National Transportation System Initiative: Outreach for Issues, Positions, Problems, and Recommended Solutions

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Transportation System Initiative: Outreach for Issues,

Positions, Problems, and Recommended Solutions

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DOT.

ACTION: Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Transportation seeks to broaden its

knowledge and develop consensus on the physical components, performance

characteristics, and other aspects of a National Transportation System

(NTS). The information will be used to develop the Department's

proposals for future transportation legislation and to enhance

transportation decisionmaking to better achieve national goals.

DATE: Comments must be received on or before August 22, 1994, to be

fully considered in reviewing the proposed approach for conducting the

Department's NTS initiative.

ADDRESS: Three copies of comments for the public docket on the NTS

should be sent to: Office of the Secretary, Documentary Services

Division C-55, Attn: NTS Public Docket 49617, Room 4107, 400 Seventh

Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions on the NTS initiative can

also be directed to the Departmental Offices designated as leads for

the NTS outreach and planning initiatives:

Mr. Michael P. Huerta, Associate Deputy Secretary, Room 10200, 400

Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590, Ph: (202) 366-5781

Mr. Stephen Palmer, Assistant Secretary for Governmental Affairs, Room

10408, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590, Ph: (202) 366-

4573

Mr. Frank Kruesi, Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy, Room

10228, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590, Ph: (202) 366-

4450

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Transportation programs and administrative

structures, combined with current shortcomings of information and

analytic tools, can result in transportation decisions being made that

do not meet national transportation needs effectively and efficiently.

The NTS will delineate the most important elements of the

transportation system in terms of their collective contribution to

those national objectives in which transportation plays an important

role--economic strength, environmental and resource conservation,

community vitality and social welfare. It will include components from

aviation, highways (initially, the National Highway System, as defined

by Congress), railroads, ports and waterways, pipelines, and public

transportation.

The NTS outreach program seeks to involve private citizens, the

business community, Congress, State and local officials, and interest

groups to discuss all aspects of the NTS. These outreach activities

will seek feedback on the basic NTS concept through several channels

including Federal Register notices, regional workshops, community

forums, etc. Information on upcoming opportunities for public comment

will be announced through notices in the Federal Register, local

newspapers and broadcast facilities, trade publications, and other

media outlets.

The following text sets forth the DOT's framework for defining and

establishing the National Transportation System. It reflects current

thinking about the concept of the National Transportation System--its

purpose, use and benefits--and describes the process we are using to

define the system and ensure its continuing evolution in response to

the changing needs of our Nation.

Why a National Transportation System?

Congress, in landmark legislation for transportation, the

Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA),

declared:

``It is the policy of the United States to develop a National

Intermodal Transportation System that is economically efficient and

environmentally sound, provides the foundation for the Nation to

compete in the global economy, and will move people and goods in an

energy efficient manner.''

In December 1993, the DOT designated a 159,000-mile National

Highway System for approval by Congress. It is now time to develop a

full National Transportation System. Congress intended, and we concur,

that the National Transportation System encompass all modes of

transportation--including those yet to be developed. It intended that

all these modes be inter-connected to promote interests that are of

critical importance to our country, including: clean air, reduced

energy consumption and safe, comfortable and cost effective

transportation--the real engine of economic development and a measure

of the quality of our lives.

Commitment to a multimodal National Transportation System marks a

departure from the historic perspective of the Federal Government,

which in the past traditionally focused on developing and financing

individual forms of transportation. The result, although the most

extensive and safest transportation infrastructure in the world, has

been the development of a separate, often fragmented and less than

adequate infrastructure of airports, highways, rail, urban transit,

ports and waterways. Federal transportation dollars have been invested

in individual projects with little consideration of the impact of the

investment on other forms of transportation or on the economy. Often,

investments were driven mainly by the availability of federal funds.

For years, overlapping levels of government and special jurisdictions

have undercut efforts at more comprehensive planning, resulting in

infrastructure disconnects and inadequacies--inefficiencies that

reverberate adversely through the economies of states, regions and

indeed the country as a whole.

Transportation planning and coordination have improved

substantially in recent years. Still, however, suburban areas make

decisions inconsistent with urban areas and vice versa; states and

their transportation departments vary on the extent to which they

cooperate with neighboring states or consider decisions made by their

own cities and Metropolitan Planning Organizations.

Meanwhile, America's transportation infrastructure crosses these

lines, and America's need for a well maintained, uncongested, seamless

transportation system that serves the present and opens the future,

requires that we make a bold step and shift from nurturing individual

transportation needs and fragmented projects to enhancing the

effectiveness of the Nation's transportation system as a whole.

What Will the National Transportation System Do?

The Department of Transportation's Strategic Plan states our

intention to establish, in keeping with ISTEA, a National

Transportation System that integrates all modes of transportation for

people and freight and emphasizes connections, choices, and

coordination of services to position this country as an effective

economic competitor in the global market. The National Transportation

System will:

(1) Map the Nation's major transportation networks for all modes.

(2) Identify local, regional and national bottlenecks, missing

linkages and needed new components in our existing infrastructure

across all modes--which will lead all levels of governments and the

private sector towards targeting investments to meet those needs.

(3) Enable the Department, for the first time, to assess the

conditions and performance of the entire national system, so we can

better develop national and global policies, and identify strategic

investments.

(4) Implement ISTEA's mandates to integrate all modes into the

metropolitan and statewide transportation planning processes so that

cost-benefit analyses for capital projects, and management systems that

address operations, congestion relief and intermodal system

requirements take into account the full transportation picture.

Decision makers should be able to choose, for example when considering

short-haul needs, between building additional airport capacity or rail

passenger service.

(5) Encourage transportation decision-makers at all levels to favor

investments that further the interdependence of local, regional and

national networks, thus leveraging the benefits of all.

(6) Engender confidence among our citizens that their tax dollars

are being invested wisely and strategically. In meeting these

objectives we will:

Help accomplish our national goals of economic growth,

international trade, national defense, environmental improvement, and

transportation safety and security.

Enable the Nation to respond more effectively to national

defense emergencies and to disasters such as earthquakes, floods and

hazardous materials spills.

Develop transportation services that respond more rapidly

to market changes and to the ever-changing needs of users.

What Constitutes the NTS?

The National Transportation System cannot include every road, bus

line or port, important as these are to the immediate users. Rather,

the National Transportation System is a concept, only now evolving, to

encompass the transportation components that make important

contributions to regional, national and international interests--

economic interests, security interests and safety interests.

One component of the system, the National Highway System, has,

after much outreach and analysis, been initially defined and is

currently being considered by Congress. In the course of the next

months we will add transportation components from all modes--aviation,

intercity buses, pipelines, ports, waterways, transit and freight and

passenger railroads, as well as the connecting links that enable the

entire system to operate effectively.

Ideally, criteria for becoming part of the NTS should be clear and

consistent, measuring the contribution that a facility makes to our

national or regional economic, defense, social and environmental goals.

We will focus initially on identifying fixed facilities such as rights

of way and terminals. But the National Transportation System is far

more than a map and list of infrastructure facilities. We need to

understand how our transportation facilities are used, how well they

serve our population and how they affect key national objectives. To

this end, we will consider high use transportation facilities for

inclusion in the NTS--facilities that carry large numbers of vehicles,

passengers or freight. But some national objectives cannot be captured

by volume measures alone. We might well consider small facilities that

help fill the gaps within and between our existing modal facilities, or

facilities which acquire particular importance in emergency situations,

or have social benefits not easily quantifiable for providing access to

health care, education and recreation. Some components of privately

owned and operated transportation facilities will be part of the

National Transportation System, and this designation would likely

encourage public-private partnerships to further a unified and

integrated transportation system.

In all, the National Transportation System will provide us a policy

framework within which we can evaluate and measure service levels as

well as the impacts and effectiveness of our laws and regulations, and

plan the Federal Government's infrastructure investments.

What Process Will We Use to Shape the NTS?

The Department believes that the NTS concept must be developed in

concert with Congress, other federal agencies, state and local

officials, the transportation industry and interested citizens.

To this end we are embarking upon a nationwide outreach effort,

discussing all aspects of the NTS with interested groups and

individuals. We will use this outreach effort to help us sharpen the

concept and purpose of the NTS, develop identification criteria for

inclusion in the NTS, and forge the NTS into a powerful and dynamic

tool for citizens, policy makers, and elected officials. By the end of

1994, the Department will have developed and received public comments

on specific criteria for identifying the system and guidance for the

participation of state and local governments and the private sector in

the identification process. By September of 1995, we plan to have an

initial NTS map, a process for updating it, and will use what we have

learned to develop the Administration's proposal for comprehensive

transportation legislation to succeed ISTEA.

Throughout this process we expect state and local officials to use

the metropolitan and state-wide intermodal planning processes and

management systems already established by ISTEA. These efforts, as well

as information on the conditions and performance of transportation

facilities, will comprise the base line data for developing the NTS. We

believe that the development of the National Transportation System

concept, with full public participation, will form a sound basis for

the next generation of federal transportation policy--beyond ISTEA.

The Department invites the public and private sector to join us in

a National Transportation System dialogue. The Department seeks public

input in developing an integrated approach to decisionmaking that

utilizes better information and analytical processes to maximize the

benefits derived from transportation investments. Public comments are

sought on the full spectrum of policy issues associated with the NTS,

but the Department is particularly interested in responses to the

following questions:

(1) We have suggested how an NTS might be used by the Department.

Do you agree? What changes would you propose?

(2) Do you think an NTS will be useful to State and local officials

and to private entities? How might it be made more useful to them?

(3) We have suggested that the identification of an NTS can flow

from the outreach process and from the metropolitan and statewide

planning processes. What suggestions do you have for identifying and

designating an NTS? How can we achieve a national perspective in the

selection process?

(4) How should we deal with community impact, safety and

environmental consequences?

(5) What aspects of local and regional transportation should be

included in an NTS, and why?

(6) How should the private sector be involved in the identification

process?

(7) How can we ensure that the NTS is designed to include a future

orientation and will improve transportation practices and decisions?

(8) What regulatory or legislative changes would be useful to

support the NTS concept?

(9) What other suggestions do you have concerning the NTS, its

uses, and the process by which it is established?

Comment by all parties on these and other transportation issues is

welcome.

Issued this 20th day of June, 1994, in Washington, DC.

Michael P. Huerta,

Associate Deputy Secretary and Director, Office of Intermodalism.

[FR Doc. 94-15293 Filed 6-22-94; 8:45 am]

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