LaHood asks for 18-month transportation extension

Oberstar opposes move

Steve Hawley, Jun 18, 09.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood asked Congress on Wednesday for an 18-month extension of the current transportation bill, according to Greater Greater Washington. The move came as Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota, chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, prepared to release an outline of the upcoming transportation reauthorization bill.

The current transportation bill, the 2005 Safe, Affordable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) expires on September 30, but with Congress tackling healthcare, climate change, and a Supreme Court nomination simultaneously, it is unclear whether or not the new transportation bill could be in place by the deadline. According to the Journal of Commerce, it took 12 extensions over two years before SAFETEA-LU was approved.

According to Bloomberg, LaHood told reporters, “The truth of the matter is that even if the House were to pass a bill by Sept. 30, there’s no guarantee and highly unlikely that the Senate would. So rather than stringing Congress along with three-month or six-month extensions, let’s face reality.” LaHood further discusses his reasoning on his official blog. However, Oberstar opposes any extension of the current bill, calling the move “unacceptable.”

LaHood said that an extension would also provide additional transportation funding. Due to declining gas tax revenues, he expects the Federal Highway Trust Fund, which finances the federal portion of highway and transit projects, to run out of money around the end of August.

LaHood asked for several reforms in the extension, including streamlining cost-benefit analyses and emphasizing livable centers. Even so, the cost-benefit analyses, as noted by Christof Spieler of the Citizens’ Transportation Coalition, would apply only to transit projects. Highway projects require no cost-benefit justification.

Streetsblog recently examined SAFETEA-LU’s flaws, concluding that the bill makes it much easier to build highways than transit projects.