire to get the stimulus money out the door and spent quickly, using existing allocation and project selection mechanisms, is powerful enough, I think, to overcome the reservations, such as have been expressed by some participants in this blog. However, I sense within the Obama administration and in Congress an equally strong desire for a longer-term program of infrastructure investments… Read more
Some Reflections on the Financing Commission's Recommendation for a Gas Tax Increase Predictably, the Financing Commission's recommendation for an "immediate" 10-cent/gallon gas tax increase (or a 50% increase in the current tax, as some press reports put it) has raised a storm of criticism, reminiscent of the negative reaction that met an earlier tax increase recommendation by the Transportation Policy Commission. Much of the current criticism has centered on the fact that the feasibility and timing of a gas tax increase cannot be divorced from the political environment and the economic conditions prevailing at the time. The conditions that would… Read more
While I am sympathetic to my "green" friends' arguments that higher gas prices would bring about desirable changes such as a shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles, increased transit ridership and reduced dependence on foreign oil, there are two problems with artificially raising gas prices through a tax increase at this time: 1) In the midst of a severe recession and rising unemployment , a gas tax increase would be economically inadvisable because it would further reduce disposable incomes just when increased consumer spending is needed to bolster the economy ; 2) the almost certain prospect of a massive economic stimulus bill ($775 billion by the latest account),… Read more
In an op-ed in the The Wall Street Journal (December 10) , Reason Foundation's Robert Poole cites a sampling of the 11,391 "ready-to-go" infrastructure project requests that the country's mayors say they need to jumpstart the economy: -Hercules, Calif., wants $2.5 million for a 'Waterfront Duck Pond Park,' and another $200,000 for a dog park. -Euless, Texas, wants $15 million for the Midway Park Family Life Center, which includes a senior center and aquatic facility. -Natchez, Miss., needs a new $9.5 million sports complex 'which would allow our city to host major regional and national sports tournaments.' -Henderson, Nev., is… Read more
In order to revive the economy, President-elect Obama has proposed to create "the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the Interstate highway system in the 1950s". Promising strict "use it or lose it" rules to govern spending, he said "we won’t just throw money at the problem. We’ll measure progress by the reforms we make and the results we achieve — by the jobs we create, by the energy we save..." The transportation community greeted the announcement with enthusiasm. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) announced that more than 5,000… Read more
Reforming the Transportation Program: An Early Challenge for the Obama Administration A reform of the federal surface transportation program is likely to figure prominently on the policy agenda of the Obama Administration. Rarely has there been so much agreement within the transportation community about the need to fundamentally restructure the program. “The transportation program has lost its sense of purpose and become nothing more than a vehicle for earmarks and revenue sharing,” goes a common plaint. Congressional lawmakers of both parties likewise agree that continuing the status quo is not an option. According to Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN), the… Read more
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