Public Transportation Policy – Construction, Operations & Maintenance

Public transportation systems range in capital construction and maintenance requirements, given the varied type of systems. However, ARTBA encourages all transit systems to be developed with the following considerations:

• Standardization of procurement and contracting regulations throughout a transportation corridor, to eliminate duplicative or inefficient requirements.
• All parties to projects should approach Buy America (BA) compliance in a collaborative manner. It should be incumbent upon U.S. DOT to develop a current and regularly updated directory of Buy America qualified suppliers that contractors can rely upon, rather than placing the responsibility for certifying BA compliant materials on individual contractors on a project-by-project basis. This directory should also acknowledge regional disparities in terms of material availabilities. Disproportionately burdening the contractor with this responsibility will likely result in unneeded project cost increases and delays.
• ARTBA supports policy modifications that would require designers and specifiers of transportation projects to assess the availability of materials to be incorporated into the project and make all reasonable efforts to use available BA qualified materials as the basis of design. ARTBA also supports nationwide waivers that would exempt commercially available off-the-shelf products from BA requirements, due to the burden of traceability of component materials in these products and their de minimis financial impact to total project value.
• U.S. DOT must also ensure that the application of Buy America be consistent across all transportation modes and related sub-agencies like the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration and Federal Rail Administration.
• The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program should work to attract certifiable DBE firms, to enable and assist them to grow and develop within the safe harbor of the DBE program, and to facilitate their transition into the broader, unsheltered market as financially viable and technically proficient construction companies and professional service firms. The DBE program should use the rate at which DBE firms successfully graduate into the unsheltered construction market as its primary metric. Long-standing programmatic issues should be fixed. These include how goals should be set, over concentration and reverse discrimination within the meaning of 49 CFR §26.7(a), the meaning of “unreasonably high price” and “commercially useful function,” making “good faith effort” less subjective, making certification databases user friendly, and measuring and reporting DBE capacity.
• Transit agencies are increasingly pursuing alternative procurement models to reduce cost and share risk on projects. ARTBA supports consideration of these models, so long as they are not mandated by the federal government and that state and local agencies are given maximum flexibility and enabling authority to determine the best procurement method for a project. ARTBA encourages early contractor involvement as agencies consider alternative procurement models are considered.
• The federal government should encourage interoperability across transit systems to facilitate coordination. Given the multitude of transit operators with interfacing corridors, working to enhance communications systems and technologies will improve system performance for all users.
• Digital construction technologies provide mechanisms and processes to decrease and more properly allocate project risk, reduce schedule uncertainty, increase productivity and efficiency, lower cost, and deliver safer, higher quality, and environmentally sustainable infrastructure projects. To accelerate innovation in the U.S. transportation design and construction industry, ARTBA supports the adoption of open data standards, the model as the legal document (MALD), and modern, commercially proven, and competitively acquired digital construction technologies and processes for public transportation projects.

The following represents system-specific perspectives on behalf of the transportation construction industry perspectives.

Fixed Guideway Systems

Fixed guideway systems represent an effective component of urban transportation networks, serving major travel corridors in large metropolitan areas and central business districts. Fixed guideway systems can be an effective part of a comprehensive strategy for urban revitalization and transit-oriented development. ARTBA supports the development of fixed guideway systems, where projects can be economically justified by a comprehensive transportation, economic and social analysis.

General Fund appropriations for the Federal Transit Administration Capital Investment Grants should grow to meet the growing demand reflected in the pipeline of projects, while also fulfilling obligations to projects with Full Funding Grant Agreements.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)

A BRT facility will often operate in the same corridor as a roadway. If communities choose to pursue BRT systems, ARTBA supports flexibility for communities to design projects either in separate right-of-way (ROW) for the exclusive use of public transportation vehicles or in preferential lanes.

Low/No Emission Buses

As bus fleets transition to low and no emission alternative fuels, there is significant opportunity to reduce carbon emissions. However, upgrading technology and constructing charging capabilities is costly and complicated. ARTBA encourages transit agencies that are electrifying their fleets to consider the design and construction of charging stations and to consider non-stationary charging options.

Bus, Streetcar and Related Facilities

ARTBA supports the use of federal funds for bus and streetcar capital projects. The route flexibility inherent in bus transportation combined with the ability of the buses to share roadways with other highway motor vehicles provides significant potential benefits for investment in buses and bus facilities. At the same time, as buses are often connectors between other transportation systems, intermodalism is an important consideration.

To fully realize the benefits of federal investments in bus and bus facilities, highway-related improvements such as preferential lanes, traffic signalization and bus turnoffs must be made. Many streets—particularly in residential areas—must be upgraded to accommodate the weight of buses. These highway-related improvements should be financed with Highway Trust Fund–Highway Account (HTF-HA) funds.

Passenger Rail: Intercity and High-Speed Rail

Passenger rail systems are key components of the nation’s integrated transportation system, facilitating intercity and interstate mobility. The national rail network provides energy-efficient, cost-effective transportation, and is essential to the nation’s economy and national security. To ensure the full utilization of this network, continued public and private resources must be invested in freight and passenger rail infrastructure improvements. State or multi-state authorities should be responsible for planning, design, construction and operation of new intercity passenger rail systems – contracting for these functions as appropriate with private contractors.

To increase the efficiency and trip time competitiveness of the intercity passenger rail system, ARTBA supports the development of high-speed rail (HSR) corridors, where justified by marketing forecasts, economic feasibility or social requirements, with a goal to be a competitive alternative to aviation or automobile travel.

To generate the additional investments required to maintain, improve, and expand the intercity passenger rail network and to develop high speed rail corridors, ARTBA supports the following:

• Protect and Acquire Rail Right–of–Way (ROW)—The abandonment of rail lines and the utilization of the unused ROW for non-rail purposes is an impediment to the development of the nation’s rail network. ARTBA encourages the adoption of policies to protect or recapture rail ROW. Such policies would ensure necessary rail lines and connections can be developed to improve the operations of the freight rail system and provide ROW for the development of high-speed rail corridors—as well as fixed guideway transit in metropolitan areas. ARTBA supports legislation that specifically allows public agencies to restore future rail service whenever they choose.
• Dedicated Funding Mechanism—ARTBA supports the creation of a long-term, dedicated funding mechanism to finance capital investments in intercity passenger rail infrastructure. These capital improvements should be financed by levying appropriate user fees, in addition to fair box charges, such as a rail passenger facility charge and/or the use of tax advantaged bonding. Operational activities are appropriately financed by the federal General Fund.
• Federal/State Matching Grant Fund Program—ARTBA supports the creation of a federal/state matching fund program to provide investments in intercity high speed rail corridor development.
• Tax-based incentives—ARTBA supports the enactment of federal tax incentives—such as tax credits for owners of rail infrastructure who invest private resources in upgrading the rail network where passenger rail service utilizes privately-owned freight rail track.
• Appropriate Use of Federal Rail Funding—ARTBA supports the use of federal revenues for long-term capital costs, including right-of-way acquisition, design, construction, project management and oversight of high speed or high-density rail corridors, and the purchase of rolling stock and major infrastructure rehabilitation activities.
• Privatization—ARTBA believes that states and public authorities should be encouraged to initiate competitions between qualified private operators, with approval of track owners, to provide intercity passenger service. Private sector entities, like Brightline, offer opportunities for state agencies to expand intercity passenger rail, including HSR, service. These public-private partnerships should be encouraged where best-suited to expand intercity rail connections.
• Capital grants—ARTBA supports programs that provide capital grants to states from outside the Highway Trust Fund, like the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail Grant Program and Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program, to develop traditional corridors and to initiate a new program for HSR corridors with a process that encourages rail corridor development through public private partnerships.
• Corridor Identification and Development Program—ARTBA supports federal programs to generate a pipeline of viable intercity passenger rail corridors where federal support is directed. Programs, like Corridor ID, should assess projects on a range of criteria and not disadvantage larger, more complex projects.