however, that you consider delaying the advent of the Interstate in the urban areas until after the mass transportation systems are built. We may well find that we don't need urban freeways. There is certainly no more irreversible or irretrievable commitment to natural resources in the words of the National Environmental Policy Act, than to pour the concrete and commit the land zoning adjacent to the highways. The evidence being presented by the environmental agencies is becoming stronger every day. I just hope that I have shed a little additional light on the subject. If ever a reexamination of an earlier decision was needed, now is the time to start. I believe only Congress is in the position to affect this redirection. I thank you again for the opportunity to present my views. Mr. KLUCZYNSKI. The committee will stand adjourned until 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. (Whereupon, at 4:10 p.m., the subcommittee recessed, to reconvene at 10 a.m., Wednesday, March 29, 1972.) 1972 HIGHWAY LEGISLATION WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 1972 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ROADS OF THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS, Washington, D.C. The Subcommittee on Roads met at 10:05 a.m., in room 2253, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. John C. Kluczynski, chairman, presiding. Mr. KLUCZYNSKI. The hearing will come to order. Today we hold what we expect to be the final day of hearings on 1972 Highway Legislation. I say, we hope, because we are still very busy on the floor with the water pollution bill, and a number of votes may change the outcome of today's decision. In addition, the House will adjourn from this date until April 10. If further hearings are required, they will be at the call of the Chair. We have with us Congressman William F. Ryan of New York. The Chair at this time recognizes the gentleman from New York. STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM F. RYAN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK Mr. RYAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to have this opportunity to appear before you and the distinguished members of the Subcommittee on Roads to relate to you again my very deep concern on an issue that the Congress has far too often avoided-providing meaningful Federal assistance for our Nation's urban mass transit and commuter transportation systems. That we have a transportation crisis in this country is obvious. We are faced with dangerous expressways, incredible congestion, and steadily rising pollution of our environment. Too often we literally stumble over one another in the very process of moving. Not in moving from Boston to New York or from Los Angeles to San Francisco, but in moving from point to point within our urban limits. The reason for our desperate predicament is that, while we have spent dollar after dollar on producing larger and more extensive highway systems, we have kept mass transportation on a starvation diet. There are those who would have us believe that the automobile is the only feasible mode of urban transportation. Nothing could be further from the truth. How ironic it is that we can even refer to such a system of transportation as feasible, when in New York City congestion, for example, it sometimes takes up to an hour to travel from LaGuardia Airport to Central Park and 59th Street. An efficient mass transit system would easily make the same trip in 11 minutes with eight stops included. Inner city bumper-to-bumper traffic, accidents, smog-all call for applying the brakes to the automobile commuter age. The time has come for this Nation to ensure that our urban centers are equipped with effective and efficient mass transportation systems. Without meaningful mass transportation, the poor, the elderly, and the disabled of our Nation's cities are rendered helpless prisoners of their own homes. How can we expect to improve the plight of these people if we cannot provide an efficient mode of transportation to move them to and from the places of work quickly, safely, and inexpensively. These people who cannot afford automobiles or the spiraling fares of poorly financed subways cannot live without a viable mass transit system. It is clearly a do or die situation. Mass transit should be a public service, not a privilege. The main obstacle in our past has been the failure of the Federal Government to recognize the essential need to assist our cities in developing meaningful mass transit systems. This neglect has, year after year, caused it to increase from an incipient desire to a basic need in all urban areas. A key to this problem, as I have reiterated time and time again, is using the Highway Trust Fund to provide assistance for transit projects as proposed in my bill H.R. 55 which I introduced on the first day of the 92d Congress and which I initially introduced in 1966. It entails the establishment of flexibility in the transit fund. Under this proposal, States will elect to use funds from the Highway Trust Fund for the purpose of urban mass transportation. Although the Governors are given the power to decide whether or not they will use the funds for mass transit, I strongly believe that the cities and local communities should have the dominant role in apportioning the money; but at least this bill makes it possible to use Highway Trust Funds for the purpose of mass transit. When I offered this proposal as an amendment to the Federal highway bill, my amendment was ruled not germane on the grounds that it deals with mass transit, and, therefore, is foreign to the Federal highway bill. When I offered the same proposal as an amendment to the mass transportation legislation my amendment was again ruled not germane on the grounds that it dealt with highways, and, therefore, was foreign to the mass transportation bill. We can no longer allow such parliamentary maneuvering to impede the development of urban mass transit. We must act and we must act quickly. In my continuing efforts to obtain Federal action on this proposal, I organized a meeting between concerned members of Congress and Secretary of Transportation Volpe last December. At that time. Secretary Volpe agreed to give serious consideration to the opening up of the Highway Trust Fund. Thus, the Secretary's March 14 announcement supporting the use of a portion of the Highway Trust Fund for urban transportation needs was most welcome. He suggested starting with $1 billion from the trust fund next year. I urge the subcommittee to seize this opportunity to take affirmative action on my proposal. Since 1957 some $50 billion have been expended to place more concrete across this Nation's terrain, while only a meager $965 million has been provided in Federal assistance to aid urban mass transportation. Effective mass transportation, not more concrete is what is needed. Our highways are virtually intercity spider webs-enough have been spun. There is, for example, at least a score of ways to travel by highway from Boston to New York. As the saying goes, we should leave well enough alone. Instead of being used to construct more highways, Federal funds should be reallocated to meet the growing need for the mass transportation of people the people who provide the foundation for a functioning society. Roughly 20 percent of the American people do not own automobiles, and a substantial percentage of these people live within the cities. Many more who own cars would prefer to take an efficient mass transit system to work rather than experience the trauma twice a day of proving that rush hour is only a myth-rush 2 hours might be more appropriate. Even if our mass transit systems are inefficient, dirty, and often times unsafe, they are not irretrievable. With reallocated Federal funding as I propose they can be improved to a highly satisfactory condition; to a degree where we could be proud not only of our accomplishments in the spectrum of mass transportation, but also of our coordinated efforts to curb pollution and to give the cities the lifeblood that they so desperately need. The fate of our mass transit system is the fate of our cities. It is a must. The cities will no longer be able to survive without a new breathing tube. New, effective mass transportation will prove to be the lifeblood of the commuter. It is essential to build a balanced transit system. We must not misinterpret a spiderweb of highways as a modern mode of urban transportation. Mr. KLUCZYNSKI. And I am sure the members of this committee may have additional questions. Would it be all right if we send you the questions? Mr. RYAN. I will be delighted if they do, Mr. Chairman. I have told the committee and the subcommittee of my views on this subject on previous occasions. I have made them known before the committee and on the floor. I hope we will be able to achieve flexibility in the trust fund so that at the option of the State and the local authorities it may be used to help solve the mass transit problem. Mr. KLUCZYNSKI. Well, Congressman, I am sure that every member of this committee knows of the legislation and the bill you introduced, H.R. 55, and as I said before, there will be many questions to ask you, so we will send you the questions, expecting you to send us the answers for the record. I want to thank you at this time. You know that we are going to be busy. We are going to be tied up all day. This is the last day |