ITS America Legislative Conference Spells Out Prognosis for Transportation Reauthorization
IVsource.net
4 February 2003

On January 10, ITS America hosted a legislative conference focused on ITS and the reauthorization of the soon-to-expire TEA-21 legislation that has set USDOT priorities and funding for the last several years.  The wheels are rapidly turning in Washington to shape a new program, temporarily dubbed “TEA-22.”  IVsource was at the conference to check out the prospects for the Intelligent Vehicle Initiative and related programs.

On January 10, ITS America and the law firm of Troutman Sanders jointly hosted a legislative conference focused on ITS and the reauthorization of TEA-21.  TEA-21 is the name of the Congressional legislation passed in 1998 that has set USDOT priorities and funding for the last several years, and it expires at the end of FY2003 (October 1).  Now that it is time to re-authorize the program, the wheels are rapidly turning in Washington -- government officials are laying out the Bush administration’s priorities, Members of Congress are generating their own ideas, and the usual legions of lobbyists making themselves heard.  The new legislation has been temporarily dubbed “TEA-22.”

IVsource was at the legislative conference to check out the prospects for the Federal Intelligent Vehicle Initiative and related programs.  Proposals floated last year in early discussions included creating incentives for consumers and commercial fleets to purchase intelligent vehicle safety systems, as well as greatly increased funding levels for IV research.

During the one-day conference, attendees heard from staff of the key Congressional House and Senate committees charged with drafting the next surface transportation bill.  State and local transportation stakeholders, private sector executives, as well as transportation associations also outlined their goals for reauthorization. Seasoned Hill experts explained how the 2002 election results might affect the bill.

The day consisted of five panel sessions, as follows:

• TEA-21 Reauthorization: A View from the Hill

• State and Local Priorities under Pressure

• Fundamentals of ITS and Federal Funding Issues

• Legislative Issues for Telematics and Intelligent Vehicles

• Looking Forward - Effects of the Election

Unfortunately -- but as expected -- the day’s focus was overwhelmingly on the highway side of Intelligent Transportation Systems.  Here lies the big money and big political points for Members of Congress – highway construction and improvements are very visible to the electorate.  However, a few tidbits were gleaned which are of interest to the IV crowd.

Congressional staff representatives speaking at the morning panel showed no awareness whatsoever of the intelligent vehicle side of ITS.  Their comments were focused on big picture highway issues.  Overall funding levels for transportation are expected to be robust, they said, as public money flowing into highway construction has always been a winner for creating jobs and revitalizing the economy.  IVsource can at least speculate that the larger the overall ITS budget, the greater the likelihood that some increased IVI funding can ride on the coattails.

Infostructure Could Pave the Way for Advanced Vehicle Apps

An area that seems to be receiving fairly strong support is the building of an “infostructure”  which will provide ubiquitous information on the status of the various transportation modes.  The infostructure is seen as key to travel management, traveler information, and (notably) the very hot topic area of homeland security.  

One aspect of the infostructure is the collection and dissemination of data using vehicles as information probes, otherwise called “floating car data (FCD).”  A government commitment to supporting FCD development, working with commercial information service providers, could catapult this engineer’s dream into reality.  The resulting communications linkages between cars and the roadside would open the way for advanced applications in the IV field, such as inter-vehicle maneuver coordination through vehicle-vehicle communications.  State and local governments are among the supporters of developing the infostructure – for instance, a speaker from the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations noted that this was a key aspect of their recommendations to Congress.

AASHTO Taking a Strong Stand on Safety, Congestion Relief, and Research

John Horsley, Executive Director of the powerful Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) provided a number of insights in a luncheon keynote address.  

He noted that highways were funded at $168B covering a six year period in the current legislation, and AASHTO joins many others in seeking total funding of well over $200B covering the same period in TEA-22.  AASHTO’s recommendations to Congress include support for continued investments in safety and congestion relief, including ITS approaches.  A call is made for the Federal Highway Administration research program to increase by 50% to $300M annually, for the ITS Research program to increase to $125M annually, and for ITS deployment funding to increase to $140M annually.  AASHTO seeks $25M in annual “vehicle driver safety research” for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and $20M annually in motor carrier / truck safety research at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Horsley noted with enthusiasm a recent visit to Minnesota DOT, in which he witnessed, and was wow’ed by, a demonstration of the lane guidance technology now being tested on MnDOT snowplows.

Some Got It, Some Don’t

In another disappointment, the promisingly-titled panel “Telematics and Intelligent Vehicles” in reality only dealt with telematics – some useful aspects here for the broader IV world in the areas of communications and digital maps, but conference organizers clearly dropped the ball in neglecting active safety systems and the potential gains from vehicle-highway cooperation.  But in the bright spot of the day, in an earlier panel, Dr. Mike Walton, chairman of the board at ITS America and professor at the University of Texas at Austin, clearly laid out the vision for “intelligent vehicle-highway systems,” a vision, he said, that was valid over ten years ago at the outset of the program and even more viable today due to advances in technology and the deployment of increasingly intelligent systems (albeit separately) along highways and within vehicles.  

The fact remains that, even while rhetoric regarding safety is high, funding for IV research is likely to be disproportionately low at the federal level in the US.  And the visionaries for advanced applications that can enhance safety and traffic are few.  While IV advocates are hoping to see some positive changes in TEA-22, the outcome is far from clear at this stage in the process.

IVsource will continue to track events in the reauthorization arena as they develop.

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