Trans. HE

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1971a

I herewith transmit a statement on national transportation
policy as required by Section 3A of the Airport and Airway
Development Act of 1970.

Few other activities are as pervasive in their impact upon
our economy and society as transportation. However this
impact is measured--in terms of employment, in terms of
industry and business activity, and in terms of personal
development and interpersonal relations--it is clear that
changes in our transportation system must be made care-
fully and with due consideration for their likely effects upon
environmental quality--both physical and aesthetic, land
use patterns and economic development, and opportunities
for personal fulfillment.

The statement's discussion of transportation's problems
touches on all of these concerns and serves to highlight the
critical distinction between the fundamental, or systemic,
problems of transportation and those which are merely their
more obvious symptoms. It is because these symptomatic
problems are the most apparent that they are the ones best
understood by the public. Yet if the full potential of our
transportation system is to be realized, the public must
also understand and become concerned about the more
fundamental problems. The statement is designed to help
build that understanding.

Important, too, is the statement's recognition of the state of transportation policy today and how and why that policy evolved. Elements of prevailing governmental policy are not appropriate to transportation as it presently exists. On the whole, the transportation policy which has evolved, both consciously and unconsciously, represents an uneven fabric ill-suited to today's needs, and is, itself, a major contributor to the problems facing transportation today.

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The need for a new direction in policy, therefore, is clear. This Administration is committed to the task of renovating transportation policy and several key Administration initiatives are directed toward that end. Exemplary of those whose impacts are already being felt are three pieces of legislation enacted in 1970, each representing a unique landmark in transportation policy: the Airport and Airway Development Act, the Urban Mass Transportation Act, and the Rail Passenger Service Act. For the future, the revenue sharing program for transportation will endow State and local governments with a greater capability to cope directly with important transportation problems in ways most consistent with their own philosophies and requirements, and the organizational reform of the Federal Executive will provide a more coherent framework for analyzing and implementing transportation-related policies and programs.

No segment of our economy or society as massive or complex as transportation can be remodeled overnight; changes must be studied, measured, and deliberated so as to minimize the costs of change, and maximize the likelihood that the changes will result in real progress. The new policy initiatives outlined in the statement are designed to begin this process of renewal in a manner compatible with stable economic growth.

I commend this statement to the Congress, to the transportation industry and transportation labor, and to the American people. A sound understanding of our problems and prospects in this important area is essential to the creation of good public policies which alone can provide the satisfactory development of our transportation system to meet the needs of a growing America.

D.

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The Dichotomy in Approaches to Transportation Problem Solving. . 27

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