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Volpe Center Highlights - March 2001

Director's Notes

Director's Notes | Focus | Safety | Mobility | Human and Natural Environment |
Economic Growth and Trade | National Security | Papers and Presentations

Supporting the Secretary's Priorities

From President Richard Nixon in 1970 to President George W. Bush in 2001, the Volpe Center has supported seven presidents as well as thirteen secretaries of transportation. Our current DOT Secretary, Norman Y. Mineta, spoke at his confirmation hearing before Congress on January 24th of his belief that transportation is an essential component of the country's vitality and productivity. As the Volpe Center Director, I know that the Center is well positioned to support the Secretary's priorities and to address the challenges that he sees in the transportation arena. In many of the specific areas that the Secretary discussed at his hearing, the Center is already providing significant assistance to the Department and to its modal administrations.

Secretary Mineta emphasized the Department's critical role in ensuring transportation safety. He stated that, as a result of a constant search for safety improvements, the U.S. safety record is one of the best in the world; however, continuing to make safety improvements remains a top priority. The Volpe Center has played an important role in the Department's ongoing mission to improve the safety of the nation's transportation system. For more than 30 years, we have supported all DOT's modes in improving their safety performance through research, analysis, and engineering.

Secretary Mineta referred to the recently established Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), whose functions had previously been part of the Federal Highway Administration. He noted that the FMCSA was created to ensure that the proper focus would be given to improving the safety performance of motor carriers and their compliance with regulations. SafeStat, FMCSA's safety profiling system for evaluating interstate commercial vehicle operators, was developed here at the Volpe Center and is a heavily used and valuable tool.

Secretary Mineta stressed the need to improve infrastructure to meet the demand for transportation. In particular, the Secretary expressed serious concern about the ability of the nation's airways to keep up with increased demand. To illustrate this point, he noted that between 1991 and 2000 the number of air passengers had increased by 215 million, or 50 percent, which has caused dramatic overcrowding in the aviation system especially in the summer months. The resulting delays are exacerbated by adverse weather conditions. He believes that airlines, airports, and air traffic control must all contribute to solving this problem, and that since the federal government is responsible for air traffic control, its priority must be to find ways to meet this challenge. For three decades, the Volpe Center has supported the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in its efforts to modernize and to increase capacity, and has been involved in laying the groundwork for the modernization efforts to which the Secretary gives priority.

In addition, Secretary Mineta reminded the Senators that when promising technologies are introduced, current technologies should be maintained until the new technologies are universally available where needed. To illustrate this point, he described the new aircraft landing systems that involve Global Positioning System (GPS) Local Area Augmentation and emphasized the importance of continuing to provide the infrastructure required for the current Instrument Landing System (ILS) until the GPS system is ready. The Volpe Center, which is at the forefront in both technologies, recently issued a report on the vulnerabilities of the GPS system, and the need to maintain the ILS system as a backup.

The Secretary sees upgrading computer technology as key to modernizing air traffic control. The Volpe Center's work in developing and implementing the FAA's Enhanced Traffic Management System, which aids air traffic controllers as they manage the flow of air traffic, has helped increase the efficiency of air transport. In addition, the Center is playing a significant role in the implementation of Free Flight, which will allow pilots to choose their own routes within appropriate safety parameters.

Problems in other modes of transportation include severe highway congestion, which has the potential to adversely affect the nation's economy. The Secretary believes that steps in the right direction have been taken, first with the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) - which recognized that solving problems required local, state, and metropolitan involvement - and more recently with the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), which has continued this approach and provided capital investment. He also believes that modernization and the implementation of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are key to addressing this problem.

The Volpe Center has been supporting the ITS Joint Program Office in many activities related to the design, management, and implementation of that program, and has also supported ITS modernization at the local level. For example, the Center helped the State of Maryland to address its highway congestion problems by developing a comprehensive ITS strategy to increase the efficiency of the existing road network capacities, and has also worked with other state and local governments on capacity-improving initiatives.

We look forward to supporting Secretary Mineta in initiatives that will improve our transportation system, as we continue to work with the other modal areas of the DOT and our many other clients at the federal, state, local, and international levels.

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