This is definitely an in-case-you-missed-it moment. On Sunday, the leaders of San Francisco's transportation system and its funding, our Ed Reiskin and Tilly Chang of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, published an Open Forum piece in The Chronicle on the critical crossroads Congress faces as the deadline to pass a real transportation bill approaches.
Read the full text below and contact your member of Congress and urge support for this critical funding.
Congress must pass long-term transportation funding bill
By Tilly Chang and Ed Reiskin
July 26, 2015
Congress is at a crossroads on transportation funding, and our ability to get to work, get to school or make it home in time for dinner hangs in the balance. At stake is the money needed to upgrade the Bay Area’s trains, roads and tunnels — the bones of our transportation system.
By the end of July, Congress could either pass a bill that provides stable funding for transportation for several years, or enact another short-term funding patch, the 35th Band-Aid solution in six years.
We urge Congress to stand up for transportation and pass a long-term funding bill that will allow San Francisco and our nation to thrive. We need bipartisan leadership on a long-term solution, such as the six-year Drive Act backed by U.S. Sens. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. We also like the proposal to index the gas tax to inflation of Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Ohio. The gas tax hasn’t risen since 1993. Since then, the rate of inflation has been 65 percent, meaning the value of the gas tax continues to decline.
As Mayor Ed Lee and other mayors from across the country noted in a recent letter to Congress: “This is not a partisan issue.”
A long-term bill would ensure the Highway Trust Fund stays solvent. The fund, supported by the gas tax, provides critical investment funds for transportation projects nationwide. Those federal funds are how we pay for much of the infrastructure that makes our streets safer and allows our public transportation system to connect hundreds of thousands of people to work, school and play.
If Congress fails to act, the fund will run dry by summer’s end, jeopardizing projects to make transportation safer, more sustainable and more reliable.
Federal funds are enabling us to replace Muni’s entire bus fleet within the next four years. They also are allowing us to replace Doyle Drive with the new Presidio Parkway and build the Transbay Transit Center and the Central Subway, Muni’s first new subway line in decades. Federal funds will help BART buy new rail cars and help electrify Caltrain, critical investments for our increasingly connected region.
Cities are the engine driving the nation’s economy, with America’s 30 biggest cities contributing 50 percent of our GDP. And the economic vitality and livability of cities is directly tied to a safe, affordable and efficient transportation network.
We are expecting 100,000 new residents and 190,000 new jobs in San Francisco by 2040. A predictable source of federal funds is essential to support this growth. Transportation investment also sustains and grows jobs at local businesses and provides working families with affordable, convenient travel options. Locally we’re doing our part. San Francisco voters approved a half-cent transportation sales tax in 2003 and a $500 million bond for transportation in 2014. More local measures in the coming years could provide additional investment.
But we’d still be billions of dollars short of maintaining and building the transportation system San Franciscans need and deserve. Without enhanced federal support, we may experience even more crowded buses and trains, more traffic jams and more harmful emissions as we try to get around in a growing city and region.
We are preparing for the future with smart investments in San Francisco and the Bay Area. Now it’s time for Congress to step up and support a 21st century vision for transportation.
Please contact your member of Congress and urge support for this critical funding.
Tilly Chang is executive director of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority. Ed Reiskin is the director of transportation for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which manages all transportation in the city, including the Municipal Railway.
Model of new LRV built by Siemens. Photo taken June 16, 2015.
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