The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“THE HIGHWAY BILL” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the Senate section on pages S4351-S4352 on April 27, 2005.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE HIGHWAY BILL
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, yesterday the Senate voted overwhelmingly to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the highway bill, the highway bill we are now on. The amendment process has begun. It enjoys strong bipartisan support, and I am encouraged by the bipartisan commitment to both go to the bill and move this important bill forward. Time is of essence. The current highway extension from last year expires at the end of next month, on May 31. We are going to have to work together to pass this legislation, then take the bill that we pass to conference to join it with the House bill--I have a feeling there will have to be fairly extensive negotiations at that point--and then send that bill to the President for his signature.
This highway bill that is currently on the floor is a product of a long bipartisan process. It is based on more than 3 years of hard work, over a dozen hearings, testimony from more than 100 witnesses, countless hours of negotiation, all of it supported by a deep and broad coalition, from State and local highway authorities to national safety advocates. It was last month that a very similar bill overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 417 to 9. It is time to get this bill done.
This is what America sees, I know: While we engage in this endless negotiation inside the beltway, outside the beltway people are listening to that as they are sitting in traffic jams which are getting worse and worse by the day. At the same time we are debating, roads and bridges continue to deteriorate, and preventable traffic accidents take the lives of tens of thousands of Americans each year. I will come back to that, because these lives do not have to be lost. The action we take on the floor of the Senate will cause those lives not to be lost.
Car crashes, in fact, are the No. 1 cause of death for every age from 3 years of age to 33 years of age; crashes are their No. 1 cause of death. According to national statistics reported just last week, 43,000 people died in car accidents just last year alone. More than 2.7 million people were injured.
I believe the key point is that one-third of all these traffic-
related deaths can be attributed to unsafe roads. One out of every three deaths can be attributed to unsafe roads. In my home State of Tennessee, over 1,000 Tennesseans lost their lives in traffic accidents in 2003. Treasury Secretary Norm Mineta rightly says:
If this many people were to die from any one disease in a single year, Americans would demand a vaccine.
We do have a medicine of sorts. In fact, we have a cure of sorts. Passing the highway bill will save 4,000 lives each year simply by making those roads safe, by improving those roads, as well as educating the public about road safety. In Tennessee, where seatbelt usage is among the lowest in the country, our State highway department is taking action, but, like transportation departments all across the country, it needs our help. The highway bill will provide Tennessee with more than
$3.8 billion over the next 5 years to invest in our State's highway infrastructure.
Safety is a top priority of this legislation. Another serious goal is to get America's highways back on track economically. America is interlaced by nearly 4 million miles of roads and highways. Our transportation infrastructure is worth about $1.75 trillion. Every $1 billion we invest in transportation infrastructure generates twice that much--$2 billion--in economic activity and creates over 47,500 jobs. The interstate highway system has often been called the greatest public works project in history, and for good reason.
Our roads, ports, and railroads are vital to America's economic success. We know that well in Tennessee, where we are home to companies such as Federal Express, U.S. Express, Averitt Express. Unfortunately, America's transportation infrastructure is deteriorating badly and becoming painfully overcrowded. Our roads and highways are not keeping up with demand. Just ask any American commuter--bumper to bumper traffic all day long. Indeed, in our Nation's urban areas, traffic delays have more than tripled over the last 20 years, and not just in the big cities but all over the country. In Raleigh Durham, for instance, commuting time has gone up 25 percent in 10 years. In Charlotte, traffic congestion has added 39 additional commuting hours per year. That is nearly an entire work week that has been added, sitting in traffic. In Tennessee, traffic congestion has increased in all of our major metropolitan areas. In Nashville, my hometown, commuters drive an average of 32 miles per person per day. Metropolitan planning organizations are struggling to meet demand.
Americans suffer the loss of more than 3.6 billion hours in those traffic delays, and that translates down to 5.7 billion gallons per year of fuel being wasted. These transportation delays ripple through our Nation's economic sector and ultimately result in lost wages and lost jobs and lost productivity.
Traffic congestion also generates more pollution. Cars that are caught up in stop-and-go traffic emit far more pollution than they do on a road that is smoothly flowing. The American Highway Users Alliance estimates that if we could free up America's worst bottlenecks, in 20 years carbon dioxide emissions would drop by over three-fourths, and Americans would save 40 billion gallons of fuel.
Time, money, and quality of life are being burned up in traffic jams. The highway bill goes a long way to alleviating many if not most of these problems. The key to that effort is the improvements it will make in our mass transit system. The highway bill provides generous provisions to improve our bus and rail systems that make our urban centers thrive. In Tennessee, it will provide more than $240 million over the next 5 years to improve our transit for our rural and urban commuters. Taking the train or the bus will be more convenient and less time consuming and more comfortable.
As we consider this legislation, keep in mind that oil prices are climbing to historic highs, and the summer driving season is just around the corner. For the sake of every family right now planning their vacation for this summer, every commuter who parks and rides, every minute we spend in a traffic jam, I do urge my colleagues to work quickly to pass this bill.
One final note, and it is a note of caution: We need to stay within our budget limits. We have a rising deficit. We have a President who has clearly laid out his spending parameters, several of which will be spelled out in the budget we will bring to the floor tomorrow. But I am confident by working together we can get this done, and we can demonstrate reasonable fiscal restraint.
Our vast and interconnecting highways are emblematic of our American spirit. They represent what being American is all about. They represent that spirit and love of adventure, our drive for the unknown. Our highways, bridges, roads, trains, and ports are the physical, tangible expression of the United States. I do urge my colleagues in the great American tradition, in every sense of the phrase, to keep America moving forward.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
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