A New National Transportation Policy for the 21st Century

T4America Executive Committee

Reconnecting America (co-chair)

Smart Growth America (co-chair)

Alternatives for Community & The

Environment (ACE – Boston MA)

Apollo AllianceAmerican Public Health

AssociationAmerica Bikes

LOCUS

Natl Assoc of RealtorsNatl Assoc of City Transpo

Officials (NACTO)Natl Housing Conference

NRDCUSPIRG

PolicylinkSTPP

Transit for LivableCommunities (MN)

20-year Performance Targets

• Triple walking, biking, and public

transportation usage

• Increase access to essential destinations

by 30 minute transit ride or 15 min walk

• Reduce household transportation +

housing expenditures

• Increase proportion of freight

transportation provided by railroad and

intermodal service by 20%

• Achieve zero percent population

exposure to at-risk levels of air pollutionFlickr user: portlandbike.org

Flickr user: karolik

Introduced as HR2724 (Carnahan, Holt, Inslee)

Transportation and a 21st century economy

Location, Location, Location

Projected Demand for Housing in Transit Zones

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025

Households (Millions)

Improving the country's economic and job situation

Reducing federal spending

Ending our dependency on foreign oil

Reforming health care

Improving public schools

Repairing the country's roads, bridges, railroads, airports, mass transit and other

transportation infrastructure needs

Increasing spending on transportation infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges,

railroads, airports, and mass transit

Addressing climate change

94%

75%

69%

68%

67%

44%

40%

30%

% Top Priority

Economic growth remains job number one for Washington, though there is growing concern

about federal spending.

56%

31%

27%

22%

20%

19%

9%

16%

8%

10%

7%

9%

4% Ranked by % Combined Choice

Safer streets for our communities and children

More transportation options

Less money spent out-of-pocket on transportation

A faster commute to/from work

Less time spent in the car

High speed inter-city travel

More predictable travel times

First Choice – 42%

By a significant margin, Americans say safer streets should be the primary objective of

increased infrastructure investment.

Total Acceptable

Total Not Acceptable

Strongly Not

Acceptable

Charging motorists for each mile they drive so that those who use the roads more, pay more. This is referred to as a vehicle mile traveled charge.

17% 81% 70%

Increasing the fees motorists already pay such as taxes on auto insurance, and car registration and drivers' license fees.

22% 77% 62%

Raising the gas tax. The amount a motorist pays depends on how much gasoline he or she buys.

35% 63% 50%

Charging motorists more to use a road, bridge or tunnel during periods of the heaviest use in order to reduce rush hour congestion.

41% 56% 43%

The vehicle mile traveled charge and increases in fees and gas taxes are met with resistance.

➔ Metropolitan Regions➔ that link to one another with roads, air, bus and high speed rail

➔ but also compete with one another for funding, business, people

➔ Goodbye gasoline tax, hello distance & congestion pricing

➔ Competitive grants from federal and state levels

➔ Smarter, more coordinated public transportation

➔ Focus on the big and the small – walkable communities

The Future of Transportation

Flickr user: tallkev

Work with Us!

Join us at

t4america.org

Contact Ilana Preuss

at

ilana.preuss@t4amer

ica.org

On behalf of Building America’s Future (BAF), Public Opinion Strategies and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research are pleased to present the key findings of a nationwide telephone survey.

The survey was completed June 30 – July 2, 2009 among 800 adults. This study has a margin of error of +3.46%.

Slide 13

Top Demographic Groups % Top Priority

Retired Men 75%

Not working, drive 31-60 mins 70%

Ages 65+ 67%

Democrat Ages 50+ 60%

Urban Men 60%

Strong Democrats 58%

Men Ages 55+ 58%

Northeast Region 54%

Adults who drive a truck 54%

Republican Ages 50+ 53%

Married Men 51%

OVERALL 44%

Top Demographic Groups % Top Priority

Not working, drive 60+ mins 68%

Suburban Dads 57%

Men Income Over $80K 54%

Commuting Dads 53%

Democrat Men 53%

Married Men 53%

Ages 65+ 52%

Work commute < 30 mins 51%

African Americans 49%

Work commute >60 mins 48%

Men Ages 55+ 48%

OVERALL 40%

Repairing Transportation Infrastructure Increasing Spending On Infrastructure

There are clear trends on which demographic groups believe infrastructure needs to be a top priority.

While a majority of Americans say the most-used infrastructure items are in good condition,

there is little intensity driving this sentiment.

51% 51% 49%

31%25%

33%

13%17% 17%

Bridges Sidewalks andBike Paths

Roads andHighways

Excellent/Very Good Fair Poor/Very Poor

7%

Excellent

10% 7%

Condition of Transportation Infrastructure Systems

Traffic congestion receives the most negative ratings, while Americans are clearly less confident in their ratings of mass transit.

31% 30%

23%

34%

23%

12%

31%

21%15%

Traffic congestion

Mass transportation systems (subway, light rail, busses)

Intercity passenger rail, like Amtrak

Excellent/Very Good Fair Poor/Very Poor

7%

Excellent

4% 3%

Condition of Transportation Infrastructure Systems

Condition Of Traffic Congestion By Workers Who Drive

31%

41%

28%21%

33% 31%31%

24%

34%39%

30% 32%

Overall Drive 0-29Minutes(19%)

Drive 30+Minutes(38%)

Drive 60+Minutes(19%)

Drive 0-31Miles(38%)

Drive 32+Miles(18%)

Excellent/Very Good Poor/Very Poor

+17% -6% -18% +3% -1%

Those with longer commutes give the condition of traffic congestion lower marks.

“As I read each one, please tell me whether you agree or disagree with that particular statement: Traffic congestion is a fact of life and there is

nothing the government can do to really fix it.”

Total Agree Total Disagree

40% 38%31%

43%

59% 61%69%

54%

Overall Car Commuters(50%)

Non-Car Commuters(6%)

Do Not Commute(44%)

-19% -23% -38% -11%

Commuters, especially non-car commuters, are unwilling to believe the government can’t fix the problem.

Total Agree Total Disagree

“Some of the world's best transportation systems are in Europe and Asia, and not the United States.”

“Our nation's transportation infrastructure is outdated, unreliable

and inefficient.”

62%55%

20%

42%

41% Strongly

Agree 27% Strongly

Agree

A Majority of Americans believe our transportation system is outdated and behind

those in other parts of the world.

Transportation System Is Outdated By Commuters

Total Agree Total Disagree

Car Commuters(50%)

Non-Car Commuters(6%)

Do Not Commute(44%)

53%

67%

56%

45%

33%40%

+8% +34% +16%

The “outdated, unreliable, and inefficient” sense is strongest among non-car commuters.

“As I read each one, please tell me whether you agree or disagree with that particular statement. Transportation infrastructure funding decisions are

based more on politics than on need.”

Key Sub-Groups Strongly Agree

Men 62%

Women 62%

Urban Residents 58%

Suburbanites 67%

Rural Residents 54%

Car Commuters 60%

Non-Car Commuters 55%

Do NOT Commute 65%

Total Agree85%

Total Disagree

13%

Don't Know 2%

62% Strongly

Agree

Nearly everyone agrees that transportation funding decisions are politically driven.

“As I read each one, please tell me whether you agree or disagree with that particular statement. The federal gas tax, which pays for roads, transit

and transportation infrastructure, increases every year.”

Total Agree Total Disagree

60% 59%

48%

64%

23% 24%33%

20%

Overall Republican(37%)

Independent(15%)

Democrat(46%)

+37% +35% +15% +44%

Six out of ten – Republicans and Democrats, alike – believe the gas tax goes up every year.

Finally, it is also important to remember who you’re talking to. Those who are more concerned about the condition of the nation’s transportation infrastructure and more supportive of making it a top legislative priority are:

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These are the groups that are with us:

Middle-aged men, men with incomes over $80,000, men

with a college education or more

Dads who commute

Men ages 55 years or older

55% issue recall

By a 23-point margin, say we need to spend more money

58% say repairing our infrastructure is a top priority

55% say infrastructure is getting worse

53% say increasing spending on infrastructure is a top priority

High issue recall across the board

58% of middle-aged men say it’s getting worse

50% of high income men say we should spend more money

That’s because they are more attuned to the nation’s infrastructure needs.

The groups we need to do a better job talking to about transportation infrastructure investment are (our target groups):

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Homemakers, Stay-At-Home Moms, and Women Under the Age of 35

Women Without a College Degree and

Women Making Under $40,000 a Year

This is who we should be targeting:

Divided on whether transportation infrastructure is getting better or worse

Not sure if we should spend more or less money

More inclined to see “repairing infrastructure” as a top priority than “increasing spending”

More likely to believe transportation infrastructure is getting better (not worse)

Don’t see a need to boost spending

Don’t see this as a top legislative priority

They’re target groups because they are…

Less educated women say they drive an average of 70 minutes a day for non-work related reasons (errands, taking kids to school); the average among lower income women is even higher – 93 minutes a day.

Stay-at-home moms spend an average of 50 minutes a day on the road and 33% say their kids get to school by walking.

And, here’s something interesting:

Stay-At- Home Mom

Home-maker

Women Ages 18-34

Less Educated Women

LowerIncomeWomen

Safer streets for our communities and children 73% 72% 83% 70% 71%

Less money spent out-of-pocket on transportation 38% 32% 37% 31% 34%

More transportation options 22% 27% 23% 28% 30%

A faster commute to and from work 26% 24% 23% 19% 16%

Less time spent in the car 18% 17% 10% 16% 17%

High speed inter-city travel 7% 6% 21% 12% 10%

More predictable travel times 6% 8% 0% 5% 4%

And, among these target groups, the “safety” message is supremely important.

And, that leads up to our final take-away point: investing in transportation infrastructure is about people, not concrete. It’s about keeping roads, bridges, tunnels, etc. safe for us to use and for our kids to play on and travel on. Rather than talk about the need to build “things,” we should be talking about the importance of building safer communities.

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