Providing transportation in rural areas and Railroad Safety. Well also learn about the department of transportations priorities for the coming year. Live coverage on cspan3. We have some wonderful, luxurious, very nice seatingrow. Id like to encourage everybody tole to closer. Were going to have a very nice discussion. Id like to encourage everybody closer. Make the setting a little bit more cozy and familial. We very much enjoy that. We like having a nice conversation about one of our favorite Public Policy issues. Yeah. Right along there. Thanks so much. Well, great. I want to welcome everyone to this panel. Again, thank you, all, very much for joining. My name is lawrence smith. Deputy assistant secretary for policy at the u. S. Department of transportation. It will be three years this month that ive been at the department. Incredibly honored to be part of a great team. Doing a lot of what we think is really, really awesome work. Going to be a lot of help to a lot of different parts of the country. Were just really, really excited about. I had the honor of serving previously with secretary chao at the labor department. Its been a real fascinating experience seeing different cabinet agencies and, you know, how the different structures and different organizations work. Im joined today by four really excellent panelists i think youre all going to really enjoy hearing from. I first want to introduce alex hergott who is the executive director of the federal permitting Improvements Steering Council which in our love of acronyms in d. C. We pronounce f. And hes been in that role since september of 2018. He served previously as the asore at director for infrastructure at the white house. Prior to that he worked for senator james inhofe for environment and public works and served as primary staff for transportation and water issues and helped to pass the 2005 and 2012 surface transportation reauthorization bills. He also worked on the Water Resource Development act of 2007. Alex also served as senatorin hoffs office as legislative director and then deputy staff director for the Public Works Committee to fax the america surface transportation reauthorization, fast act and the water improvement structure act in 2016. Next i want to introduce jane williams, the acting administrator of the foerl Transit Administration. She brings over 20 years of executive experience to a role having served previously at the department of energy and the department of labor under president reagan and the department of interior under president george h. W. Bush. Mrs. Wils leads a agency of 500 people located in washington, d. C. And ten regional offices across the country and responsible for a annual budget of over 13 billion and insisting over 3,000 transit providers in all u. S. States and territories. The fta is one of the department of transportations nine operating administrations that provides financial and Technical Assistance to lobel Public Transit systems including buses, light rail, Commuter Rail and rollies and ferries. Nicole mason is the administrator of the federal Highway Administration since april of 2019 and she leads the department of transportation responsible for the nations 59 billion federal aid highway program. Previously she was the assistant secretary at the bureau of administration for the u. S. Department of state. She has served in numerous roles in washington, d. C. And from the National Traffic Safety Administration and in that role she was the twotime recipient of the gold medal for the department of transportation which d. O. T. Highest honor and served as assistant sect for Government Affairs for 2003 to 2006 and before that in the legislative branch for the council of the u. S. House of the judiciary committee. Our final panelist is Quentin Kendall from the federal Railroad Administration. Hes responsible for providing executive leadership and guidance on policy matters and budget and administration and regulatory implementation and communications and stakeholder and government relations. He previously served as the Deputy Assistant sect for management and budget from 2005 to 2008 under secretary panetta and chief of staff to mary peters in 2008, 2009 and most recently from 2013 to 2018 he was the Vice President for State Government and community affairs. So that is our panel. And im going to transform myself briefly into a panelist myself and i want to give you all an update on the initiative that were excited about at dot, our routes initiative and keeping with our love of acronyms this is the rural opportunities to use transportation for economic success. So let me see if i could get our slide going here. So the routes initiative is part of the departments effort to address underserved rural areas across the country and in this role we have several different works that we think are going to be very helpful. There we are. Okay. Rural networks are incredibly important part of the transportation system. Lets make sure i havent gotten too far here. There we go. So one thing that weve been trying to assess and gather the data that will tell us more about some of the areas that we believe have been underserved in recent decades and something that weve done is we have some talking points but i want to get to some of the data, some of the specific points that weve looked at that we think are incredibly important for why we think that this initiative is necessary. The first pillar that we see within our Rural Initiative is the safety impact. 46 of all highway fatalities in the u. S. Are in rural areas. And when you consider that rural areas house a majority of the countrys land variable, only 19 of the population, that 46 looms large. Youre dealing with a multiple of several factors of safety impact where so many of the fatalities are in rural areas. And we think that is an issue that we really need to address and understand more of. The second major pillar of our Rural Initiative is the infrastructure condition. We see that a great majority of closed and out of service bridges are in rural areas and that is a number of the areas where we have not been able to keep up with the maintenance that those areas of this countrys needs. And why is that important . That is important because of the third element of the Rural Initiative which is infrastructure usage. One of the stats that i think is eyeopening is the 44 in the first bullet, the 44 of all rural vehicle miles traveled are actually driven by urban residents passing to or through rural areas, whether going to visit family members or recreation or transiting to another urban area, that 44 number is incredibly important and then you see that bottom number there, that 47 of truck fee occurs in rural areas and a great majority of everything you see at the supermarket gets there by truck on the ground. So the routes initiative is why we are doing this. But what it is is a tros Developmental Initiative to coordinate and understand what resources the department has within our authorities, within our programs to address rural needs in ways that we could do a better job getting that coordination and getting that information together. Right now the department is developing a tool kit that will be available to all grant applicants. But particularly we see from underserved areas, smaller areas, applicants that may not have as many resources that those applicants would have the opportunity to sort of see in an accessible document what are the ways that that grant applications could be completed and the elements of successful grant applications and that is something weve spent a lot of time working on. We also have a request for information that is current in the federal register and you probably all didnt know that you were getting a homework assignment today coming to this session but this request for information is open until january 27th and we are looking for commentary, thoughts, suggestions on what the department can be doing, what are the areas of need and some of the things that the department should be considering when were trying to readdress this balance and doing a better job of coordinating to make sure we could help rural areas become better resources. And again i appreciate your attendance on this issue we think it is the departments most exciting initiatives and were happy to look at that. With that, im going to click to the next slide which will bring up a eventually, it may take a moment, the next slide for our next panelist and alex hergot, the federal permitting improvement Steering Council. Im going to yield the mic to you. Oh, yes, my staff is waving to me that we are also going to get to the q a portion after the presentations and the q a will be well do the index card method so anyone interested in sending in a question, we have folks around the room that have index cards and you could signal one of them and theyll bring you over one if you want to send up a question and were going to read those after we do presentations. So look around for those. I have alex over there and folks over here and well read and respond to your questions in a little bit. So alex. All right. Thank you, lauren. How many of you just a show of hands for the audience, how many are of are familiar with the federal improvement Steering Council . That is enough. Rest assured youre not going to forget what it is after this presentation. But my name is alex hergot im the executive director of the council appointed by the are president with with a singular goal to ensure cross all federal agencies that we could address a systemic issue which is oftentimes a lack of clarity on who is actually in charge of making decisions across up to 13, 14 federal agencies on major Infrastructure Projects that span Service Transportation and beyond that over to broadband, Water Infrastructure and aviation, energy, and several others. Which you could see at permitperforman permitperforman permitperform. Gov. And as my clean over at dot,s it is the importance of things to do within an agency to ensure that were stewards of the public trust and as Civil Servants ensuring were providing the best most infrastructure in the company and trying to achieve the most pragmatic balance between the Natural Environment and human activity. Of the 4 million miles of roads in this country and most are on the routes we have to ensure that most of the roads that were built more than 50, 60 years ago and Water Infrastructure more than 80 years ago that when we maintain and modernize and restore those physical assets were not held up with unnecessary red tape. Is this my clip here. Green button forward. So ill walk you through a brief explanation of what the council is and then take some questions and show you how we actually for the First Time Ever provide a onestop shop within the federal government to ensure there are no communication breakdowns and that the kind of expect apgss that you have on your federal government to give you decisions, not necessarily yeses, but decisions in environmental reviews is essential to ensuring predictability and transparency. It was created in law by the fast act. What does it offer . It offers a transparent online dashboard with enhanced coordination across all agencies from a team that exists in my office which is an independent Government Office that sits outside all of federal agencies and reports direcly to the president. How does the council deliver those benefits . From working with not only project sponsors, those trying to move projects through, the relevant resource agencies and the states and the communities and the tribes to ensure that the decisions in a need to be made are done within a time frame and in a all relevant information is available to all individuals at all times to ensure that we could adjudicate disputes and resolve issues and at some point in the process hopefully within the time line ensure that the final decision document or record of decision or all of the relevant authorizations that are spread across federal agencies are done in an appropriate amount of time within existing statutes. What does this look like. Were going to get into that. But at the heart of that and im not sure if the cspan 3 folks in the back could see this, but this is the famous chart we made for the president a couple of years ago. In order to put a permit, a project, in this case, just a regular ordinary federal highway project these are the amount of Decision Makers required across 13 federal agencies not including the state and federal although it is a vertical chart, it looks but the bottom line is this you could have 14 different agencies making up to 52 different decisions according to 15 different statutes, not taking into account the respective guidance, neppa regulations and the Court Precedent that dictates how a project is to be done across federal agencies. You shouldnt have to be a lobbyist or be an expert to figure out how to move a project through the progress. This is not a republican or democrat issue, this is a common sense progress performance issue to make sure we have a reliable federal partner within the federal government that could serve as a resource to provide and protect the environment and ensuring there is a reasonable a reasonable understanding that at some point we have to build stuff in this country and we could do it responsibly without holding it up in unnecessary red tape adding cost and unnecessary delays which in some cases require Additional Resources to augment those that could have been spent building projects doing administrative things that could be fixed with transparency building the project. One stop shop. You call our office. Your a project. We put you on the dashboard. When you have an issue, you dont call 12 different agencies or call federal highways or fta or the forcest service or fish and wildlife even though it may be a d. O. T. Project, we help you and that is a service that we offer and created by i think 92 senators when it was passed in 2015 and in recognition that we needed a Statutory Council that existed within the federal family to provide the kind of clarity and predictability that we should have been offering 15, 20 years ago. Executive level oversight. The council is made up of the deputy secretaries of every federal agency and or their designee and they appoint a serpo and they do the daytoday and only during a dispute among the agencies or where we have a Critical Path issue and significant delays that we expect that we could head off before they land themselves in an issue where we have annin tractable decision between two as agencies or litigation and dispute resolution. If we have a disagreement between two agencies i could go off to the office of management and budget and it is the strongest remedy that exists in federal law. This is how you become a project. You apply. Did i turn that off. Is that an audio visual . All right. If a project is of 200 million of economic activity, dealing with one more or federal agencies or required an Environmental Impact statement, you could apply to the council under one of the eight covered sectors which ill get into a second. With we work with the lead federal agency and within 14 days we decide whether or not your project meets the minimum requirements to be a covered project. Within 60 days, this is where the rubber meets the road, we develop a coordinated project plan which is a realistic and prudent plan across all agencies state and state and tribal if they opt in so we could actually have a road map to how we build a project over a period of time with the idea that on average agencies will meet these goals within two years for Environmental Impact statement decision and 90 days for all relevant permits. This is what the dashboard looks like. We did it so an eighth grader could understand which is really where my reading level is. This is where it is. These are the projects. We list it in a central repository across respective agencies websites or mined within Environment Impact statement documents and for those that have read the 10,000 page documents that is why the Administration Last week made strides to ensure we have pragmatic reasonable documents that get the point across without ensure that you needed a ph. D to figure out whether or not the Environmental Impacts to your community or to you were something that needed to be addressed. All of the relevant information when developing the administrative record for many of the projects they are across all agencies and here we have a point of contract managed by a rely able federal partner with a onestop shop to show you who the effected contact is within the agency and who the sponsor is and we move from there. All of the relevant permits, it requires authorizations from the epa, fish and wildlife service, potentially the u. S. Forest service and potentially the state delegated authorities on section 402 of the clean water act which deals with with nonpoint discharge or a permit that deals with 401 of the clean water act. All of though, although we may not have jurisdiction are listed in one place and we have the road map and understand the requirements on other agencies to make decisions so the lead agency and in this case would be federal highways or fta could make a decision without having to without having to do whackamole across the other federal agencies to try to figure out what their respective requirements under the statute are in the process. In the more details analysis within those permits, where it is with milestones and timelines. And this is really what it is about. It is about having an understandable, reliable chart that shows you where in the process you are with expected planned completion times. The only way those dates could be changed is if my office is notified within 30 days in a milestone extension is asked for and that could come from the sponsor or the state or the agency. It is not necessarily a bad thing. But were trying to get to a very rational pragmatic way in which not to just have dates on a sheet that are changed or paused without really an understanding of why so that the public, the project sponsor and the agencies know exactly where a project is at all times. There iss also the opportunity for states to opt in. To the fast 41 process where what they will do in some cases if not a colead under nifa will have so we have the full out look and road map of what decisions need to be made and when. So that he with could get to a logical and pragmatic conclusion to the permitting process. Weve had tremendous amount of successes where weve saved Million Dollars on projects, often times it is difficult to assume what the savings would have been as the opportunity cost of projects that are being completed on time. Many of these are projects that were completed below budget and earlier than anticipated but as many of you know if we get the project done when we said were getting it done following all required statutes and addressing the public concerns and addressing and collaborating with relevant stakeholders, thats a win. These are the sectors that are covered under fast 41. There is a clear definition of what projects are eligible. We have 200 million projects which makes it the largest entity of its kind in the world. This is something that you may not have heard of because the goal is not to put out press conference, the goal is to work with with states and agencies and to make sure that as we roll out the other respective goals and initiatives within agencies like routes or what my colleagues on the panel are going to talk about, is that they continue to do that within their own respective agencies and the department of interior could put out its separate secretarial orders dealing with process reform and mapping on their own yet there is an independent council that sits on top of all of those councils that is made up of the Department Secretaries that could adjudicate disputes in realtime and provide transparency. If a project is 50 beyond the original state i have to notify congress. What were doing here is not tremendously a novel concept. It is back to basics. It is having a timeline, adhering to the timeline and making sure that for the First Time Ever that we have an online dashboard that all can see. That all can see. Whether they are for or against the project to make sure that we move things through the process without unnecessary cost and red tape, without it being just a talking point or a third rail. Were actually doing it. So with that, ill turn it back over to lauren. I guess well take questions later. Thanks so much, alex. Just an incredibly important issue and aresh your leadership and the work that the team and fipsi are doing on this issue. Next to jane williams, federal Transit Administration and i think well just our panelists, were not going to go to slides so theyre going to remain seated while they do their presentations. Now, jane, thank you very much for being here. What is going on at fta. Good afternoon and thank you, lauren. And i appreciate the opportunity to be here with my colleagues nicole and quentin along with alex here from the permitting improvement Steering Council. I know im in good company when im sitting here with all of these rock stars. Im pleased to have the opportunity to share some things today with you about the federal Transit Administration vision for the future. And how we can adapt our mission to improve Public Transportation across americas communities to meet the expectations of our 2020 riders and theyre demands and what they continue to expect from us as we deliver transit across the country. You know, transportation secretary elaine chao has made safety the number one priority along with infrastructure and investment and innovation at the u. S. D. O. T. And as we look ahead to the future of transit, these three priorities will continue to guide all of our work. And of that, of course, we begin with safety. Her number one priority. Last year fta certified all 31 state safety oversight programs across the country. Meeting a deadline required by law that provides more rigorous safety oversight of federally funded rail Transit Systems. As many of you know who live in washington, d. C. Know assumed direct oversight of the washington metropolitan area Transit System for four years it was the 31st and final state safety over sight agency to be certified. We call it the wmsc which stands for the washington metro rail safety commission. With that certification that were able to transfer the responsibility for direct safety of authority to them last year and or this past march. And let me tell when people ask me what kept me up at night, that was one. That was priority number one when i came into fta. I came out of mdot, the maryland d. O. T. And responsible for helping draft the legislation in maryland that had helped set up that commission. Relinquishing that direct safety oversight role and seeing all states achieve certification is an accomplishment that were very proud of and shows the positive partnership between fta and the states. If a state wasnt certified by the deadline which was april 25th of 2019, i would have to withhold all transit funds for that state. It doesnt matter if it was rural or urban or rail it was all transit funds so that is the second thing that kept me up every night. When i came into fta not one certification had been completed. And so im very proud of that accomplishment and the hard work that fta and the states did to get that done. It helps guide how we do state safety oversight today and it is put us on a path in how we model our safety efforts as we have gone through our Public Transportation Agency Safety plan rule. And so i think the states understand that we want to be their partner. And we want to be helpful and so our p test rule is forwardlooking. It requires transit agencies to develop wholistic safety plans that meet their individual criteria in their own communities and states so it is a proactive Safety Culture from top to bottom. So we anticipate that they will all meet the july 20th, 2020 deadline as we continue to work with them on Technical Assistance. Were also including innovation into our safety work at fta and much of the Innovative Research that we funded uses technology to improve transit safety. At fta session tomorrow ill highlight one of the projects that is really showing this promising results. Unlike highways, we have a very Small Research budget of only 20 million but at Pierce Transit theyre doing research on an automated Collision Avoidance system on their buses. And in short, the Warning System will automatically deploy the brakes when they sense a pedestrian in a crosswalk. Well continue to support that kind of Innovative Safety research to save lives and weve already seen a reduction in pedestrian fatalities so were hopeful that we can replicate that kind of a pilot across the country. As you know, fta supports the transit industry with a lot of funding in Infrastructure Investment. In fact this past fiscal year we awarded 2,000 granted totaling almost 15. 5 billion for transit and since 2017 weve actually funded 25 projects in our Capital Investment Grant Program totaling 17. 6 billion in Infrastructure Investment for transit. And this is in urban areas predominantly but weve also worked very hard to find ways to support rural Transit Systems in communities across america as well helping people access jobs and school and medical appointments. In fact, these systems are sometimes vital for people in Rural America to get to just those types of appointments. And so working with the secretary, weve emphasized that the administrations interest in balancing the federal support for Rural Communities and making sure that there is equity in the funding as she noted rural areas are not looking for a handout, they just want afforded funding and when we had the annual bus and bus facility program, 55 of those dollars were awarded to rural and small urban systems and those communities could not be happier. And really helping rural residents across america be able to get to access jobs and health care and education. So now let me leave you with the final thought which is innovation. That is the secretarys third priority. And this is truly an exciting time to be in the field of transportation. Were just starting to realize some of the tremendous potential and some of the promising innovation happening. I just attended ces last week and i cant even begin to tell you some of the things that we saw there and how innovative just in a year og two our Transportation Network is going to look like. Weve been very encouraged by innovation across the industry. For example houston metro redid their entire bus grid. They started in 2015 i had to do this when i worked at the maryland d. O. T. And it is not fun to do but it is so incredibly necessary. They redesigned it and looked at buses, their bus network and where they needed to increase frequency to take people where they are to where they need to be and those patterns change over time and sometimes transit agencies dont want to look at that and it is so incredibly necessary. They start it in 2015. In 2018 they provided 1. 5 million more trips than they had in 2015. Just basket th just because t leveraged the Data Available to them. It is incredible things are happening. In flint, michigan, the Mass Transportation authority, they launched a new Mobility Program to improve access to Health Care Services for their veterans. Ed benning, the ceo there, is incredibly innovative at looking at what his Community Needs are and meeting them whether in a be in a cmatt car or equinox that holds seven or a small van or a 40passenger bus. He diversifies the fleet and uses the need that he needs to carry the people that are there. And so were looking forward to working with these innovative partners within the industry and really driving innovation in this next year. It is incredibly important. Our riders expect it. They are demanding it and we look forward to the discussion today that we have with all of you. Thanks for having me. I look forward to the questions. Thanks so much, jane, for those comments. Again, appreciate everything youre doing and the fta is doing. I want to go to nicole mason of the federal Highway Administration. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you lauren, im glad to be here with you today. Appreciate being on this wonderful panel with new colleagues and old. And im certainly looking forward to the q a. But i wanted to stress that jane mentioned that secretary chuis top priority is safety and it will not surprise any of you to hear quentin and i both echo that. It is the top priority of the department. It is one of mine for all mode of leadership so i thought i would start by borrowing from our wonderful acting administrator james owens at nhtsa and talk a little bit about the fatality data. Just over a month ago my colleagues at the national highway Traffic Safety administration released the highway crash fatality data for 2018 through the fatality analysis reporting system, the far system. The total highway fatalities in 2018 decreased, 913 fewer fatalities. This represents a 2. 4 decline from 2017. That is the good news. The bad news is it is still 36,560 People Killed on our roads. Despite improvements in roadway and intersection design, work zone management, traffic incident management, the work that many of you in this room are doing every day, plus more safety features than ever on every vehicle, we are still losing an average of 100 People Per Day on our nations highways and this is the challenge that we all need to meet. In my congressional testimony for my confirmation hearing which i was reflecting back on because it january of last year i made clear that Pedestrian Safety was an area that was a top priority for the federal Highway Administration. Pedestrians are among our most vulnerable users as many of you know. And our 2018 far data revealed a 3. 4 increase over 202017. 6,283 pedestrian fatalitiesm that is the highest level in merely 30 years. We are committed to working with with nhtsa along with our state and local partners to implement innovations in Pedestrian Safety. At fha a, our safe transportation for every pedestrian step, my favorite, is helping transportation agencies address pedestrian crashes by promoting Cost Effective Counter Measures with with known safety benefits. These engineering Counter Measures markedly increase Pedestrian Safety. For example, when we install a pedestrian highway beacon at a crossing, pedestrian crashes go down by nearly 70 . Just changing the timing of an intersection signal to give the pedestrians a head start before the light changes for vehicle traffic leads to a 60 reduction in pedestrian vehicle crashes at those intersections. When we add a sidewalk just separating the pedestrian from the road, we see up to 90 reduction in crashes involving pedestrians walking on that roadway. We know that one size does not fit all. And we are interested in working with our state and local partners to provide a variety of engineering options. Rural needs are not the same as urban and we know this. And the bouts initiative by secretary chui makes clear everyone is a priority. And so were focusing on a variety of engineering options to help reduce fatalities. I dont want to drown you with statistics. But i just have one or two more that i thought you might find interesting. Our national highway system is being stretched like never before. Our highways are have witnessed tremendous growth over the years. People are driving more and people are driving farther than ever perfect. Last year more than 225 Million People racked up 3. 2 trillion miles on americas roads. That is up 12 billion from just the year before. Its an increase of 264 billion more miles than the last ten years and up 612 billion from 20 years ago. Our interstate system, the backbone of the American Economy is handling three times the number of people, five times the amount of Traffic Volume that it did when it was first built. It is more than 60 years old. And were asking more than ever. While discussions on infrastructure evolve, daily, weekly in washington, d. C. We seemingly have bipartisan agreement that infrastructure is a critical issue and it is a priority for this administration. Im sure youre closely following the efforts of Senate Environment Public Works Committee. Over the past several months the committee unanimously approved the America Transportation infrastructure act on july 30th. We were happy to provide Technical Assistance. In fact we provided record levels of Technical Assistance last year which i think speaks to the level of interest in reauthorization. The committees action marked an important first step. We will be closely following the action of other Senate Committees and of course the house as they work on their reauthorization bills. Our wonderful deputy mala parker and our a. A. For policy and legislative affairs alex etchin and lauren baker have been continually having ongoing conversations with the congress and with our partners all across the country and were going to keep talking in the coming months as that leads up to the experiment aft fast act. Outside of funding, all of us at the department are doing what we can to move projects faster and i really appreciated alexs thoughtful presentation. Make sure that that critical information is getting out to all of you. The efforts overall in the administration to advance Regulatory Reform and improve permitting so states and local agencies can have an easier Time Starting and completing projects is a goal of all of ours. Sand as he noted last friday the council on Environmental Quality public proposed a notice to modernize and facilitate more Efficient Reviews by federal agencies under the National Environmental policy act. As the president stated these reforms will reduce traffic in our cities, connect our Rural Communities and get americans where they need to go more quickly and safely. Your feedback will only strengthen the updates to that regulation. So were asking you to review and to comment. Comment period closes march 10th. Inside of fhwa were also working to conduct our business with what we call a lighter federal touch. How do we reduce burdens to states and to the industry in the execution of our stewardship and oversight role and we take our oversight role very seriously. But at the same time we want to delegate where we can through our special experimental project sep 16 we are testing the delegation of certainly federal Program Responsibilities to the states. These tests are going to inform future policies and efforts to stream line and enhance the highway program. And finally research, development, technology continues to be a priority for fhwa in 2020 and beyond. Jane cover your ears. Fhwa has a half a billion dollars r d budget. And we know were in unique leadership position to identify issues of National Significance that require high risk, longterm distinctive areas of research. Our turner fair bank Highway Research center in mcclain, virginia, also supports the research of other mole administrations within the department of transportation and we believe this is part of our responsibility. So for some examples were working with nhtsa on Human Factors testing, runway and taxiway pavement design, and testing for the faa. Were doing truck platooning with the federal motor carrier Safety Administration. We are talking to fra about rail events and so we know as the secretary has challenged us that we are one d. O. T. , it is fhwas money but these are all of our responsibilities and priorities and we need to Work Together. From connected and Automated Vehicles to improved Construction Materials such as ultra High Performance concrete to enhanced design methods to drones, even 3d printing. These are new technologies in the Transportation Industry that are advancing at an incredible pace and the range of possibilities of these new technologies, the wealth of research that is currently in progress has the potential to revolutionize i think revolutionize the way we travel, the way we move goods, the way we connect with each other. There is widespread recognition now that Automated Vehicles will coexist with conventional vehicles. Operating sidebyside on the highways and fhwa needs to identify Research Areas that are going to support future u. S. Roads. Areas include safety aspects of Automated Vehicles, Operational Efficiency and reliability, overall Infrastructure Ready readiness and the Research Mobility application, we call it karma is here. The karma cars are here. We are trying to accelerate cooperative driving automation. We want Automated Vehicles to Work Together so the goal is to accelerate the understanding of the benefits by testing shared maneuvers. Vehicle platooning, speed harmonization, cooperative lane change and merge functions. Coordination of signalized intersections. We are at booth 629. So i invite you all to stop by and go ahead and grill them. Save all of your really hard questions for booth 629. They are ready for them. Collaboration is key in all that we do. From reducing the number of fatalities and serious injuries on our roadways to advancing innovations. I truly believe that teaming up inside of the department and out is the only way that we are going to achieve success in 2020 and beyond. So fhwa looks forward to working with all of you and hearing your thoughts as we move ahead in this very significant transitional year and thank you very much for your time. Thanks so much. Thanks so much, nicole. Just want to comment, i appreciate your words on safety. In fact, it was two hours ago in this very room but i appreciated your kind comments about the nhtsa administrator james owens in this very room two hours ago sounding the very similar themes that what you were saying. Progress is being made on Highway Safety on the fatality numbers but it is just it is just not enough. It is not enough to be satisfied. There is a lot more work to be done. The Highway Research program and the Highway Safety programs, so much of what you are doing is really, really important and we do believe it is going to save lives. So for all of the work being done at federal Highway Administration, the national highway Traffic Safety administration and all of the other agencies, it is just incredibly important. And i know nicole, some of that comes from your previous experience at d. O. T. And nhtsa and from secretary chow who installed that safety is the number one priority and the Number One Mission of the department of transportation is safety. If you dont get there safely, it is not mobility in a fundamental way. So we keep we keep that center lane that we are a safetyfocused department. Now with with that, i want to go to our final panelist, kwebtsin kendall at the federal railroadvation. Had there are so many projects that you are working on. Tell us what is the front burner. Absolutely, lauren, and thanks so much for having me. I appreciate being here with you all in this jeemly dynamic and fascinating time to be in the Railroad Industry. You start on the freight side, youre seeing dramatic changes to longstanding operating practices in Business Strategies of the class 1 railroads that are resulting in operating ratios in the mid60s with a maintained high level of safety, something that even three, five years ago no one would have imagined seeing these numbers but as you go forward you determine the effects on the National Rail infrastructure and how that he end up deploying technology that we know is coming across all modes of transportation, specifically will the ptc implementation lead to greater safety outcomes through technology. You have the short line industry who is playing its traditional role that it has since staggers act working with the class 1s in assuming the business the rail business and infrastructure that the class 1s no longer see as profitable but with all of the spinoffs over the last two years, theyre on steroids in terms of doing this. But still meeting the needs of the country in terms of that last mile delivery. But even now with the announcement from Brookfield Investment group, even the holding companies, the short lines are being purchased by investment firms. Well see how that plays out. I think we have to be concerned about the restrictions on the state and local level as it related to the transportation and permitting of Energy Product transportation facilities. Obviously this administration is working very hard to turn the tide on that. But on the state and local level, are you seeing restrictions that make it hard for frankly the core business that railroad should be doing, Energy Products, hazmat, it is a challenge that is going on and will continue into the future. And finally on the Passenger Rail side, were seeing significant improvements in amtrak performance and the initiation of private Passenger Rail service in certain high densive corridors so something changes significantly since the last time i was in washington. We need to look at and accept the fundamental truth that rail is central to our nations Economic Growth and should always serve as a viable transportationality turn toif to highway travel. Railroads and operations and investment created 220 billion in economic output and 26 billion in tax revenue. Now the 600 short lines that i previously mentioned, they touch one in five rail cars moving across this country. And for large areas of rural and small town america, short lines are the connection into the National Network for businesses. And businesses shipping their pro products out and products coming back in. And finally amtraks 32 million riders coupled with the 500 million riders on Commuter Rail play a significant role in reducing the societal cost of congestion and restriction and reductions in Greenhouse Gas emissions. So the key to maintaining the competitive advantage or one key that rail provides the u. S. Is ensuring the cost of doing business is not too high to thwart innovation and reinvestment. And were playing our part at the federal Railroad Administration in terms of looking at deregulatory efforts as well. Two recent notices of proposed rule making really looked to enhance our safety oversight based on technology, reflecting new technology in new practices. First, track safety standardsn pr allowed for continuance rail testing and getting visual images and it moves us from a traditional stop and verify rail inspection process and using technology to review the results of those tests and then go to correct any defects in short order. And second, the notice of proposed rule making on brakes that codifies existing waivers related to air brake tests and allows trains to go without prak testing for 24 hours. This approach has been in use in canada and it is going to keep trains moving safely and significantly increase network velocity. But one of the greatest tools we have at fra to advance the importance of role are the discretionary grants that were created within the fast act. Theyve served as rocket fuel in terms of investment into railway and something we didnt have previously. These are the chrissy Grant Programs and the federal state partnership for state of good repair. All tolled in fy 17 and 18 over 100 projects were funded for a total of 900 million. 950 were to support ptc implementation but the balance funded the type of projects that are essential to advancing freight and Passenger Rail projects that enhance u. S. Competitiveness. The chrissy project is like has become very, very popular and is our most flexible and utilized by many rural applicants. A couple of examples that weve recently funded are 2 million Rail Replacement project on the twin city and western railroads so this increasing safety and efficiency of the movement of energy and Agricultural Commodities across western minnesota. Additionally there was an 8 million grade separation project in huntsville, alabama, that supports the opening of a new auto manufacturing plant that will employ 4,000 people in northeast alabama. Chrissy even Funds Research projects including 2. 6 million grant to Kansas State University to study Rail Workforce development which is critical for the industry during this changing times of innovation and technology. So we expect to announce about 250 million in fy19 awards in the next few months and follow that with a solicitation for 325 million in fy20 funds. Now the federal state partnership for good repair grands are different. They focus on expansion of Passenger Rail Service Often with the emphasis on state supported rail service. So some exam bells of recently funded are 77 million for the successful North Carolina Piedmont Rail Service running between raleigh and charlotte. Theyll buy 13 new passenger cars to replace the 1950s era equipment that theyre using right now. In addition, this equipment will allow them to add an additional fourth frequency between charlotte and raleigh, these two growing areas. Additionally the 23 million was allocated for the michigan Wolverine Service between the chicago and detroit markets. The project will allow for train speeds up to 110 miles an hour and improve rail safety for the half a Million People who ride that train each year. And well amouns an additional 600 minutes in Partnership Award this is year. But grant beyond deregulatory efforts and Grant Funding were hard at work in terms of planning the future of the rail network. It working with states and localities to figure out what the future of the network will look like. This fall a drafty is with issued for atlanta to charlotte highspeed rail will connect the two mega regions. A record of decision was issued last year on the washington, d. C. To richmond or d. C. To rva project representing opportunity for the northeast corridor to extend south into virginia. And finally we continue to facilitate the study of the long bridge of 200yearold, twotrack bridge over the potomac river. It is the only rail route north south in and out of the washington, d. C. It carries countless commuter trains vra, amtrak and freight trains and it is critical in terms of how rail goes in the future through this metropolitan area. While were staying on Passenger Rail, since i returned to u. S. D. O. T. After ten years away ive been really impressed by actracks Strong Performance compared to the results when i left. I see a railroad now that has financial ridership and operating performances that are all trending upward with the promise, i think, of that service breaking even in 2020. I see a railroad that has a proactive Strategic Planning process with a bias toward innovation. I see a railroad with with a plan to implement reasonable cost controls and i see a railroad that seeks to enhance the Customer Experience to maximize revenues. So really after decades of politicians extorting amtrak to operate more like a business, theyre operating more like a business. And in true washington fashion not everyone is happy about this but while i think there is a long way to go no one could argue the clear positive trends from amtrak management. I think that points to the growth of the state supported routes. So they the state supports routes carry 50 of amtrak passengers and this is important becauses this is an effort for federal, state and local governments getting together to determine the greatest Transportation Needs as it relates to rail passengers and then working together to come up with a plan to fund them. It is really how transportation should work. For higher speed rail, however, youre seeing the opportunities clearly resting with the private sector. Since 2012 fra has worked with the brightline soon to be Virgin Trains to expand highspeed rail in south florida. And in january of 2018 brightline launched the inaugural phase of the first new privately owned and operated inner city Passenger Rail in more than 100 years. That is pretty significant. There are 17 week day trips between miami and west palm and subsequent phases of this service will go up the coast to cocoa and then take the left turn on the i4 median to orlando and potentially tampa. So Virgin Trains represents the closest approximation in the u. S. To european and asian style Passenger Rail with the excel service being second. But you see the modern stations, sleek equipment, and higher Speed Service in high population regions. And there is probably no better test bed in the u. S. For higher speed rail. Miami and orlando are two of the countries most popular vacation destinations. And are extremely popular with International Travelers used to getting around via rail. Were also working with virgin to look at adding higher speed rail line between los angeles and las vegas. Which is another outstanding city pair for proof of concept. In a more developed stage is the Texas Central railway which is seeking to bring Japanese Shinkansen Technology from the dallas to the houston corridor. It is a Greenfield Railroad for true because it is necessary for true highspeed rail because most of the rail lines in the United States are privately owned and use by freight lines. There are plenty of challenges that are associated with this project but the fact that it is being significantly evaluated i say is clearly a positive to the future of highspeed rail in the United States. So im going to close with safety. A couple of safety issues because of source safety is the top priority of this department this department. And discuss a little bit about the ptc implementation, positive train control is perhaps the most significant Railroad Safety accomplishment in generations. And it is been 12 years and 20 billion plus in the making. The idea is that the 42 railroads, 58,000 track miles, and 236 host tenant relationship operability connections need to have this Crash Prevention Technology in place by december 31st, 2020. Weve achieved the industry has akme achieved several significant milestones. All of the hardware has been installed and testing and were coming along well. There is over 90 compliance on route miles in operation. So were probably about 51, thousand, or 52,000 miles and five of the class seven railroads are at compliance and amtrak is at 99. 4. But the key to close this out and meet the dead line will be achieving inner operability between the host and the tenant railroad so where the railroads connect, their systems have to be able to talk to each other and there are multiple connections around the country and that is where this last year is going to be used to focus. Administrator rahm pettery and the faf continue to meet with the affected railroads and inteo make sure that we meet this deadline, this congressionally mandated deadline which has already been extended once. Then finally, we need to discuss Great Crossing safety. Its an issue that administrator nathan and i are spending a lot of time talking about and to give you a little History Lesson on this, in 1993, close to 600 people died in accidents where the highway met the rail line, but due to a sustained focus from all levels of government, the Railroad Industry and nearly 6 billion in federal investment, most of it from federal Highway Administration over the last quarter century, that figure was cut in half by 2 2 2008. Thats great news. The bad news is over the last decade we plateaued add about 200 to 250 annual crossing grade deaths. At a stubborn number. Its really not moving. Over the same period of time vehicle miles traveled has increased by 30 , and society has experienced a proliferation of these things which add to even greater distractions when people are driving and walking. So we have to work smarter and more collaboratively so we can mitigate these impacts and federal Highway Administration, federal Railroad Administration are working closer than they ever have on how to deal with this. I would say a couple opportunities here are looking at the federal highway Section Program which is primarily unchanged since it was initiated and the Great Crossing safety state action plans which were authorized within the fast act. For section 130 i think you really need to think about greater incentives for crossing closures, especially along with redundant crossings. The safest crossing is one that doesnt exist and the more you eliminate opportunities for cars and trains to meet, the more likely you are to reduce fatality numbers. Additionally, how do we focus on lower cost or Technology Solutions to save lives. One of the biggest driver i think of reducing that 600person number many years ago was federal funding lights and gates at Railroad Crossings all across this country. But, in order to stretch the dollar, do we need to think of more lower cost opportunities such as the administrator mentioned regarding the crosswalks and the pedestrians, or are there Technological Solutions here or right around the corner that can make things even safer. Then in the state action plans, this is a requirement that each state will develop a plan in order to address their Great Crossing issues, tremendous opportunity for collaborative effort between our two administrations but also State Governments, local governments and railroads of all sorts. So on a statebystate base, figure out what your greatest crossing safety issues are and put in strategies to fix it. This 250 number is not going to be reduced here in washington d. C. Its going to take our input and our funding but its going to take a concerted evereffort on ground in order to move the needle on that. Lauren, thats what we have on the rail side. We appreciate the opportunity to be here and happy to take any questions anyone may have. Marvelous. Quinton. Im going to move back to the podium because im a naturally fidgety person so its better for me to be standing. Ive got a good one here. Some say that many streamlining provisions in the past bills have not been implemented and until theyre implemented and evaluated, its too soon to pass new streamlining whether by the president last thursday or any new streamlining in the next reauthorization. Why is this the right time to do more streamlining . Well, first of all, this is trb which i love. Quentin and i appreciate that conversation but i have a hot date after this to continue my conversation with some engineers about the hot mix asphalt at 12,000 feet. That sounds awesome. As a result of the f sharp two program and thats why i love being here. Im going to try and keep this short. Heres the important thing to keep in mind. Not all streamlining is created equally and i know that for a fact because i wrote those provisions in 2012 with senator boxer and their staff. I see susan and april and jerry and lots of individuals, d. J. , former assistant to the president that was working federal highways at the time. The recognition is that common sense needs to prevail. However, in 25 or 30 of those provisions, about 90 of them were very much federal highways inwarding looking. They talked about pollinators or categorical exclusions for fra or to the maximum extent possible agencies should engage in concurrent reviews. Much of it was permissive language within our purview as the drafters of the bill through the environmental and Public Works Committee and then again in fact act, we extended el jeblts to fra projects. It would be a misnomer to say to those provisions arent being implemented because some of them are. I look out in the audience and see some of the dot folks. Heres the thing. For the large complicated projects in this country, much of what quinton is talking about or the create project or on janes side the trans express way or the wilson bridge, many of them are not even though dot may be the lead coordinating internally with fta, myriad, fra, then you have to deal with the coast guard Bridge Program and the army corps of engineers on bridge scour and then you have to deal with whether or not white nose bat syndrome impacts your project. Even though you may be a lead federal agency youre going to put out my chart . Thanks for that. Its highly descriptive. Keep in mind that to get a project done through the appropriate process and the required statues effectively within reasonable timelines is the exception, not the rule. The bottom line is those Decision Makers within the federal family are spread across the country and their definition of success might not be working with federal highways on their timelines to ensure that the project is done in the appropriate time. When were talking about gee magnet road design on rural projects, dealing with what jane is working on, the bottom line is we shouldnt be taking 20 to 30 off the top of the project just because we have difficulties streamlining our decisionmaking process. So, for some confession is good for the soul, i wrote the provisions. Ive been operationalizing them. If you ask dot, dot has been implementing these for the last five or six years, not that they werent worthwhile. However, there was bipartisan recognition in 2015 where they created this Statutory Council to recognize that there needed to be an adult in the room that didnt necessarily care whether it was a beneficial restoration project off the coast of l. A. Or whether it was a Solar Project or whether it was an oil and gas project that with clydesdale blinders on we were going to ensure a onestop shop in the federal government that would put something up on a website and that we could defray the risks and the costs of those projects. When we talk about grants or jane is talking about the exciting things on transit, thats on the grant and programatic side. Once those moneys are put together and states and mayors and governors have gone to the ballot box to raise money to build the kind of infrastructure in this country, thats when i come in. Thats why the president has made not only with the changing of the nipa reds and the federal decision and the Statutory Council which oversees the pragmatic process that builds stuff is the normal and not the exception. If anyone would like to talk to us further, we talk from a prags tigs ner standpoint. We can continue this conversation and walk through an exhaustive fashion about how the programatic reforms in map 21 even as fully implemented do not rise anywhere close to the level of what the council and the administration is achieving today. Thank you for that, alex. To follow up on that, basically the point and the value of this visual chart is that, yes, some has been done. Much more has yet to be done, and that would still leave so much for all of the abilities of people to protect and look at these projects but theres still so much more that has to be done. The bottom line is taxpayers, mayors, governors deserve a better product from their federal government. They deserve answers, not necessarily yeses, in a reasonable amount of time. Thats what were trying to give them. Thank you very much. We still have time for a few more questions. I want to go now to jane and the federal Transit Administration. Jane, how are you guys supporting secretary ciaos interest in advancing rural interests and how we balance federal support for those Rural Communities that also have transit interests as well . Most of our funding used to be umta. Most of our funding is directed to the urban core and because we are mass transit, that is appropriate. But when we look at our discretionary programs and forgetting about the formula side of the 15. 5 billion, when were looking at the discretionary side which is about 3 billion, a large chunk of that is in our Capital Investment Grant Program which is predominantly in large urban areas. The remaining 700 million give or take is in our discretionary programs, our buses and bus facilities program, our ferry program, our tribal program, and so as we look at those programs, we try to make sure that we are trying to make sure that rural gets the same kind of look. They have buses. Buses are Critical Infrastructure in Rural America much more so than you dont find a lot of light rail systems in Rural America so when were looking at our buses and bus facility programs, last year was 432 million. Congress added additional funding. 5 5 of the program went to rural and small urban areas so we try to make sure that we try to make up some of the disparity there. It can never be righted because our program is just not funded that way, but when we have the discretion, we do try to make sure that we look for some parity there, so we are happy to be part of the routes program as well and we look for opportunities as we go. So its something we take very seriously. Theres a lot of transit thats actually growing in Rural America and its actually critical. I have a father who is now no longer able to drive and so it hits close to home when he doesnt have transit available to him in Rural America. There is no uber and lyft in Rural America. Theres only on demand service and as you all know on demand service is very expensive so how do we solve that problem is something were looking closely at. Theres lots of different pilots that are happening to solve that, some inside the country, some outside. Were very interested in looking at driving that cost down because its an exorbitant amount of money. Thank you, jane. This question, ill turn to alex, and nicole, if you would like to chime in, what role can states play in the fast 41 process and projects . Well, you know, ive said this often but of the 4 million miles of roads, the federal government only owns a small component of that. The assets owned by counties, mayors and governors, the importance is that they take an activated role in recognizing that throwing your hands up and just saying the National Environmental policy act or the federal government or bureaucracy or red tape is going to hold us back, that theres actually now a common sense solution to that and it states not only can opt in to the fast act but that they can call a council that is made up of practitioners from every one of the federal agencies and that you actually have a technically proficient council that can help move projects through without having this cloud hang over what is, in fact, the federal decisionmaking process. So that is why by statute states can opt in. They can also work with 1307, the president s federal executive order passed in 2017, also recognizing that there is a state role should they avail themselves to it to ensure that for these large complicated projects, not the small rank and file elements which is about 20 of them ensuring that theres a Central Clearing house for moving the lower Level Environmental reviews and project letting and the rest that the states are a partner. Thats why i continue to say a reliable federal partner because theyre the ones that own the assets and are responsible for the maintenance, expansion and modernization of those with the help of dot which makes up a smaller element of those financial components. I want to add how much i appreciate everyone in the federal in the Highway Administration appreciates the partnership that we have with our state, local and tribal govern government partners. We have a great relationship with ashto. Federal highways is lucky enough to have Division Administrators in all 50 states. We have boots on the ground in every single state which means that gives us eyes and ears, particularly for local challenges, and so i just want to make sure everyone knows hand hears me say that we are here to be supportive. We want to be helpful and if its challenging to reach out to us in washington, our Division Administrators are there in every state and they are always happy to answer questions and our wonderful executive director, tom everett, whose support i have so appreciated in the last year, checks in with them every single week, even if i cant because were busy on other initiatives, to make sure that we are taking in all concerns and trying to help provide solutions. So we want to be good partners. Thank you, nicole. I would add to that that secretary ciao unveiled the routes initiative at the ashto conference in st. Louis just a few months back. Thats where she did it because of the value that we have and the esteem that we have for our state workers. Thats a great example. Alex, this question come on, lauren. We got administrators up here. I only need an Environmental Assessment not an Environmental Impact statement. Can i still apply to fast 41 . That should be a quick one. The short answer is questions because the authority thats given not only under the executive order and in statute is that, yes, a covered project requires an Environmental Impact statement. It also allows for eas and, frankly, any kind of project that is in need of some guidance on how to navigate what i call the black box that is the decisionmaking process within d. C. That we provided clarity on not only with the executive order, with the guidance that came out last week and with this council, is that any sort of project can really avail itself to the council. However, we reserve the covered project definition in the dashboard to those large complicated projects that are 200 million and above. The idea is that the best practices in the annual report to congress where we provide accountability and assessments of how the agencies and the culture and the behavior change at the agencies as they now Work Together to provide a single decision to the project sponsors is that that flows down to all the other projects including those that might be a cat x or mitigated fonzi or ea or is. The goal is not to have 500 projects on the dashboard but to keep it to 50 to 100 where we can bring it on and take off and bring on the new ones. That is really a nipa specific question on the sufficiency and the impact of which many of those questions are going to be addressed. If you havent read the nipa regs that the administration issued last week. A delightful read i should say. Quinton, and this is the last question to you on Great Crossings. How can fra work with state dots on blocked crossings given the interstate Commerce Clause . Fantastic question and thats something that we are definitely leaning into but the key here is collecting the data on where the problems exist. Im a recovering freight railroader and my team was actually responsible for grade crossing safety and block crossings at the railroad that i worked with. Very, very cognizant of it. We know i would say the railroads generally know where their chronic problems are and will attempt to fix those if there are appropriate discussions with Public Officials on this. Interestingly enough, the problems that cant be fixed by operational changes will generally require Infrastructure Investment. What has happened is there is a place where a road crosses a rail and the road was built in 1970s when there werent a lot of People Living in that part of the world and there wasnt a whole lot of train traffic. Fast forward 30, 40 years, a lot of people are living in the area and the train traffic picks up. So theres not necessarily an easy operational fix. Also, Great Crossing issues and blockages are a significant concern now for elected officials. We hear about it but theres nothing new about it. When i came back to the department in fra in the middle of last year i pulled out a letter from the state great rail safety managers to former chief Safety Officer joe strang of the fra saying you got to do something about these blocked crossings. Of course it was dated 2008. And you could probably point to examples prior to that. So while many people are saying this is a new problem, its been ongoing. What the federal Railroad Administration is doing at this point is they have put together an online portal in order to collect information about specific grade crossing blockages, and were working and we will be working to help to publicize this so people know how to use it. Collecting data is really important to administrator batori, so trying to address an issue of concern from citizenry and elected officials based on anecdotal evidence is not the type of approach that we want to take but were hoping with enough penetration of the knowledge of this online portal and collecting enough data about where the problems are, then it will help us sort of build an understanding again of where the issue is and then of course work with the railroads and state and local governments to find the best way to address it to provide relief to the communities. Thanks so much, quinton. I just want to comment again. I mentioned earlier that secretary ciao always reminds us that safety is our number one priority. Really three major pillars that we have for our mission at dot with safety being number one and then also preparing for the future of transportation through all the technology and innovation that we see happening in transportation these days, and then that other major pillar is rebuilding americas infrastructure. So safety, infrastructure, and preparing for the future is our mission. Hopefully with this panel weve discussed how we touched on really all those three when were talking about the core area of infrastructure, saving lives. Alex, jane, nicole and quinton, thank you guys so much for being here with us today, and folks in the audience, will you please join me in giving our panelists applause. [ applause ] thanks, everybody. Have a great night. Tuesday the House Foreign Affairs committee will hold a hearing on iran and president trumps decision to kill an iranian general and the subsequent missile attack by iran on u. S. Bases in iraq. Former National Security adviser Steven Hadley and the president of the council on foreign relations, richard haas, are set to testify. Watch that live Tuesday Morning at 10 00 eastern on cspan3, online at cspan. Org or listen live with the free cspan radio app. The impeachment of president trump. This week the house will vote on impeachment managers, sending the articles of impeachment to the senate. Follow the process live on cspan, on demand at cspan. Org impeachment, and listen on the free cspan radio app. Next, a hearing examining the impact of
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