Senate Bill Cuts Highway Money

Democratic leaders on the Senate Commerce Committee are calling for what might be called a shift away from highway freight transportation by 2020.

Chairman John D. Rockefeller, D-W.V., and Sen. Frank Lautenburg, D-N.J., chairman of the surface transportation subcommittee, on Thursday morning filed the Transportation Policy and Planning Act of 2009.

The bill is a wish list of policy objectives that the Senate will advocate as Congress drafts a new multi-year surface transportation spending bill.

The bill upstages, temporarily at least, a surface transportation bill being drafted by Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Oberstar has said he plans to have his bill before the House in June, and final legislation to the president by Sept. 30, when the current transportation bill expires.

The bill does not call specifically for a reduction in highway freight, but proposes that the “proportion of national freight transportation provided by non-highway or multimodal services” be increased by 10 percent by 2020.

The bill also links surface transportation policy with climate goals, calling for a 40 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by transportation sources by 2030, a reduction in overall per capita vehicle miles traveled, reductions in congestion and transportation delays, and greater use of public transportation.

Contact R.G. Edmonson at bedmonson@joc.com.