Eleanor Holmes Norton Questions Sec. Buttigieg On ‘Vulnerable Road’ Maintenance

3 months ago

Last month, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) questioned Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on road maintenance financing during a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing.

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Transcript

00:00for five minutes.

00:08Mr. Secretary, we have recently seen overall

00:12traffic fatalities start to decrease, but fatalities of vulnerable road users

00:21such as pedestrians and bicyclists continue to rise. Under the

00:26Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Congress required states

00:30to complete vulnerable road user safety assessments.

00:36The law also required states with high rates of pedestrian

00:41and bicyclist fatalities to dedicate a portion of their highway safety funds to

00:48stopping these needless deaths. What is the

00:52Department learning from the implementation of these provisions

00:57and what else is needed to reduce pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities?

01:03Thank you for the question. Like you, we've been heartened to see improvements

01:07in the overall numbers of roadway fatalities

01:10over the last eight quarters in the U.S., but we continue to see very troubling

01:14patterns in terms of pedestrian and cyclist injuries and fatalities

01:18or vulnerable road users. Part of what we've been able to do about it is

01:22through our Safe Streets and Roads for All program

01:25to help communities, including those undertaking the assessments you've

01:29described, implement plans that better protect

01:32vulnerable road users from exposure to traffic. I

01:37fear sometimes that media or other accounts of things like bike lanes

01:42treat them as ornamental when they are really about life safety

01:47and whether we're talking about bike lanes, lighting,

01:50signage, or other measures. Many of the things that we're now able to fund in

01:55hundreds of communities across the country

01:57are, we believe, contributing toward a safer environment for

02:01pedestrian, cyclists, and other vulnerable road users to go about their

02:05their commute, their trip, whatever they're doing without harm.

02:09Mr. Secretary, last fall the Department issued

02:13guidance on how two loan programs, TIFIA and RIF, can be used to support

02:22transit-oriented development, including conversions of unused office space to

02:28new housing, which is particularly needed

02:31in the District of Columbia, which I represent.

02:34Has the Department authorized any federal funds for

02:38office conversion projects, and how can we get more funds out the door?

02:45We've got a number of those in the pipeline, and our first

02:49transit-oriented development loan was closed in April, the Mount Vernon

02:53Washington Library Commons project, which is now

02:56under construction. We're very hopeful that this program will

02:59lead to support for those conversions you were

03:02describing. Post-COVID commuting patterns are

03:04changed, and the mix of what different cities require in terms of

03:09housing versus commercial square footage is different.

03:12We want to make sure we're helping them make use of opportunities to do those

03:16conversions, knowing the housing crunch that so many communities face. We

03:22can't predict a definite timeline for when some of the other

03:25applicants will be ready, but we are working through a number of applications

03:28as we speak. We'd be happy to keep you apprised of

03:31the development of that new pipeline in the TOD funding.

03:36I want to discuss the importance of strengthening consumer protection

03:41in transportation. This past April, the Department issued a final rule

03:46requiring aircraft carriers to provide automatic refunds

03:53when airlines cancel or significantly change their flights.

03:58I recently introduced the Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act

04:04with Representative Ezell to give the Federal Motor Carrier Safety

04:10Administration more authority to protect consumers from fraud

04:18in the interstate transportation of household goods.

04:22The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration receives

04:30thousands of complaints every year from Americans who are victims

04:35of fraud in the shipment of household goods, and my bill

04:39would grant the agency the authority to reimburse

04:43states for enforcing federal consumer protection laws

04:47related to the transportation of household goods

04:51and to assess civil penalties against unregistered shippers

04:58and against entities that hold consumer personal goods.

05:02What other steps is the Department taking to strengthen consumer protection

05:07in transportation, Mr. Secretary? We see how fraud in the movement of

05:13goods has created just gut-wrenching stories

05:18from people who are vulnerable when somebody else has

05:22possession of their goods during a move, so FMCSA has increased

05:26its efforts to combat external fraud relating to commercial motor

05:31vehicle and driver operations. Legislation such as what you have

05:35led on introducing could give FMCSA the explicit authority needed to

05:40assess civil penalties for violations of commercial regulations,

05:44withhold registration from applicants who have

05:48failed to provide the right verification demonstrating that they are legitimate,

05:52and allow us to expand our household good program by

05:56engaging states as force multipliers. So we welcome this and

05:59appreciate your work on it. Thank you. I yield back.

06:05Thank you. The chair now recognizes himself for five minutes.

Eleanor Holmes Norton Questions Sec. Buttigieg On ‘Vulnerable Road’ Maintenance

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