Five transportation fights to watch in Congress

On Tuesday, House Republicans released their transportation bill, which would spend $260 billion on highways, bridges, transit and other programs over the next five years. The House mark-up is today, with Democrats already decrying the legislation. Here are five fights to watch:

Vehicles on the U.S. Peace Bridge border crossing in Buffalo, N.Y. (David Duprey/AP) 1) Will the bill get funded by oil-drilling revenue? House Republicans want to maintain current levels of transportation spending — about $54 billion per year. Trouble is, gas-tax revenue has been steadily declining as Americans drive more efficient cars. So, to make up the difference, Republicans want to tap revenue from expanded oil and gas drilling in places like (potentially) off the Virginia coast and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Drilling foes aren’t thrilled for obvious reasons, while budget hawks aren’t happy about this because those revenues are speculative and may take a long time to appear.

2) How much oversight will new highway projects get? One complaint often heard in debates around the stimulus bill were that big infrastructure projects take forever to get underway because they have to go through environmental review and the like. The House GOP bill would try to speed this process by imposing a 30-day deadline on many environmental reviews and allow both the president and states to pick certain projects to go through expedited review. Opponents argue that this would impose arbitrary deadlines on large projects and limit community input into big projects. Jane Jacobs, presumably, wouldn’t be ecstatic.

3) Will the bill help or hurt public transportation? Mass transit seemed to fare okay in the first draft of the House bill. Historically, transportation spending has been split, with about 80 percent going toward roads and 20 percent toward mass transit. The House bill maintains those shares. Still, the bill does cut Amtrak’s budget by 25 percent and also eliminates funds for the Transportation Department’s TIGER grants, which have awarded some $2.6 billion in competitive grants for 172 projects that have a “significant impact” on a region, like inter-city rail or multi-modal access to airports. Even more significantly, some Republicans are planning to introduce an amendment tomorrow that would divert all gas-tax revenue away from mass transit.

4) Will bigger trucks be allowed to roam the highways? Right now, trucks that weigh more than 80,000 pounds aren’t allowed on interstate highways. The House bill would allow states to raise that limit to 97,000 pounds — in some cases 126,000 pounds. The bill would also permit large multi-trailer rigs to go as long as 100 feet. The trucking industry likes this provision — bigger rigs mean they can carry more stuff per trip. But safety advocates are worried that it could make the roads more dangerous. The Truck Safety Coalition points out that truck crash fatalities actually rose 9 percent in 2010, even as overall traffic fatalities were declining.

5) Are pedestrians and cyclists getting screwed? Among other things, the House bill cut funds for a variety of programs to promote walking and biking — even though bike commuting seems to be rising, growing 57 percent between 2000 and 2009. State highway agencies will no longer get money for programs to try to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists. Earlier this afternoon, House Democrats tried to restore funding for these programs — along with the Safe Routes to School program to identify and promote safe walking and cycling routes to school — but their amendment failed. This fight will almost certainly be a high-profile one in the Senate.

Bonus sixth!) Is the bill big enough? Okay, this doesn’t seem to be an actual fight in Congress these days, but there's a broader policy question as to whether the transportation bill actually spends enough to meet the nation’s infrastructure needs. For example, a 2011 report (pdf) from the bipartisan group Building America’s Future argued that truly upgrading the nation’s air, highway, and rail infrastructure would cost something like $200 billion a year. Another 2009 report to Congress found that $200 billion a year was necessary just to clear the backlog of existing projects — four times the size of the House bill. In a world ruled by deficit worries, those numbers aren’t on the table. But there are plenty of people who think they ought to be.