IN THIS ISSUE:

Welcome to the New 'TQ'..... .2

New from Eno Publications:
National Transportation
Organizations.......................2

Q&A with Coppenhagen
Metro's Per Als.....................3

Eno Foundation Celebrates
85th Aniversary.....................4

Upcoming Eno Activities........4

Fall 2005 International
Transit Studies Mission.........5

Eno Network........................5

Following one of the most chaotic and lengthy federal transportation reauthorization processes in recent memory, the Eno Foundation's Board of Directors and Board of Advisors convened in November for their 84th annual Joint Conference meeting. The major topic for consideration: what to do about a federal transportation policy development process that has become increasingly less effective at identifying and supporting the nation's transportation needs.

Conference participants agreed that the current process is broken. It took almost three years to get the most recent bill, SAFTEA-LU, enacted into law. As was reflected in numerous media accounts, including a national cover story in PARADE Magazine, most Americans view the reauthorization as a cyclical exercise in pork barrel spending that ignores real transportation priorities. The bill's earmarks number into the thousands. The Federal Highway Trust Fund is on the verge of insolvency. And Congress will soon begin preparing for the next reauthorization, allowing little time for reflection about long-term transportation goals.

"There is a lack of consensus about what national transportation policy should be, and the explosion of earmarks is a symptom of it," said Emil Frankel, senior vice president with Parsons Brinckerhoff. Frankel, who along with Eno Foundation President and CEO Tom Downs led the conference presentation about the issue, argued that we are at a watershed moment for determining what the country's most pressing transportation needs will be in the next 10-20 years and the fundamentals that should underpin the continued federal role in transportation.

The presentation suggested that transportation leaders need to take a hard look at the following concerns:

• What are the economic and demographic trends that should influence transportation investments,
  
  
• How might development patterns be shaped by transportation investment,
  
  
• What form should transportation investments take to minimize environmental impacts, and
  
  
• How should national surface transportation investments be financed.

David Plavin, former president of the Airports Council International of North America, underscored the challenge. "If there is going to be a national transportation policy, the question is where do you focus your attention," said Plavin. "In my mind, it almost automatically means focusing on key locations and corridors. But if you follow that focus, do we bypass small communities? How do you reconcile focusing on national needs without ignoring the small communities?"

Eno Board of Directors Chairman Lillian Borrone welcomed input about the Foundation's possible role in the debate. Participants expressed a range of views, including having the Foundation help to organize and support a multi-year, independent commission to study and recommend alternatives to the current process. The Foundation appears likely to consider convening a series of public policy forums on issues such as safety, economic productivity, and the environment that are central to figuring out what the federal role should be in determining future transportation outcomes.

continued on page 4

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