Transportation Agency Leaders Promote Safety at Hearing
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Agency administrators at the U.S. Department of Transportation outlined safety directives and proposals during a recent congressional hearing.
Administrators including Robin Hutcheson at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and Shailen Bhatt from the Federal Highway Administration fielded questions from a Republican-led House panel Dec. 13. Lawmakers met to examine the implementation of 2021’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Bhatt pointed to the agency’s role in advancing safety initiatives. Funding such improvement programs stems primarily from the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law.
“FHWA has taken numerous actions supporting implementation of projects that improve safety and people’s lives, including distributing more than $180 billion in highway formula funding to states, and issuing notices of funding opportunity for approximately $14.7 billion in available funds,” Bhatt told the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. “We are currently administering nearly 1,500 grants totaling approximately $10 billion across 15 discretionary programs, with more on the horizon.”
Hutcheson emphasized, “We continue to work with our state and local government boots-on-the-ground partners across the country on the critical goal of improving safety, leveraging the increased resources in our formula and discretionary grants by prioritizing inspections for high-risk carriers, dedicating resources to high-crash corridors and work zones, and closing loopholes to prevent unsafe drivers and carriers from ever being on the road.”
We continue to work with our state and local government boots-on-the-ground partners across the country on … closing loopholes to prevent unsafe drivers and carriers from ever being on the road.
FMCSA Administrator Robin Hutcheson
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At the hearing, Carlos Monje, undersecretary of transportation for policy, reminded policymakers of DOT’s central focus.
“Safety is the department’s top priority and in 2022, Secretary [Pete] Buttigieg announced the ambitious goal of achieving zero roadway deaths through the department’s National Roadway Safety Strategy,” he said. “The infrastructure law gave us new resources to invest in road safety improvements across the country in pursuit of this goal.”
Monje
The safety strategy outlook was published in response to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s data pertaining to traffic fatalities. Per DOT, the strategy document “outlines the department’s comprehensive approach to significantly reducing serious injuries and deaths on our nation’s highways, roads and streets.”
Earlier this year, NHTSA announced 42,795 individuals died in 2022. The figure, a slight decrease from 2021’s estimate of 42,939, relied on data about people involved in motor vehicle traffic crashes.
On Capitol Hill, transportation leaders re-emphasized their commitment to improve highway safety. Highways policy panel Chairman Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) told the subagency leaders, “I will ensure the resources provided by Congress are addressing our most pressing transportation, safety, infrastructure and supply chain needs, which I know is a shared, bipartisan goal of all of us.”
Norton
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), the subcommittee’s ranking member, observed: “As implementation continues, our country will see safer transportation, improved mobility, a cleaner environment and better access for all communities.
“Much work remains to be done. America is experiencing an epidemic of traffic fatalities, which is falling disproportionately on pedestrians, cyclists and communities of color.”
To mark IIJA’s second anniversary in November, the White House indicated, “The bipartisan infrastructure law invests over $300 billion in repairing and rebuilding America’s roads and bridges — the largest investment since President [Dwight] Eisenhower’s investment in the interstate highway system. This funding is already improving safety, strengthening supply chains and reconnecting communities across the country.”
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