House Debates Easing Rules for Road Project Approvals
This story appears in the April 10 print edition of Transport Topics.
The rebuilding of the Interstate 85 bridge in Atlanta that collapsed last month may serve as an exemplar for how to expedite federal and state permitting rules, argued House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.).
Shuster is leading a cadre of GOP policymakers on Capitol Hill championing reform of regulations related to infrastructure construction projects.
“We ought to pay very, very close attention to how fast this moves, because we need to learn from this, as we did by the Interstate 35 bridge several years ago,” Shuster said at a Highways and Transit Subcommittee hearing April 4, referring to the 2007 collapse of a bridge in Minnesota, which was rebuilt in about 400 days.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed (D), who testified at the hearing, agreed circumstances come up when project delivery should be expedited, and he called on Congress to increase transportation funding for cities and states. The city received $10 million in federal emergency funds shortly after the bridge collapsed.
The state Department of Transportation announced the bridge would be rebuilt by June 15, reopening a key roadway for motorists. Truck traffic is not prevalent in the downtown route. Trucks rely on nearby I-285 to circumvent the city.
“An overall transportation system is needed now more than ever,” Reed told the committee, adding that the collapse pointed to the need for having multiple freight access routes and a reliable transit system.
Mike Patterson, executive director of Oklahoma’s Department of Transportation, told the panel it needs to examine ways to reform the planning and approval process for highway infrastructure projects. He was testifying on behalf of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
Patterson suggested simplifying the application process and allowing states to take on the responsibilities of engineering and environmental reviews.
“There exists still further opportunity to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of transportation programs and project delivery while remaining responsible stewards of taxpayer resources and both human and natural environment,” Patterson said in prepared remarks.
The White House and many Republicans are advocating for streamlining environmental permitting and reducing regulations for big-ticket construction projects.
Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, who met with Shuster and other Republicans ahead of the hearing, indicated the administration’s long-term infrastructure funding proposal would have in it provisions that would overhaul permitting regulations.
House Democrats pushed back on the emphasis to deregulate and focused instead on a need for additional federal spending for infrastructure projects.
“More and more ‘streamlining’ is not the answer to our infrastructure crisis nor the principal roadblock,” Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) wrote in a letter to Chao.
“We cannot streamline our way out of our funding shortfall.”
The top Democrats on the transportation committee and highways subcommittee, respectively, noted regulations impact a portion of construction projects.
At the hearing, DeFazio suggested approving an increase of federal fuel taxes would provide immediate revenue for highway projects. The trucking sector largely supports an increase in federal fuel taxes to rescue the Highway Trust Fund from insolvency in three years. DOT uses the fund to assist states.
