Intelligent transportation infrastructure: a national goal.

• Position: Secretary of Transportation Federico F. Pena speech - Forum - Transcript

Editor's note: The following article consists of excerpts of a speech delivered by Secretary of Transportation Pena at the Transportation Research Board in Washington, D.C., on January 10, 1996.

This year marks an important milestone for our transportation industry: it is the 40th anniversary of the law creating the Eisenhower Interstate System. In the 1950s, there were 60 million vehicles. Americans could not travel from one state capital to the next very easily. There were traffic jams. Almost 40,000 people per year were killed on the roads - which is about how many die today, but we have triple the number of vehicles. So President Eisenhower asked the nation a question: If we have a congested and unsafe and inadequate system, how can we improve it so that in 10 years it will accommodate our nation's needs?

The interstate system was built because this country set a goal. We put manpower and money behind something we wanted for the good of the nation. It was because of that commitment, an obligation our leaders felt they had to the next generation, that we have today the finest interstate system in the world. Every time this country has set a national goal and the American people have supported it, we have moved forward as a country. When John Kennedy called for America to land a man on the moon in a decade, we did.

I believe it is time we set a new goal for our surface transportation. We ought to ask the same question President Eisenhower asked: How do we prepare for the next decade?

In the past 10 years, we have seen a 30 percent increase in traffic. When my five-year-old daughter starts driving in the next 10 years or so, she will be seeing 50 percent more cars on our roads. She will experience freeways as parking lots.

Americans lose two billion hours each year to gridlock. It causes stress, and commuting two and three hours a day takes valuable time away from Americans, who could spend it on the job or at home with the kids or exercising or reading. What about the person who is in an accident, injured and bleeding, and waiting for an ambulance to get down the highway at 4:30 in the afternoon? Businesses lose $40 billion per year due to congestion. Here in Washington, congestion adds $1,500 to the cost of driving. Since we are in a national debate on where to cut taxes, why not start with cutting our hidden $1,500 congestion tax?

I say it is now our turn to commit to building the next frontier in surface transportation. That frontier will be in the information age. If tens of millions of Americans can surf the information superhighways, then 175 million should be able to drive on high-tech highways.

I'm setting a national goal: to build an Intelligent...