Surface Transportation Reauthorization: What You Need to Know

The harm the Trump administration is causing is overwhelming: from the dismantling of food assistance and health care, to the persecution of our communities' immigrants, to attacks on the science that typically keep our children from lead poisoning, our families from toxic air pollution, and our communities from preventable disease outbreaks.

But all the while, some of the most important conversations about the future of transportation in the country, and its impacts on our ability to get around, climate and air quality, and household affordability, are being had in the halls of Congress-all in preparation for this thing called surface transportation reauthorization. And the conversations thus far merit plenty of concern.

In short, surface transportation reauthorization (STR) decides the course of our transportation system, and much of it happens behind closed doors. For decades, this process has prioritized industry interests over the needs of our communities-more affordable transportation options that address the climate crisis.

Re-what? Reauthorization? The "infrastructure bill"?

Surface transportation reauthorization is a huge undertaking. It addresses thousands of pages in federal law-from the formulas that decide how many billions of dollars go towards highways and transit every year and how we fund it, to establishing the decision-making processes around transportation projects, to even the minutiae of the research that informs science-based policy. Sometimes this reauthorization is combined with other polices as part of a bigger infrastructure bill.

Here are the three most important things to know:

1. The federal government directs billions of dollars every year, setting the course for transportation across the country. That includes dollars for everything from bridge repairs to bike and pedestrian paths to added bus service. This bill is meant to come up every five years and decides where it goes. The next due date is September 30, 2026, though these processes rarely ever happen on time.
   
2. Reauthorization has long prioritized highway industry interests by investing in expensive and harmful highway expansion over people-oriented and science-based affordable transportation options. Throughout history, federal highway spending has outpaced transit funding 6:1.
   
3. You can make a difference. From initial input processes through committee markup, negotiations, and up to the final vote, there are key places where your voice is needed.

Concerns and improvements for surface transportation reauthorization

Since January, the oil, auto, road-building, and trucking industries, as well as the US Department of Transportation (DOT) and many state DOTs, have been advocating for more funding without accountability, haphazardly dismantling baseline environmental protections and public processes, and blatantly disregarding transportation's role in global warming (if the US transportation system was a country, it'd be the fourth largest emitter in the world).

On top of this, the Trump administration has been wreaking havoc on the long-term investments needed to improve our transportation system, from a new "review limbo" for 3,200 grants, illegal attempts at freezing funding, to threats to funding for ongoing projects based on agency whims. These are attempts to overrule Congress' power of the purse and the standing agreements within Congress under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Congress has the responsibility to stand up for the laws it puts into place, see through industry self-interest, and prioritize a transportation system that works better for our communities. How? UCS' recommendations fall under the following three principles.

Affordable and clean transportation options: Transportation is the second highest household expense, and most people have no option but expensive car ownership to hold a job or access basic necessities. In fact, over 50% of people in the US who already use a car have no other choice and wish they had more options. Congress must:

• Create a federal program for transit operations funding that can build on transit's hard-earned post-pandemic recovery, and make transit more effective and putting money back in people's wallets in communities across the country.
  
• Reform the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Program to ensure it funds emissions-reducing projects based on the best available science, such as the long-term impacts of induced demand from highway expansion.

Accountability and transparency: Congress provides money, and deserves assurances that it is spent in ways that will truly benefit communities in the long term, and that decisions are made through democratic and accessible processes. Congress must:

• Require proportional or weighted representation any time metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) designate officials, so that decisions about what happens in your neighborhood are reflective of community needs.
  
• Require maintenance goals to be met and ensure alternatives are considered before expanding highway capacity. This means fixing potholes and bridges in your area, saving on repair and promoting safety instead of the expensive, polluting, and dangerous highway expansions in your community.

Public health and climate: Communities are still reeling from toxic air pollution, and decades of scientific evidence confirm that burning fossil fuels is unequivocally contributing to dangerous, deadly, and costly climate change impacts. Transit, bike and pedestrian paths, and zero-emission vehicles are crucial to decrease this pollution, but at the same time we must prepare transportation infrastructure for the impacts of climate change. Congress must:

• Invest significantly in the adoption of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles.
  
• Promote planning for and investment in EV charging infrastructure.
  
• Oppose punitive fees on zero/low emission vehicles.
  
• Invest funding to promote zero-emission locomotive technology.
  
• Advance transportation infrastructure resilience in the face of extreme weather.

You can see the specifics on UCS' latest reauthorization priorities here.

What can we do about it?

Whether you are a scientist, engineer, planner, technical expert, or a constituent with something to say, your members of Congress need to hear from you about the importance of a people-oriented, affordable, and sustainable transportation system.

Want to get straight to the action? Get your foot in the door by asking your member of Congress to co-sponsor the Stronger Communities Through Better Transit Act, which would increase transit service by 38% across the country if incorporated into the upcoming reauthorization.

We also invite you to sign up for an advanced copy of our upcoming reauthorization zine, which tells the story of reauthorization and why it matters for communities across the country. Doing so will also keep you in the loop on UCS work related to surface transportation reauthorization. In the meantime, you can also check out this Reauthorization 101 and 201 from our partners at Transportation for America and PolicyLink.

If you're interested in learning more about how to use your voice, UCS' Science Advocacy Toolkit has all the guides you'll need, from how to set up a meeting with your legislator to how to talk to the media and beyond.

Surface transportation reauthorization is wonky and takes place at negotiation tables where only a handful of people make decisions that impact millions of people's lives. Yet, these decisions that Congress makes directly affect whether we have a safe network of sidewalks for our children to get to school or the park, frequent bus or train choices to get to work or medical appointments, or electric vehicles that keep the air clean and can save drivers on car-ownership costs. Reauthorization has just begun, and now is the time for us to shape this process that shapes our communities.