SURFACE TRANSPORTATION: BUDGET ISSUES AND OPTIMIZING INVESTMENT RETURNS. TESTIMONY

This is the statement of Kenneth M. Mead, Director, Transportation Issues, Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division, General Accounting Office (GAO), before the Subcommittee on Transportation, Committee on Appropriations, United States House of Representatives, on key issues affecting the implementation of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) and the results of some of GAO's past and ongoing work in the area of surface transportation infrastructure. Weighing alternate surface transportation investment choices is becoming increasingly complex because decision makers need to address the deterioration of the nation's roads, bridges, and transit systems; traffic congestion; air quality; energy efficiency; and mobility for the elderly and disabled. ISTEA authorized an unprecedented level of funding to help meet transportation needs and also gave state and local governments more flexibility to determine how funds should be distributed between highway and transit projects. The testimony addresses (1) the variability in the projected financial condition of the Highway Trust Fund, (2) the potential ramifications of authorizing new demonstration projects, (3) the use of funding flexibility, and (4) the need for improved analytic tools for making investment choices.

• Corporate Authors:

  U.S. General Accounting Office

  441 G Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20548
• Authors:
  • Mead, K M
• Publication Date: 1993-4-22

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Appendices;
• Pagination: 15 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Decision making; Demonstration projects; Finance; Financing; Flexibility; Ground transportation; Implementation; Infrastructure; Investments; Local government; State government; Testimony
• Identifier Terms: Highway Trust Fund; Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Public Transportation; Research; I10: Economics and Administration;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00628992
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: GAO/T-RCED-93-29
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 6 1993 12:00AM