Skip to main content

Obama administration begins work on 30-year transportation plan

The Obama administration has begun to map out a 30-year framework to meet US infrastructure needs, according to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, speaking in an interview with the Washington Post. Foxx promised a comprehensive review of the demand for new or replacement systems a year ago in an address to the Transportation Research Board. He returned to the group this week to roll out conclusions expected in a report later this year. “Transportation is a system of systems,” Foxx said, rather tha
January 14, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
The Obama administration has begun to map out a 30-year framework to meet US infrastructure needs, according to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, speaking in an interview with the Washington Post.

Foxx promised a comprehensive review of the demand for new or replacement systems a year ago in an address to the 856 Transportation Research Board. He returned to the group this week to roll out conclusions expected in a report later this year.

“Transportation is a system of systems,” Foxx said, rather than the aggregate of separate systems that can be addressed individually. “The idea that we’re looking at the system comprehensively is the thrust of this report.”

He said the report, which will be followed by a formal comment period, is intended as the beginning of a conversation about the future, rather than the conclusive definition of a path forward.

The report being drafted by the Transportation Department draws in part on data compiled in recent years by such groups as the Miller Center at the 2005 University of Virginia and the 5515 American Society of Civil Engineers.

An ASCE report two years ago concluded that it would take a US$3.6 trillion investment by 2020 to meet infrastructure needs, about US$1.6 trillion short of current spending. The Miller Center said maintaining infrastructure at current levels required additional spending of US$134 billion to US$194 billion each year through 2035.

Related Content

  • Intersection management, cooperative infrastructures - what next?
    February 1, 2012
    What do recent vehicle recalls mean for future cooperative infrastructures? Anthony Smith takes a look. As ITS industry stakeholders converge on Amsterdam for the 2010 Cooperative Mobility Showcase, an unprecedentedly wide range of technologies will be on display demonstrating what might be achievable in the future from innovations based on Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communications.
  • CBI calls for new approach to road funding
    October 11, 2012
    The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) calls for road charging should be introduced on the strategic road network in England. Proposals in the report, Bold Thinking: A model to fund our future roads also suggest that responsibility for the network’s budget should be taken away from the Department for Transport (DfT) and given to an independent regulator. Launching the report, CBI director-general John Cridland said a regulatory asset base (RAB) model was required to address the problem of long-term fu
  • Rethink required to reduce road transport’s environmental impact
    March 15, 2016
    Against a background of a renewed focus on limiting the rise in average temperatures, Colin Sowman looks at a project that is taking a holistic approach to the environmental impact and safety of road transport. At the COP21 meeting in Paris last December, almost 200 nations agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to keep the rise in global temperatures to 2°C) compared with pre-industrial levels. The transportation sector is a major contributor to the production of CO2, one of the main green
  • Israel aspires to ITS-led future
    May 29, 2013
    Shay Soffer, Chief Scientist with the Israel National Road Safety Authority, talks to Jason Barnes about his country’s current ITS outlook and how he sees this developing in the future. Israel ranks alongside countries such as the US and France in the road safety stakes, with an average 7.1 deaths per billion kilometres driven. But at that point the similarities end, as the country’s overriding issue is pedestrian safety. This is driven by several factors, including being a relatively small country where pe