Report of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission

Just as it helps to know your destination before starting off on a trip, our Commission believed at the outset that it is important to have in mind a vision of what the national surface transportation system might look like — or at least how we’d like it to function — in the middle of the 21st century. But before we even began to sketch this futuristic picture of the system, we agreed among ourselves that our fundamental motivation should be to help the United States to create and sustain the preeminent surface transportation system in the world.

We decided to aim high, in other words, and that pledge has sustained us through many long and sometimes contentious meetings — and has in the end allowed us to reach agreement on a surprisingly wide range of often sweeping policy proposals.

Our report, Transportation for Tomorrow, attempts to chart a course with this lofty goal as a destination. It is an action plan aimed at an ultimate achievement — to be the best — and we offer it with full faith that this goal can be reached and the vision realized.

• In our view, the United States could lay claim to best-in-class status in surface transportation when all of the following statements hold true:

• Facilities are well maintained--Mobility within and between metropolitan areas is reliable

• Transportation systems are appropriately priced--Traffic volumes are balanced among roads, rails and public transit--Freight movement is an economic priority

• Safety is assured

• Transportation and resource impacts are integrated

• Travel options are plentiful

• Rational regulatory policies prevail

Speaking more broadly, we envision a surface transportation system where funding and function are inextricably linked. When making investments — and we do believe that substantial new transportation investments will be required — we must demand results, the kind of results that can be estimated in rigorous benefit-cost analyses and tracked by means of performance-based outcomes. We envision a system where needed transportation improvements can be designed, approved and completed quickly, and without unnecessary delays. We see a system that is fully integrated by mode (rail, road and highway), and which provides mobility to all users (urban commuter, rural resident, freight hauler). The transportation system we seek is environmentally sensitive, energyefficient and technologically up-to-the-minute. And, above all, we envision a transportation system that fosters economic development and spurs output and productivity growth at levels never seen before in history.

In other words, and as we said initially, we think it should be the goal of this nation to create and sustain the pre-eminent surface transportation system in the world.