[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 163 (Wednesday, August 24, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-20723]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: August 24, 1994]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Office of the Secretary
National Transportation System Initiative: Supplementary
Information on Process and Criteria
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DOT.
ACTION: Request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Transportation seeks comments on the process
and criteria discussion papers for developing a National Transportation
System (NTS). The information will be used to develop the Department's
proposed criteria and process for identifying the National
Transportation System.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 30, 1994, to be
fully considered in reviewing the proposed approach for conducting the
Department's NTS initiative.
ADDRESSES: Three copies of comments for the public docket on the NTS
should be sent to: Office of the Secretary, Documentary Services
Division C-55, Attn: NTS Public Docket #49617, Room 4107, 400 Seventh
Street SW., Washington, D.C. 20590.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions on the NTS initiative can
also be directed to the Departmental Offices designated as leads for
the NTS outreach and planning initiatives:
Mr. Michael P. Huerta,
Associate Deputy Secretary,
Room 10200, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, D.C. 20590, Ph: (202)
366-5781
Mr. Stephen Palmer, Assistant Secretary for Governmental Affairs, Room
10408, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, D.C. 20590, Ph: (202) 366-
4573
Mr. Frank Kruesi, Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy, Room
10228, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, D.C. 20590, Ph: (202) 366-
4450.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Transportation programs and administrative
structures, combined with current shortcomings of information and
analytic tools, can result in transportation decisions being made that
do not meet national transportation needs effectively and efficiently.
The NTS will delineate the most important elements of the
transportation system in terms of their collective contribution to
those national objectives in which transportation plays an important
role--economic strength, environmental and resource conservation,
community vitality and social welfare. It will include components from
aviation, highways (initially, the National Highway System, as defined
by Congress), railroads, ports and waterways, pipelines, and public
transportation.
The NTS outreach program seeks to involve private citizens, the
business community, Congress, State and local officials, and interest
groups to discuss all aspects of the NTS. These outreach activities
will seek feedback on the process and criteria through which the
initial NTS can be identified.
Notice laying out the basic concept and framework for the NTS was
published in the Federal Register on June 23, 1994. The following text
builds upon and supplements that Notice with respect to the procedures
to be followed and criteria to be used to identify the initial NTS. The
August 22 deadline for docket comments on the NTS preliminary concept
paper has been extended to September 30 to enable the Department to
consider interrelated comments arising from the preliminary criteria
and process papers.
Part I. Process of System Identification
Introduction
The development of the National Transportation System is intended
to be a cooperative effort of the U.S. Department of Transportation,
State and local agencies, and the private sector. This paper outlines
the Department's preliminary thinking about the process to be used for
identifying the elements of the National Transportation System. Its
purpose is to provide an early indication of the roles and
responsibilities of the various groups and to solicit comments about
the process. A related brochure, ``The National Transportation System:
A Framework for Strategic Transportation Development,'' describes the
concept of the National Transportation System, its purpose and use.
Development of Criteria
The U.S. Department of Transportation is exploring various possible
criteria for the selection of elements to be included in the National
Transportation System. Based on the comments of outreach participants,
the U.S. Department of Transportation will refine the process and
develop a preliminary set of criteria. Comments responding to the
preliminary criteria, as published, will be considered in the
development of final criteria.
The criteria will be a set of measures and guidelines for
identifying whether a facility or other transportation element should
be included in the National Transportation System. All modes of
passenger and freight transportation will be covered in the criteria.
Criteria will also include any other applicable requirements, such as
inclusion in State and/or metropolitan transportation plans and
improvement programs.
Preliminary Identification of the National Transportation System
The U.S. Department of Transportation will use the final criteria
to make a preliminary selection of the transportation elements to be
included in the National Transportation System. This will generally be
accomplished using information the Department already has available. In
some cases, such as urban transit, the preliminary identification of
facilities and/or services to be included in the National
Transportation System may need to be made in consultation with State
and local agencies.
The criteria and results of this preliminary identification process
will be distributed in January 1995 to State and local agencies,
private service providers, and trade associations. Information to be
provided will include a physical description of each element and the
travel activity associated with that element.
Private providers, the States, and local agencies working through
the States, will be asked to comment on the elements selected and
whether any additions or deletions should be made. Of particular
interest will be additions to the initial system which address criteria
such as connectivity, national coverage, and international trade. In
addition, agencies will be requested to correct any inaccuracies and
provide additional data on the physical features of the transportation
elements, travel activity, and the conditions and performance of the
element. The comment period will be 90 days.
Final Identification of the National Transportation System
The U.S. Department of Transportation will analyze and evaluate the
information that is submitted by State and local agencies and private
providers. Based on this analysis, modifications will be made to the
preliminary National Transportation System selections, in consultation
with the States, local agencies and private sector. In addition, the
data will be used to build a more complete and accurate database
describing the system, its use and performance. The Department will
undertake discussions to try to resolve any differences between the
transportation elements identified by the Department and the
submissions.
Preparation of Maps and Final Report
The initial National Transportation System will be illustrated in a
series of maps that will display all elements of the system. The maps
will be prepared from a database developed by the U.S. Department of
Transportation and supplemented by the submissions of the State and
local agencies and private providers. The database will be made
available in digital format for use in conjunction with geographic
information systems (GIS) software. The maps will be published in both
paper form and on CD-ROM.
The maps and the report accompanying them will be completed by
September 1995 and will contain information on the physical
description, usage, and, to the extent possible, condition and
performance of the system. It will also contain recommendations on
Federal policies and action related to the system.
In addition, the National Transportation System process will
provide the basis for the development of legislative proposals designed
to promote and implement an integrated, intermodal transportation
system.
Updating the National Transportation System
The initial National Transportation System process is to be
completed towards the end of 1995. This will be the first step in a
continuing effort. The National Transportation System is intended to
serve as a tool to develop national transportation policy and
legislation and, therefore, it is essential that it be kept current and
relevant. Thus, the initial National Transportation System will evolve
to reflect changes in demographics, economic conditions, system
performance, technology, and social and environmental impacts. In later
stages, the system will be updated, additional information on
conditions and performance will be included, and new analytical
capabilities will be developed.
Part II. Criteria for Identifying the NTS
This paper sets forth potential methodologies for the
identification and selection of facilities to constitute the National
Transportation System (NTS). With that objective, we are examining
various approaches to measuring systematically the impact of airports,
highways, rail lines, transit systems, waterways, ports, and pipelines.
This paper should not be construed to represent decisions on
criteria for identifying the NTS. Rather, it is intended to generate
discussion on what the criteria should be. We expect to refine and
revise the NTS inclusion criteria based on the information and insight
we gain from NTS public meetings, written comments, and the on-going
multimodal planning process established by ISTEA. We welcome comments
and suggestions from State and local officials, the transportation
industry, and the public at large on every aspect.
The NTS is intended to allow the development of transportation
planning, program management and investment strategies which will
enhance our transportation system to move people and goods more
effectively and efficiently, thereby advancing our economic,
environmental and social goals. We believe that the NTS will provide us
with an integrated system perspective that identifies the most
strategic and effective uses of the resources available for
transportation investment. Because we are always working with scarce
resources, it is particularly important that we employ the kind of
careful targeting of investments which the NTS can help us accomplish.
Since some familiarity with the broader context of the NTS is presumed,
this paper should be read and considered in concert with the more
general brochure describing the NTS.
The identification process will take place in at least two phases.
The first step will be to identify physical facilities for inclusion in
the initial NTS. In this phase, we will focus in large part on service-
level information. Service measures provide direct evidence, though by
no means the only evidence, of whether particular facilities play a
special national role. One of the major purposes of the NTS is to
develop better information about how various transportation components
function as part of the total system. Having initially identified the
NTS, we plan to build upon that structure by collecting better
information on how the system functions. That information will be used
to analyze and modify the initial NTS.
General Framework
Workable selection criteria for the NTS are needed for two reasons.
One is purely practical. It just isn't feasible to catalogue and
include every transportation facility nationwide in the data bases and
system models which will become part of the NTS. If we include too
much, the NTS will be expensive to map and unwieldy to use; if we
include too little, we may miss significant interconnections and lose
sight of important information. In attempting to achieve the right
balance, we are seeking the advice of the transportation community and
its users. Second, such criteria are required to ensure that the NTS is
truly national in nature. The focus should be on which transportation
facilities and outputs are most essential to achieving national
objectives. Transportation facilities at once function as components of
multiple ``systems''--local, regional and national. State and local
planning entities are engaged in identifying transportation facilities
which are essential at the State and local levels. These facilities,
central to achieving economic, social and mobility goals, will require
continued investment by all levels of government and the private
sector. Some of these will be a part of the NTS, but others may not be
included in the NTS because they are not of sufficient national
significance.
Selecting Criteria
Activity Measures
There are several ways to approach the task of defining nationally
significant facilities. One option would be to designate transportation
facilities as part of the NTS primarily on the basis of the volume of
traffic they handle--for example, passengers or freight tonnage carried
on a transit or rail system, vehicles using a highway, or barrels of
crude oil transported by a given pipeline. Such ``activity level''
criteria have some advantages:
availability: information on traffic volume is widely
available.
measurability: given data and modeling limitations, usage
is at least a uniform yardstick.
significance: the volume of use is a reasonably accurate
indicator of the direct economic impact of a given facility--again,
given data limitations.
Functional Factors
Activity measures don't tell the whole story, however. Some
transportation facilities may provide critical links between modes or
regions, essential services in terms of defense or emergency readiness,
or other important economic, environmental, safety or social benefits
that are not reflected in a simple traffic count. Clearly, these
considerations need to be taken into account in identifying the NTS.
What is the best way to incorporate these various factors?
The social role of transportation facilities might properly be
reflected in a variety of criteria for inclusion. One such approach
would be to give special consideration to facilities and routes serving
areas where the population has comparatively limited access to
automobiles, is relatively immobile, or includes a higher proportion of
seniors or the disabled. Safety and environmental considerations might
weigh in favor of modes or facilities whose use results in fewer
accidents or which yield less pollution--which both have attendant
social and economic costs.
In addition to traffic volume, which as indicated above, is an
important measure of economic impact and, generally, of a facility's
environmental effects, we suggest that defense and emergency
preparedness, and system linkage across modes or across regions are
factors which can be identified and should be weighed. We may find
workable proxies for meeting social objectives such as safety, mobility
and accessibility as well. There may be ways to approximate the
connectivity function, for example, by identifying the percentage of
population or economic activity within a given distance or travel time
to a facility.
Some non-volume criteria will affect the composition of the initial
NTS: for example, border crossings and important ports of entry may be
included on the basis of their role in international trade. This
process will accelerate as the NTS grows. With experience and
additional data, we hope to be able to incorporate measures of more
complex and subtle factors reflecting social and community viability.
We welcome suggestions on ways to assess these factors, and on ways to
quantify any other factors that commenters believe should be taken into
consideration in defining the elements of the NTS.
Temporal Considerations
There is at least one other difficult aspect of the criteria
question: how should the NTS deal with the future, i.e., with
anticipated or planned facilities or actions? The NTS is intended to be
forward-looking: that is, it should help us determine what actions need
to be taken to make transportation function better. Thus, the NTS needs
to be able to accommodate prospectively new additions to the system. In
some instances these may involve technologies--for example, high speed
rail and intelligent vehicle highway systems--that are not yet
operational.
The process needs to be realistic, however. The NTS cannot
incorporate every idea for a transportation improvement, regardless of
the likelihood that it would ever be built or implemented. In light of
this, how do we select system additions that are ``real,'' in the sense
of having an acceptable likelihood of implementation? Would it be
useful to specify a planning horizon for the NTS? Should existing and
planned facilities be treated as separable parts of the NTS?
There may be legislative, planning or funding milestones or
thresholds that will help address these questions. For example, we are
considering a requirement that an unbuilt facility be a part of a State
Transportation Improvement Program to be eligible for inclusion in the
NTS. How would anticipated private sector improvements be treated?
Setting Intermodal NTS Criteria
One of the major goals of the NTS is to promote efficient and
effective intermodal transportation. At present, however, it is
difficult to use identical criteria to evaluate facilities across
modes.
In large part, this is attributable to data limitations. Ideally,
the criteria would measure transportation impacts on a variety of
important objectives without regard to mode. Realistically, we do not
have good measures of the direct regional or national impact of
transportation on many economic, environmental and social goals, and
those that we do have are modally-based.
Under the leadership of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics,
the Department has begun to plan and to implement improved data
collection. Efforts are under way to collect multimodal national and
interregional freight and passenger data. The NTS will help spur and
guide continued efforts in this direction and the data will be helpful
in refining the NTS.
Notwithstanding these constraints, NTS criteria need to have some
internal consistency if the NTS is to become a productive analytical
tool and not just an inventory of unrelated parts. All components of
the NTS, urban or rural, public or private, should have a clear,
systematic relationship to the overall national transportation network
and make a significant contribution to meeting the nation's
transportation needs. In the examples that follow, we have attempted to
achieve some rough comparability in terms of activity data, but these
need to be further refined to reflect economic impact. To do this, it
would be useful to have the passenger and freight flow data from the
planned surveys mentioned earlier. With this data, we could assess the
distribution and value of passenger and freight flows, but the survey
data will not be available in time for the initial identification of
the NTS. In the interim, we plan to examine the feasibility of using
available transportation expenditure, commodity and activity data to
approximate better the impact on the economy of various transportation
facilities. Are there other data which could be used to achieve more
meaningful intermodal consistency?
In light of data limitations and unresolved questions about
methodologies for recognizing non-volume social factors, our initial
approach to criteria focuses on volume measures. But how can we best
select a volume threshold for inclusion in the NTS?
Analysts seeking to select proper thresholds often look for
natural, real-world ``break-points'' in the data, for example, the
point along the traffic activity curve where traffic begins to drop off
more sharply. Applying that kind of general rule across the modes
facilitates identification of the most heavily used facilities in each
mode, notwithstanding the differences among their traffic patterns.
(Some modes have more concentrated traffic patterns, while others are
more dispersed; no two are identical.) Sometimes there are several
possible break-points, and we will need to decide how much of each
system to include in the NTS.
In some cases, workable selection guidelines may already exist. For
example, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991
(ISTEA) states that ``the National Intermodal Transportation System
shall include a National Highway System . . .'' Thus, the National
Highway System, now before Congress for final approval, would properly
comprise the highway portion of the initial NTS network.
It may also be useful to consider a staged selection process. For
example, the NTS could be defined to include, first, transportation
systems Congress has designated as having national importance; second,
the major facilities that handle a substantial proportion of the
traffic in each mode, as measured by a variety of pertinent activity
statistics; and third, other facilities that can be shown to have
significant, measurable social or economic impacts--e.g., on
environmental quality, safety, defense and emergency readiness,
national system linkage, or other important national objectives.
Potential Criteria
The following examples of criteria and threshold levels for
identifying facilities for the initial NTS are offered to illustrate
how criteria might be applied. They do not represent specific options
or ranges for these values. The criteria and threshold levels applied
may be entirely different from those illustrated in the examples,
depending on the comments we receive and on further analysis.
Highways
Pending Congressional approval, the National Highway System (NHS)
will incorporate the strategic highway network, ISTEA high priority
corridors, selected principal arterials, and intermodal connectors:
approximately 159,000 miles of highway designated by Congress as having
national importance. This is about four percent of the four million
miles of public roads in the U.S. and about one-sixth of the 953,000
miles eligible for Federal aid under ISTEA. This network carries over
40 percent of the passenger vehicle miles traveled in the United
States, and 70 percent of the commercial truck miles. It includes not
only the high activity routes, but highways that are essential for
national defense and emergency preparedness, as well as connecting
routes that link the national system together, thus reflecting several
of the non-volume factors discussed above. The last phase of the
designation of the NHS will be to identify intermodal connectors. This
activity will be undertaken in concert with the NTS identification
process since the objectives of these activities are closely related.
The character of the NHS--which encompasses a relatively small number
of facilities which service a very large proportion of the traffic
(especially freight traffic), while also providing connectivity and
emergency readiness--supplies one model for consideration in the
criteria development process.
Aviation
Federal Airways
Aviation's primary system niche is in long distance and
international transportation. Navigation aids, including the air route
traffic control centers and principal navigation aids, form an
``airways'' system which is essential to the operation of aviation
service. The rationale for inclusion is underscored by the fact that
the air route traffic control centers and navigation aids which
together comprise the airways system are already Federally-operated.
Airports
This component of the aviation system presents a bigger challenge
because there are substantial variations in the amount and character of
airports' use. Air travel is highly concentrated. The top 50 airports
handle more than 80 percent of all passenger enplanements in the U.S.;
and the top 150 airports account for more than 95 percent of total
traffic. Adding airports that handle a large volume of cargo
operations, or those with a high level of unscheduled general aviation
operations, might provide a more complete picture of the air system as
a whole. How inclusive should the NTS be? Two illustrative
possibilities are:
(1) Commercial airports with more than 2.5 million passenger
enplanements per year, and cargo airports with more than 500,000 tons
of landed cargo aircraft weight: 56 airports in total. These facilities
represent less than one percent of the number of airports open to the
public in the country and about 10 percent of commercial service
airports. Together, however, they serve 81 percent of enplaned
passengers, 87 percent of landed cargo aircraft weight, and 14 percent
of general aviation itinerant operations at FAA-towered airports.
(2) Commercial airports with more than 250,000 passenger
enplanements per year (including all U.S. airports with scheduled
international service), cargo airports with more than 50,000 tons of
landed cargo aircraft weight, and FAA-towered airports with more than
100,000 general aviation itinerant operations per year: 187 airports in
total. Together, these airports account for 97 percent of total
enplaned passengers, 99 percent of landed aircraft weight at cargo
airports and 56 percent of itinerant general aviation operations at
FAA-towered airports. The 187 facilities represent 3.3 percent of
airports open to the public in the nation and about 34 percent of
commercial service airports. But all U.S. airports with scheduled
international service are included.
Intercity Bus
While the intercity bus industry provides mobility for residents of
rural and small urban areas, criteria development for this element of
the national system is complicated by the absence of detailed ridership
data. Given the circumstances, one possible approach would be to focus
on population served by bus facilities. For example, the NTS might
include all intercity bus terminals in urbanized areas of 100,000 or
more. Based on a ten-year old, joint DOT/ICC study of intercity bus
terminals, that would amount to about 500 terminals serving about 60
percent of all intercity bus users, including riders traveling to
metropolitan areas from isolated rural communities. Of course, it may
be worthwhile to consider other population thresholds or criteria. Is
this a workable way to identify intercity bus terminals, or are data
available which would allow a better approach?
Transit
Transit systems play an important role in meeting a variety of
national objectives. They are essential to the economic, social, and
cultural roles of our urban areas. They serve economic and systemic
functions by contributing to reduced highway congestion and air
pollution, and increased highway safety and energy savings. Transit
systems also serve a social function by providing basic mobility,
particularly to those without access to an automobile. The types of
transit facilities included in the NTS should reflect all of these
multiple objectives and roles.
Passenger volume-based criteria can serve to reflect transit's
economic importance. For example, the NTS could reasonably include all
urban rail transit lines (commuter rail, rapid rail, and light rail),
including supporting facilities, as well as those transit bus routes
(and related supporting facilities) serving substantial ridership--such
as, more than 5,000 passengers per day. This test would result in the
inclusion in the NTS of approximately 6,500 rail route miles and 11,000
bus route miles (representing 7 percent of total bus route miles).
These routes and facilities carry a total of 5.1 billion passengers per
year (67 percent of total transit passengers) and 27 billion passenger
miles per year (72 percent of total transit passenger miles). Does the
proposed threshold reach those lines and systems which are most
important from an economic perspective?
While passenger volumes reflect transit's economic and urban
linkage functions, they are probably an inadequate measure of the
social role which transit plays, e.g., transportation for the
disadvantaged. But, as indicated above, determining the extent to which
specific transit facilities and routes serve significant social
functions is fairly difficult, at present.
Railroads
Freight Rail Systems
Freight rail systems play critical roles in the nation's
transportation system. The privately-owned and operated rail freight
system carries nearly 40 percent of total U.S. freight traffic,
measured in ton-miles; many rail lines are also important for purposes
of national defense and emergency readiness. It may be useful to apply
a combination of several criteria, using national defense, system
linkage, and other factors as well as traffic volume to determine the
freight line component. Two examples are:
(1) Rail lines with freight activity in excess of 5 million gross
tons per year, rail lines in the defense-related strategic corridor
network, and connecting lines for national system linkage. This package
would account for 49 percent of total route miles in the U.S., and 95
percent of the nation's total freight revenue ton-miles.
(2) Rail lines with freight activity in excess of 20 million gross
tons per year, rail lines in the defense-related strategic corridor
network, and connecting lines for national system linkage. This option
would represent 34 percent of total route miles in the U.S., and 86
percent of the nation's total railroad revenue ton-miles.
Passenger Rail System
Amtrak, the country's rail passenger network, provides
transportation links between major cities and to all regions of the
country, including rural areas that may have no other form of public
transportation. The current system consists of 24,000 route miles and
540 stations. What is the appropriate threshold for the NTS in this
case? Certain routes on the east and west coasts and in the upper
midwest have passenger volumes that are much heavier than many other
routes on which usage is lighter and/or more seasonal. Do current or
future usage patterns provide a structure for identifying the Amtrak
routes and facilities most important to the country? For example,
routes which carry 70-80% of Amtrak's annual ridership might be
included in a national system.
Amtrak Stations
Data on station usage--examples of which appear below--provide
information that would appear to be useful in identifying the
appropriate stations for inclusion in the initial NTS. What level of
passenger activity would be most appropriate for selecting stations for
inclusion in the NTS? Are there other data that would be useful in this
regard?
48 of Amtrak's 540 stations serve two-thirds of the
passengers;
75 percent of Amtrak traffic is handled at 86 stations;
and
63 stations (handling at least 100,000 passengers
annually) account for more than 70 percent of the total traffic;
Water Transport
Water transport is significant for economic and defense reasons.
The marine transport industry carries over 1.9 billion metric tons of
materials, parts and consumer items in domestic and foreign commerce.
Further, a number of the facilities used by this industry play a role
in strategic defense.
Ports and Harbors
U.S. deep draft ports are critical links, not only in support of
our foreign commerce (amounting to about 950 million metric tons
annually), but also in support of trade to the non-contiguous States
and Territories (over 250 million metric tons annually), as well as
intracoastal and coastwise traffic. The 1,205 miles of Congressionally-
designated channels and canals created by dredging, widening and
canalization form an extensive network that provides deep draft
shipping lanes. A tax on the value of goods moving through these
channels and ports is paid into the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund,
which the Corps of Engineers uses for maintenance dredging.
There are 355 ports in the United States handling cargo at some
4,000 terminals within these ports. As in airports, traffic is
concentrated. One hundred and fifty of those ports--42 percent of the
total--account for 99 percent of the cargo tonnage. And like rail
lines, some ports also have strategic defense significance, which
should also be considered in defining the maritime port components of
the NTS. Finally, the Louisiana Off Shore Oil Port (``LOOP'') may be
nationally significant for reasons of energy production and economic
impact.
How many ports--including the improved channel and canals needed to
connect those ports to the deep draft sea lanes--should the NTS
encompass? Two examples emphasizing traffic measures might be:
(1) Twenty-nine ports handling at least eighteen million metric
tons of cargo per year account for nearly 70 percent of total
waterborne cargo.
(2) At an alternative level of concentration, 80 percent of total
waterborne cargo is handled at 45 ports. Adding two ports to this
number provides 80 percent coverage for foreign cargo handled, as well.
Inland and Intracoastal Waterways
There are 25,000 miles of navigable waterways within the United
States. Congress has declared 10,600 miles--about 40 percent of the
total--to be major inland waterways subject to fuel taxes and
maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers. This Congressionally-defined
system consists of 168 lock sites, as well as dams and other
improvements. Its chief role is providing low-cost shipping of
commodities (563 million metric tons of coal, grain, etc.). The
arterial segments--accounting for more than 90 percent of U.S. domestic
waterborne traffic ton-miles--are commonly known as ``fuel tax''
waterways because barge operators and other users pay fuel taxes under
the Inland Waterways Revenue Act of 1978 and the Water Resources
Development Act of 1986.
In addition, the Great Lakes and connecting channels and locks
total 2,000 miles of interstate and foreign commerce routes. Dedicated
Great Lakes vessels haul 97.4 million metric tons of goods basic to
midwest industry and provide ports as far west as Chicago with access
to global markets through the St. Lawrence Seaway. In 1992, 2,642
vessel transits were made of the St. Lawrence Seaway, moving, a total
of 32.7 million metric tons of cargo.
While Congress has designated a 10,600 mile inland waterway system
to be subject to the waterways fuel tax, some other set of waterways
may be appropriate for the NTS. One approach is suggested by the fact
that just over one-half of the Congressionally-designated system
handles about 97 percent of the total ton-mile freight volume on the
system. The major facilities on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence
Seaway, together with some set of inland waterways, would constitute
the waterway component of the NTS.
Pipelines
Petroleum pipelines account for 53 percent of all the crude oil and
petroleum products carried in the domestic U.S. transportation system--
about 17.5 million barrels per day. Natural gas pipelines deliver
approximately 46.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, serving
more than 55 million customers. While it is not feasible to include all
of the field, gathering, and distribution pipelines, the major
interstate and long-distance oil and gas pipelines clearly are a
critical part of our national transportation system by virtue of their
significance in energy transportation. One possibility is as follows:
Petroleum Pipelines
Interstate crude pipelines--58,000 miles
Interstate product pipelines--88,000 miles
Interstate crude trunk lines (12 inches in diameter, on average)
represent about 29 percent of total mileage. Interstate product trunk
lines (of widely varying diameter) account for about 43 percent of
total mileage.
Natural Gas Pipelines
Transmission--interstate--275,000 miles
Long distance transmission lines between 24 to 36 inches in
diameter represent approximately 29 percent of total gas pipeline
mileage.
Intermodal Connections
The NTS will specifically include intermodal hubs--facilities that
serve as collection points and as transfer points between modes and
transportation services. While data on these hubs will be collected
from a variety of sources, mode by mode, we hope the NTS will enable us
to analyze the intermodal effectiveness of all major hubs--airports,
train stations, freight terminals, ports, bus and transit depots, etc.
It is at intermodal collection and transfer points that travel delays
and inefficiencies often occur. It is our intent that the NTS be useful
to planners, other public officials and private transportation firms
across the nation as an analytical tool to identify and begin to solve
such bottlenecks.
Most, if not all of these will be identified for inclusion in the
NTS through the Congressionally-mandated NHS intermodal facility
identification process or will fall under one or more of the categories
described above. Still, we will need to be alert to circumstances where
the importance of the connection facility stems from its collective
role, rather than its importance to any one modal system.
Cross-Cutting Criteria
In addition to the volume-based considerations outlined above,
there may be other categories of criteria that will help identify the
appropriate facilities for NTS purposes. A number of these are
described below. In some instances, State and local planning
authorities will help apply these criteria. Presumably, the use of
multiple criteria does not require that all of the individual criteria
be satisfied to qualify; rather, meeting one or more of the criteria
finally used could qualify a facility or route for inclusion on the
initial NTS.
Connectivity
The modal systems within the NTS must connect internally and with
each other. This will mean that certain segments or facilities might be
included because they make the system continuous or provide an
essential connection among modes.
Population Clusters
It may be useful to favor facilities serving large metropolitan
areas--for example, in areas exceeding some level of population (e.g.,
250,000, 500,000). This is a way of ensuring that the NTS incorporates
facilities providing existing or potential service to the major
population clusters of the country. (At first blush, this would seem to
be a more fitting criteria for passenger service than for freight
service.)
National Coverage
In order to ensure that the NTS ties the nation together it might
be appropriate to designate at least one facility in each (applicable)
modal category (i.e. airport, freight rail, etc.) within every State or
region.
International Trade
Facilities and routes serving important border crossings or ports
of entry would be identified on the initial NTS to ensure that the NTS
supports the country's international economic competitiveness
objectives.
Defense and Emergency Readiness
Facilities necessary for defense purposes will be a part of the
NTS. They will be defined by the appropriate Federal agencies.
Special National or Regional Functions
As indicated above, it may be possible and useful to identify
populations with special mobility needs or economic activities that
have an impact on national objectives, but which are not captured by
other criteria. (Examples of the latter may be important recreational
or tourist locations (e.g., national parks) or coal producing regions
in West Virginia or Wyoming.) Since it is possible to make these
arguments for many groups and activities, such criteria must stress the
importance of these impacts at the regional or national level. State
and local impacts are no less important, but are better addressed by
the transportation planning processes at these levels.
Summary
In an era of increasing international competition, we cannot afford
to let an inefficient, piecemeal transportation network waste the
Nation's time and energy resources and hold our economy back. The NTS
will help us overcome the fragmented history of transportation
development by providing us with a framework for analysis and
decisionmaking that will lead to a more integrated and effective
system. With your help, decisions on the criteria for the NTS can be
made, and we can begin building the analytical framework that will
produce an efficient intermodal transportation system, ready to serve
the traveling and shipping public in the 21st Century.
As indicated at the outset, this document is intended to stimulate
substantive discussion about how to begin building that analytical
framework and identifying the strategic components of the nation's
total transportation system. We invite your active participation.
Determining the criteria for including transportation facilities in the
NTS is an important procedural step in the larger NTS process. In
seeking consensus on the NTS criteria, we hope to foster a frank and
wide-ranging evaluation of the ways our national transportation system
is now working and--more specifically--to engage in a practical,
focused examination of the kinds of information, data, and analysis we
will all need in order to make that system as efficient, accessible,
and productive as possible.
Questions for Discussion
1. Which of the criteria suggested in the Working Paper most
accurately capture the essential elements of the national
transportation network, across all modes?
2. What multimodal transportation performance data are available
that might be helpful in the identification of the initial NTS?
3. Are there measurable criteria currently available which will
better capture the national impacts of transportation on economic,
environmental and social objectives?
4. How can criteria be developed or adjusted to reflect economic
and other objectives more directly and accurately?
5. Do these criteria establish comparable and appropriate levels of
inclusion across the various transportation modes? Are any elements
over-represented or under-represented? In what way?
6. What factors have we failed to consider in this initial effort
to define the NTS? How would one measure them?
7. What are the best ways to reflect social and environmental
objectives in the identification of the NTS?
8. How should the NTS deal with the future, i.e., with anticipated
or planned facilities or actions? Would it be useful to adopt a
planning horizon, and, if so, what should it be? How do we select
system additions that are ``real,'' in the sense of having an
acceptable likelihood of implementation?
9. What kinds of criteria can be used to identify significant
intermodal facilities, and do they identify terminals that will not
qualify by other measures?
10. Are there criteria that would reflect, on a national or
regional scale, the mobility requirements for such groups as rural
residents or the disabled?
Issued this 18th day of August 1994, in Washington, DC.
Michael P. Huerta,
Associate Deputy Secretary and Director, Office of Intermodalism.
[FR Doc. 94-20723 Filed 8-23-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-62-P
