Home breadcru News breadcru Association/Org breadcru Transportation Secy Mineta highlights traffic congestion & capacities problems

Transportation Secy Mineta highlights traffic congestion & capacities problems

25 May '06
4 min read

This Commission will come to order.

I am pleased and honored to open the National Commission on Highway Funding. And I want to start by thanking all the Commissioners for their willingness to serve.

Our most valuable commodity is time, and you have made the commitment to serve on this Commission and give your time on these critical public policy issues. You have also agreed to serve and bring your experiences, which are vast and varied and which I believe will serve this Commission well in addressing those policy issues.

Because our time is valuable, and because this Commission has much work to do, I am going to be brief in my opening remarks.

Transportation systems and how they should be funded is the purpose of this Commission. By addressing those issues, the Commission will be answering two essential questions – how much… and what kind?

How this Commission addresses these issues will determine its legacy. The measure of any Commission – particularly one created here in Washington, D.C. – is how history judges its contribution.

One outcome is that we will substantially contribute to the future of transportation in this nation. The alternative is what many Commissions succeed in doing – producing a thoughtful, well-written white paper report that becomes one of the more effective doorstops in Washington.

I recommend the first. Here's why.
Transportation is facing a crossroads that I have seen only two other times in my public service career. As on those occasions, there are converging factors in American transportation policy that provide serious challenges, but also a unique set of opportunities.

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