NATIONAL SURFACE TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE Robert D. Atkinson (Chair) President, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Washington, DC Martin Shultz (Vice Chair) Vice President, Government Affairs, Pinnacle West Capital Corporation, Phoenix, Arizona Donald F. Carmody, Director, Two Rivers Financial Group, Mount Pleasant, Iowa Jeffrey C. Crowe, Chairman of the Board, Landstar System, Inc., Jacksonville, Florida Mark Florian, Managing Director, First Reserve Corporation, Greenwich, Connecticut Bryan Grote, Principal, Mercator Advisors, LLC, Mount Airy, North Carolina Bill Kennedy, County Commissioner, Yellowstone County, Billings, Montana Mike Krusee, Representative, Texas House of Representatives, Austin, Texas Craig Lentzsch, Chairman, American Bus Association, Dallas, Texas Dana Levenson, Managing Director and Head of North American Infrastructure Banking, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Chicago, Illinois Adrian Moore, Vice President for Research, Reason Foundation, Los Angeles, California Kathy Ruffalo, Government Affairs Consultant, Ruffalo and Associates, LLC, Washington, DC Elliot G. Sander, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, State of New York Zack Scrivner, City Council Member, Bakersfield, California Geoffrey S. Yarema, Partner and Infrastructure Practice Group Chair, | February 26, 2009 The Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr. President of the United States Senate Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Washington, DC 20515 Dear Mr. President and Madam Speaker: We are pleased to transmit to you the final report of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission entitled "Paying Our Way: A New Framework for Transportation Finance." Over the last two years the Com- mission has worked to respond to Congress's charge in Section 11142 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act—A Legacy for Users to assess future federal highway and transit investment needs, evaluate the future of the federal Highway Trust Fund, and explore alternative funding and financing mechanisms for surface transportation. In developing this report, the Commission benefited from extensive input from a wide array of experts from organizations in the private and public sectors. This investigative effort was aided by the release of our interim report in February, 2008, "The Path Forward: Funding and Financing Our Surface Transportation System," which identified guiding principles and a systematic approach that have underpinned our evaluation of alternatives and the resulting policy recommendations included in this report. The recommendations we offer focus on transforming the way we, as a nation, pay for critically needed surface transportation investments and, in so doing, respond to the urgent need for fundamental reform. The Commission recognizes that while such change will neither be easy nor occur overnight, the transportation system and the nation cannot afford to wait. Expansion of short term, conventional funding measures will be required in the interim. This report is signed on behalf of all fifteen Commissioners and represents a carefully deliberated consensus of opinion about the various strategies that we believe, together, can help solve our surface transportation investment crisis and provide a useful road map for transitioning to a new financial policy frame- work. We appreciate having the opportunity to serve on the Commission and we trust the findings and recommendations contained in this report will aid your efforts to address the current challenge and put the transportation system back on track toward a safe, effective, efficient, fair and sustainable future. |
As required by statute, this report along with an identical letter is being transmitted to the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Finance of the Senate, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate, and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate.