Mr. Richard J. Feltes
Feltes Sand & Gravel
Co., Inc.
Before the
Senate Environment &
Public Works Committee
Chicago, Illinois
April 7, 2003
Mr. Chairman, Senator Fitzgerald and
members of the Committee, thank you very much for allowing me to testify on
behalf of the National Stone, Sand, and Gravel Association (NSSGA) at this
hearing examining the State of Illinois’ transportation needs in preparation
for reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st
Century (TEA 21).
My name is Richard Feltes. I am co-owner with Timothy Feltes of the
Feltes Sand & Gravel Co. in Elburn, Illinois. We represent the third generation in a family business that was
started in 1920 by our Grandfather and Great Uncle. Our company currently employs 35 full time people. Our business operation is located 40 miles
west of Chicago in Kane County, Illinois.
A major part of our business is supplying sand & gravel products to
concrete & asphalt producers for use on major highway projects in our
market area.
Currently, I serve as Second Vice
Chairman of the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association and Chairman of
the Association’s Government Affairs Division.
NSSGA represents the nation’s aggregate industries – producers of
crushed stone, sand and gravel, as well as suppliers of equipment and services
to aggregate producers. NSSGA is, by
volume of product, the largest mining association in the world, according to
the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Our
850 member companies turn out 90 percent of the crushed stone and 70 percent of
the sand and gravel consumed annually in the United States. During 2002, a total of about 2.73 billion
metric tons of crushed stone, sand and gravel valued at approximately $14.6
billion were produced and sold in the U.S. The aggregate industry workforce is
made up of about 120,000 men and women across America.
Just to provide perspective, there are
10,000 construction aggregates operations nationwide. Virtually every congressional district is home to a crushed
stone, sand or gravel operation.
Proximity to market is critical due to high transportation costs, so 70
percent of our nation’s counties include an aggregates operation.
Construction aggregates are used
primarily in asphalt and concrete.
Ninety-four percent of asphalt pavement is aggregate; 80 percent of
concrete is aggregate, whether used in pavement, buildings, dams, water and
waste water treatment plants and the like.
About 10 tons of aggregate per person are consumed annually in
America. Every mile of interstate
consumes 38,000 tons of aggregate; about 400 tons of aggregate are used in
construction of the average home.
While I appear this morning representing
the aggregates industry, I also appear as a member of the Board of Directors of
the Illinois Association of Aggregate Producers (IAAP). IAAP is a member of the Transportation for
Illinois Coalition (TFIC), a broad coalition of Illinois associations and labor
organizations, which was organized to speak with one voice for all of Illinois
regarding transportation funding needs.
The TFIC focuses on principles and program concepts that will enable
transportation leaders to move forward with a common purpose to obtain maximum
funding to meet Illinois’ infrastructure needs. (TFIC mission statement and guiding principles attached.)
Also, I should note NSSGA is a member of
the Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) and Americans for Transportation
Mobility (ATM) – the two premier national coalitions dedicated to
reauthorization of our country’s surface transportation system.
We seek this committee’s help to assure
TEA 21 is reauthorized before it expires on September 30, 2003. Otherwise, many of the benefits realized
under TEA 21 and its predecessor legislation, ISTEA (the Intermodal Surface
Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, which rewrote federal transportation
policy, are in danger of being lost.
The federal-aid highway program is one of
the U.S. government’s most successful programs. Since 1956, and in partnership with the states, it has financed
construction and upkeep of the largest and safest national network of highways
and bridges in the world. No program is
more critical to the economy of Illinois than federal funding for
transportation needs. From its origins
as the railroad capital of the nation and its development as the hub of major
east-west interstate highways, to hosting the world’s busiest airport, Illinois
has served as the central conduit for the nation’s commerce. Thus, the economies of Illinois and the
nation are inextricably linked. Illinois’ transportation system plays a pivotal
role in the nation’s ability to move goods and people because of its geographic
location and extensive road, rail, airport and waterway network.
Consider this:
However, Mr. Chairman, in order to
preserve the benefits to the country from a robust and efficient highway
system, we can’t ignore that the needs of the system continue to increase. Consider the following:
A total of 8,533 people died on Illinois’ highways
from 1996 through 2001.
Total cost of motor vehicle crashes to Illinois was
$3.8 billion or $308 per capita.
42 percent of Illinois’ major urban roads are congested. It is well documented that highway congestion in the northeastern portion of the state is the third worst in the nation.
34 percent of Illinois’ major roads are in poor and mediocre condition.
19 percent of Illinois’ bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
Maintenance of the nation’s highways is
continual and increasingly costly.
Changes in the program, combined with inflation and ever-growing highway
traffic, have resulted in investment that is not sufficient to maintain the
physical condition of the overall system, let alone improve it.
The problem has been that under TEA 21,
funds have not gone into highway and road maintenance. States have shifted funds into large cost
capacity expansion projects as well as into peripheral construction activities,
such as sidewalks, rest areas, and historic preservation. The net result is that highway and road
maintenance has not improved as much as policymakers have wanted. Accordingly we strongly support the
President’s budget proposal to spend $1 billion a year from the Highway Trust
Fund on highway maintenance and infrastructure performance that are “Ready to
Go.”
Reauthorization of the federal surface
transportation law must focus on providing sufficient funding to maintain the
nation’s highway system and reduce the congestion that is clogging our
highways, thus wasting time and energy, and diminishing air quality.
NSSGA will not be involved in the formula
controversy because of the diversity of its membership. One fact, however,
cannot be denied. Unless federal
highway investment is increased, no state will succeed in improving its share
of transportation funding.
According to the latest federal
government data, around $60 billion is needed annually just to maintain the
current highway system and over $100 million to improve it. In response to these quantified needs of the
system, NSSGA developed its recommendations for TEA 21 reauthorization. (Copy attached)
In summary, NSSGA made the following recommendations for TEA 21 reauthorization.
Recommendation: The TEA 21 reauthorization bill must
provide Federal funding to preserve the national highway system in an amount
that is sufficient and can be justified economically. We join with the TFIC in calling for
increased funding levels for our national transportation system.
NSSGA supports the recently issued
proposal of House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don
Young for a $60 billion a year highway program including an increase in the
highway user fee; both prospective and retroactive indexing of the highway user
fee to the Consumer Price Index; restoring Highway Trust Fund interest;
repaying the Highway Trust Fund the $5.2 cent-per-gallon gasohol user fee
differential; eliminating fuel tax evasion; and, drawing down the trust fund
balance for a total of between $111 and $125 billion annually.
The federal highway program is a
user-funded program. U.S. motorists
generate about $31 billion a year in revenues that go into the Federal Highway
Trust Fund. Illinois’ motorists
generate about $1.2 billion a year in revenues that go into the Federal Highway
Trust Fund. The Revenue Aligned Budget Authority (RABA) is a budgetary
mechanism incorporated in TEA 21 to more closely align gasoline user fee
receipts with investments. Retaining
the highway user fees is absolutely essential to the federal highway
program. NSSGA will oppose any
efforts to reduce or suspend the federal highway user fee.
Also, NSSGA opposes any diversion or
redirection of highway user fees or RABA funds. While NSSGA supports initiatives to prevent the dramatic swings
in RABA monies experienced over the past several years, NSSGA will oppose
efforts to manipulate RABA funding from core highway programs. NSSGA will oppose attempts to divert or
redirect highway user fees from programs other than highways and transit. NSSGA supports maintaining the current
highway/transit funding ratio of 80/20.
In addition to the aforementioned revenue
raisers proposed by Chairman Young, NSSGA supports increased use of innovative
financing mechanisms, including the possibility of establishing a Highway
Funding Corporation along the lines proposed by the American Association of
State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO). Enhancing innovative financing tools already available including
State Infrastructure Banks (SIBs), and the Transportation Infrastructure
Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA), should also be thoroughly examined. We need to look at tax exempt financing for
public-private partnerships, too.
Recommendation: Continue and strengthen the firewalls
established by TEA 21 between incoming federal highway user fee revenue and
annual federal surface transportation investment, including the Revenue Aligned
Budget Authority (RABA) provision.
TEA 21 addressed the shortfall in federal
highway program funding by establishing for fiscal years 1999-2003 budgetary
firewalls to protect highway funding and a firewall to protect transit
spending. Spending for programs with
firewalls may not be reduced in order to increase spending for other
discretionary programs. It is
imperative that reauthorization maintains the funding guarantee and budget
firewalls contained in TEA 21.
Recommendation: Increase state flexibility to use funding
for highway construction.
Constraints on states from using funds for highway construction should be eliminated to allow construction on non-national highway system roads that will reduce traffic congestion and increase safety.
According to the FHWA, there were more than 3.95 million miles of public roads in this country in 2000. FHWA has stated that more than three-quarters of the lane-miles in the U.S. are rural. While this includes rural roads on the National Highway System, there are also hundreds of thousands of miles of rural two lane local roads that carry significant amounts of local automobile and truck traffic. Vehicle miles traveled on these rural roads constitute nearly 40 percent of the national total, meaning that much of America’s commerce and individual movement occurs on these rural roads.
Statistics highlight the fact that rural roads and highways are considerably more dangerous than urban roads. A Government Accounting Office (GAO) report noted that rural roads have a fatality rate that is six times greater than that of urban interstates. In the post-interstate era, increased attention must be given to targeted road improvements that have a high likelihood of reducing crash potential.
States should have the flexibility to enhance safety on rural and local two-land roadways. In addition, federal investment in our rural road and highway infrastructure must be increased not only to enhance safety, but also to ensure continued rural economic development.
Recommendation: Facilitate the construction process by
removing barriers to innovative contracting techniques.
Certain transportation infrastructure
projects may be well suited for innovative project delivery methods that will
serve to speed up project planning, design, and construction. States and local governments should be
allowed flexibility in using innovative contracting and procurement methods
that acknowledge one-size-fits-all procurement and contracting does not recognize
the different and unique characteristics of each state’s highway program.
Recommendation: NSSGA supports studying the creation of
dedicated truck lanes/heavy vehicle lanes as a method of improving public
health and safety, extending the life of surface infrastructure resulting in
lower maintenance costs, and increasing productivity and efficiency leading to
continued growth in national and regional economics.
TEA 21 reauthorization should include
provisions to foster the development of self-financed “truck only/heavy
vehicles lanes” to encourage and allow the use of interstate highway medians,
air and tunnel right-of-ways for construction of these lanes. Truck/HVL only lanes should be eligible for
federal funds including Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ)
and the National Trade Corridor and Border Infrastructure Development Program.
Recommendation: NSSGA
supports developing a mechanism for recognizing/crediting air quality
improvements and congestion reductions.
The air is getting cleaner in major urban areas even though highway
travel in the U.S. has increased substantially.
In fact, vehicle travel on U.S. highways
increased 28 percent from 1991 to 2001.
U.S. population grew by 11 percent between 1990 and 2001. Vehicle travel on Illinois; highways
increased by 21 percent in the same time period. Illinois’ population grew by nine percent between 1990 and 2001.
In spite of increased travel, an October
1999 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Report found that since 1970, motor
vehicle emissions declined dramatically.
The report found today nearly 80 percent of the hazardous air pollutants
released nationwide come from non-transportation sources. By implementing new and innovative
technologies, design, and construction methods, and undertaking major recycling
programs, the transportation sector has played a key role in the air quality
improvements realized over the past three decades. A mechanism should be developed to acknowledge/credit these
pollution and congestion reductions.
Recommendation: NSSGA supports streamlining of the entire
construction process, from concept through environmental review and permitting,
to acceptance by State agencies.
TEA 21 mandated that the U.S. DOT and other affected federal and state agencies develop coordinated efforts and time periods for concurrent review of items required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for projects, as well as other environmental analysis, reviews, opinions, permits, licenses and approvals that are required.
NSSGA supports Administration
streamlining initiatives and urges that TEA 21 reauthorization mandate
promulgation of new regulations that carry out the statutory intent of Congress
to establish firm deadlines for streamlining and expediting the environmental
review process that now can take as long as 14 years. A bench-marking program should be implemented in order to track
progress.
Recommendation: NSSGA
supports reform of the transportation conformity requirements with the federal
Clean Air Act to eliminate the loopholes that have been used by anti-growth
groups to slow or stop already approved and environmentally sound highway
projects.
Due to provisions in the Clean Air Act, the Federal-Aid Highway Act, ISTEA, and TEA 21, the overall conformity process involves various states, local and federal agencies. If an area is out of conformity, federal highway funds are cut off. As a result, an areas’ Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) cannot include transportation construction projects that will result in emissions that exceed the Motor Vehicle Emission Budget (MVEB). The reform objective should be that once a project is approved, it should not continuously be challenged on the basis of what was known or not known at the time of approval since a highway projects is a multi-year construction project and date will be routinely updated.
Recommendation: NSSGA supports reconstitution of the
national highway research program that works in partnership with all
constituencies of the highway community.
A reconstituted national highway research
program should leverage the individual industry constituent efforts and work to
develop a coordinated national program focused on delivery of a long-lasting
national surface transportation system that is safe and environmentally
sound.
Since the major component of highways is
aggregates, a specific allocation should be directed to aggregate research
through the International Center for Aggregates Research at the University of
Texas with an Adjunct at the Texas A&M University. A major aggregate research effort is needed
in four principal areas: 1) to extend the use of locally available materials;
2) to define performance and determine key material properties; 3) to develop
methods to measure these properties; and 4) to then develop methods and models
to predict performance and evaluate impact of variations in design and
products.
The federal-aid highway program has
become more than just a highway and roads construction program. A safe and reliable transportation system is
vital to the nation’s future economic growth, international competitiveness,
homeland and national security – it serves as the foundation for our American quality
of life. The events flowing from September 11, 2001, the lagging economy and
documented under funding of highways point to the need to boost investment in
our national transportation system.
Although ISTEA and TEA 21 significantly increased highway investment,
nothing stands still. America’s highway
and transportation infrastructure is badly in need of upgrading. We cannot ignore the fact that 14,000
fatalities are attributed each year to hazardous road and bridge conditions or
the congestion clogging our cities, concerns that can be addressed only if we
maintain and improve our national highway system.
Again, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this opportunity to testify. I will be pleased to respond to any questions.
Attachments