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Effective Global Transportation in the Twenty-First Century:
A Vision Document

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Appendix B

TRANSPORTATION GOALS FOR 2020 AND BEYOND

Today’s panoply of advanced technologies and innovative concepts provide only a glimpse of those that will be available in transportation in the year 2020. The challenge today is to foster enabling research activities that will provide the transportation breakthroughs of the next century, and then to demonstrate and deploy the advanced technologies and concepts to provide the American public with the world’s best transportation system in the 21st century.

This will require sustained investment of energy, imagination, and public and private resources as well as political commitment and leadership. It will require an environment that fosters innovative private-public solutions to the nation’s transportation challenges, drives national transportation research and development investment strategies, and propels the nation towards a technology-enabled sustainable transportation system in the near term. Last, it will require a well-educated and informed population which not only will create the transportation system of the next century, but also will be able to use all of its capabilities. Some illustrations of the contributions that implementation of advanced technology and innovative concepts might make in achieving the nation’s transportation goals follow.

GOAL: Safety
Reduce transportation-related deaths, injuries and property loss

o Reduce fatality and injury rates by 10% within 10 years and by 25% by the year 2020.

o Reduce property loss rate by 25% within 10 years and 50% by the year 2020.

GOAL: Mobility
Meet America’s transportation needs by ensuring a seamless, accessible system that isefficient and effective while enabling maximum flexibility of user choices.

o Provide access to transportation services for all Americans within 10 years.

o Reduce the time and cost for access to the transportation system by 25% within 10 years and 50% by the year 2020.

o Increase private and public-sector access to information on transportation-related services and activities by a factor of 10 within 5 years and to all Americans by the year 2020.

o Increase passenger throughput by 50% in 10 years and 100% by the year 2020.

GOAL: Economic Growth and Trade
Promote America’s economic growth and competitiveness domestically and internationally through efficient and flexible transportation.

o Double the dollar value of transportation-related exports (e.g., vehicles, systems, and technologies) within 10 years and triple it by the year 2020.

o Reduce the cost to transport goods and freight by at least 25% within 10 years and 50% by the year 2020.

o Reduce the time to transport goods and freight with other nations by 25% within 10 years and 50% by the year 2020.

o While improving safety, double the transportation system throughput, in all weather conditions, within 10 years and triple it by the year 2020.

GOAL: Human and Natural Environment
Protect/ enhance the natural environment and communities affected by transportation.

o Reduce emissions (e.g., CO2) in new vehicles by a factor of 10 within 10 years and eliminate them by 2020.

o Reduce the noise impacts of future transportation systems (e.g., vehicles) by a factor of two from today’s systems with 10 years and by a factor of four by the year 2020.

GOAL: Security
Protect the nation by ensuring that the transportation system is secure and available for defense mobility and that our borders are safe from illegal intrusion.

o Decrease delays in transportation service due to natural disasters, terrorism, system failures or other causes by a factor of 5 within 10 years and by a factor of 10 by the year 2020.

o Decrease the number of security incidents/intrusions into the transportation system by 25% within 10 years and 50% by the year 2020.

o Reduce drug smuggling and the entry of illegal aliens into the United States by a factor of 10 by the year 2020.

CORPORATE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES:

o Lower the real cost (e.g., time, resources) of maintaining the nation’s transportation infrastructure by a factor of 2 within 10 years and by a factor of 5 by the year 2020.

o Increase national (i.e., private sector, academic, and government) investments in research on innovative transportation technologies and concepts for the 21st century by a factor of 3 within 10 years and by a factor of 5 by the year 2020.

o Decrease the time and cost required to apply innovative technologies and concepts to transportation-related products, systems, and services by a factor of 2 in 10 years and by a factor of 5 by the year 2020.

o Double the scientific and technical literacy of the American people concerning transportation-related systems, services, and technologies within 10 years and triple it by the year 2020.

o Double the percentage of the population that can pursue careers in transportation-related industries and careers within 5 years and triple it by the year 2020.

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