Ranking Members Larsen, Norton Statements from Hearing on Rural Transportation Challenges
Washington, D.C.—The following are opening remarks, as prepared for delivery, from Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Rick Larsen (D-WA) and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) during today’s hearing titled, “Rural Transportation Challenges: Stakeholder Perspectives.”
Video of Larsen and Norton’s opening statements are here and here.
More information on the hearing can be found here.
Ranking Member Larsen:
Thank you, Chairman Crawford and Ranking Member Norton, for holding this hearing.
Today’s hearing focuses on rural transportation and the unique experience, needs and challenges of rural communities that our infrastructure investments must address.
The Census Bureau estimates that 97 percent of the total land area in the United States is in rural areas.
Rural communities are not limited to any one part of the country or only in certain states.
The district I represent, which is located north of Seattle and includes none of Seattle, is home to rural communities, urban communities and everything in between. These communities have many shared transportation needs.
At the same time, rural and smaller communities face unique challenges.
Rural communities play a crucial role in our economy. Many are the first mile of supply chains that need infrastructure investment to efficiently get goods and products to market.
Rural communities have unique mobility needs. Residents in rural counties are aging—in nearly 85 percent of counties more than 20 percent of the population is age 65 or older.
Rural communities also face distinct safety challenges. While only 19 percent of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, nearly half of all fatal crashes occur on rural roads.
These realities highlight the quality of life, economic development, safety, and mobility benefits that we can achieve through investment in rural areas.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is helping rural communities respond to these challenges.
A frequent topic of this Committee is how federal infrastructure dollars can advance equity.
A key part of realizing equity in transportation systems is ensuring smaller communities can succeed in accessing funding.
Smaller communities have limited funds to design and apply for infrastructure grants and limited capacity to manage complex permitting and construction.
Yet, smaller jurisdictions in my district and throughout the country are in great need of investment.
The BIL marked the largest federal investment in transportation infrastructure since the 1950s, and it is already paying off.
Investing in rural transportation creates jobs while enhancing transportation connectivity, which supports the global economic competitiveness of farmers and manufacturers.
A great example of the BIL’s investment into rural economies is through bridge funding. “Off-system” bridges—those not on the Federal-aid highway system—have had limited access to federal funds. 87 percent of those bridges are located in rural areas. The BIL takes steps to address this by including a 15% set aside of each State’s bridge formula funding for use on off-system bridges.
The BIL also created the Bridge Investment Program, which is delivering results in rural America. One example is the $50 million award DOT made to replace and rebuild six rural bridges in northwest South Carolina.
The Brookings Institute estimates that the BIL invests more than $338 billion in specific or significant rural investment opportunities.
The BIL directly invests in rural communities by:
- Creating a $2 billion Rural Surface Transportation Grant program for safety and connectivity of rural roads;
- Formally establishing the Rural Opportunity to Use Transportation for Economic Success (ROUTES) initiative, to better support smaller communities in accessing federal resources;
- Dedicating half of the $7.5 billion funding for the RAISE grant program to rural areas; and,
- Establishing new set-asides in highway formula programs to direct more federal funding to rural roads and bridges.
Another issue I have heard about from my constituents and community leaders is increasing mobility in rural areas.
Transit is often associated with big cities, but it is just as important for rural and smaller communities.
Transit riders do not care about whether their system is classified as rural, small urban, or large urban.
They do not care if they are one of the 380,000 annual riders on Island Transit in my district, or one of the 2.5 billion annual riders on New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority.
What they do care about is getting to their jobs on time, making it to doctor’s appointments or being able to visit friends or family.
And that’s why the BIL made significant investments in transit infrastructure nationwide, including $4.6 billion for the Rural Area Transit Formula Program, a 42 percent increase over the prior authorization.
The BIL invests $1 billion to support ferry service to rural areas.
The BIL also requires that 15 percent of all Bus and Bus Facilities grants go to transit investments in rural areas.
In my district, Island Transit was awarded a $7.5 million Bus and Bus Facilities grant to design and construct the South Whidbey Island Transit Center.
This project is going to create jobs and make travel easier for the residents of Whidbey Island.
Additionally, transit agencies in Skagit and Whatcom counties in my district received almost $15 million from the FTA to upgrade their bus systems. While these agencies serve small urban areas, they also provide vital service to connect surrounding rural communities.
I welcome the opportunity to discuss the challenges facing rural communities and highlight the ways that the BIL is already working to address these problems.
I also appreciate hearing what programs and funding we may consider in the upcoming surface authorization, to ensure that every community, no matter the size or location, shares in the benefits of infrastructure investment.
Thank you to all the witnesses for being here today. I look forward to today’s discussion.
Ranking Member Norton:
I would like to thank Subcommittee Chair Rick Crawford for holding this hearing on transportation challenges in rural communities.
One of the many benefits of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the surface transportation portion of which I helped to shape as the then-chair of this Subcommittee, is that it provides funding for communities of all sizes. In my district, the District of Columbia, 151 new transportation projects were started in the first two years of the law alone.
That includes $72 million to repair the Interstate 395 bridge, $35 million to redesign South Capitol Street and $20 million for the Wheeler Road Safety Project.
But D.C.’s story is not unique. Similar investments are being made in every congressional district in America, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes dedicated funding for rural transportation.
One example is the Rural Surface Transportation Program. To date, under this program, the Biden Administration has awarded funds to 30 different projects to rebuild bridges, eliminate unsafe railway grade crossings and increase truck parking.
Another example is the RAISE grant program. Fifty percent of program funds are dedicated by law to rural areas. The law also increased funding for our safety programs. While only 19 percent of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, rural roads account for 43 percent of all traffic fatalities. Reasons for this disproportionate fatality rate include outdated infrastructure and unsafe driver behavior.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes a 34 percent funding increase for the primary infrastructure safety program, the Highway Safety Improvement Program, and a 36 percent increase for programs to prevent unsafe behavior like speeding and drunk driving. The investments will make our roadways safer.
We will also hear today about the importance of rural transit. Too often, transit is dismissed as being only relevant for major metropolitan areas. This is simply not true.
For an elderly resident who relies on the bus to get to a doctor’s appointment, transit is a lifeline. For a person with a disability who is not able to drive, transit is a lifeline. For someone who cannot afford a car, transit is a lifeline. That holds just as true in rural communities as it does in big cities. According to the Federal Highway Administration, 6.8 percent of households in rural areas, or approximately 4.3 million, people do not have a car.
I appreciate that we will hear testimony today from Todd Morrow, the executive director of a rural transit system, about the value of transit to rural communities.
One of the roles of this Committee is to ensure that the nation’s infrastructure is safe and efficient for all communities.
While my congressional district does not include any rural areas, I appreciate the need to invest in rural America to ensure the safety of roads and bridges, to ensure reliable transit service and to spur economic development.
Those same needs exist for the 81 percent of the country that live in urban communities. I hope that we as a Committee can continue to work together to pass infrastructure investments that improve the lives of all Americans.
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