I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5799 

To require the Secretary of the Department of Transportation to conduct 

a study and develop a national intermodal transportation plan, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 20, 2010 

Mr. SESTAK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Department of Transportation to conduct a study and develop a national intermodal transportation plan, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Transportation Effi5 ciency Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL INTERMODAL TRANSPORTATION PLAN7 NING TASK FORCE. 

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF TASK FORCE.—The Presi9 dent shall create a National Intermodal Transportation 

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1 Planning Task Force (referred to in this Act as ‘‘Task 

2 Force’’) with the Secretary of Transportation, or designee, 

3 acting as chairperson and compromised of representatives 

4 of the Departments of Commerce, Energy, Labor, and 

5 Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Pro6 tection Agency and other government agencies the Presi7 dent considers necessary to conduct the study and com8 plete the Plan required by this Act. 

9 (b) DUTIES OF TASK FORCE.—The Task Force 

10 shall— 

11 (1) conduct a study on transportation needs, a 

12 draft of which shall be completed not later than 12 

13 months after the date of enactment of this Act and 

14 the final study shall be completed not later than 15 

15 months after the date of enactment of this Act; 

16 (2) sponsor a conference on National Transpor17 tation Planning not later than 6 months after the 

18 completion of the draft study; 

19 (3) make recommendations to the President for 

20 possible invitees to the conference on National 

21 Transportation Planning described in section 3; 

22 (4) use the study and the input of attendees of 

23 the conference under section 3 to draft a National 

24 Intermodal Transportation Plan (referred to in this 

25 Act as ‘‘Plan’’) not later than 24 months after the 

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1 date of enactment of this Act and publish it in the 

2 Federal Register and place it on the Department’s 

3 Web site for public comment; and 

4 (5) transmit to Congress, and place on the De5 partment of Transportation’s Web site, a National 

6 Intermodal Transportation Plan not later than 24 

7 months after the date of enactment of this Act. 

8 SEC. 3. NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION STUDY. 

9 In developing the study established pursuant to sec10 tion 1, the Task Force shall consider all aspects and all 

11 modes of transportation, public, private, and commercial, 

12 including air, rail (passenger and freight), road, port, wa13 terway, bicycle, and pedestrian. The study shall project for 

14 the next 30 years and examine and identify for such period 

15 of time the following: 

16 (1) National transportation priorities. 

17 (2) The anticipated demand, steps currently 

18 being taken to address anticipated demand, how suc19 cessful these steps are anticipated to be, the most 

20 advantageous allocation of shipments of goods and 

21 travel among the various capacities of various 

22 modes, connectivity of those modes, and comparative 

23 costs. Comparative costs shall take into account past 

24 public investments in currently existing infrastruc25 ture for each transportation mode. 

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1 (3) Deficiencies in the current and currently 

2 planned transportation systems to meet current and 

3 anticipated demand and the appropriate level of 

4 redundancies. 

5 (4) How intermodal transportation planning 

6 may help address anticipated transportation de7 mand, social impacts of transportation, and the im8 pact of the transportation sector on the environ9 ment, particularly global warming. 

10 (5) What obstacles exist to enhance and im11 prove intermodal transportation planning to meet 

12 national priorities so that the national Plan provides 

13 suggestions on policy and legislative recommenda14 tions to such obstacles. 

15 (6) Transportation purposes, systems oper16 ational requirements and capacities, comparative 

17 long-term costs, and revenue sources. 

18 (7) How different agencies and levels of govern19 ment may be better incorporated and coordinated to 

20 improve transportation planning. 

21 (8) Obstacles to potential benefits from, and 

22 current efforts in mega-region planning at the na23 tional and regional level. 

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1 SEC. 4. NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLANNING CON2 FERENCE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Task Force shall convene a 

4 National Transportation Priorities Conference (referred to 

5 in this Act as the ‘‘Conference’’) not later than 6 months 

6 after the completion of the draft National Transportation 

7 Study. 

8 (b) CONFERENCE MISSION.—The mission of the Con9 ference shall be— 

10 (1) to review the draft of the study conducted 

11 pursuant to section 2 and comment on the draft’s 

12 findings; 

13 (2) to discuss ways to improve transportation 

14 planning; 

15 (3) to suggest short-term and long-term goals 

16 to be incorporated into the Plan; 

17 (4) to examine and evaluate how environmental 

18 priorities and economic planning are integrated into 

19 transportation planning; 

20 (5) to identify obstacles to meeting those goals 

21 and suggestion measures to reduce or eliminate 

22 those obstacles; and 

23 (6) to perform other tasks that the Task Force 

24 considers helpful to complete the Study and the 

25 Plan. 

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1 (c) CONFERENCE REPRESENTATIVES.—The Con2 ference shall be comprised of representatives appointed by 

3 the President of the following: 

4 (1) State Departments of Transportation. 

5 (2) State legislatures. 

6 (3) Municipal leaders. 

7 (4) Metropolitan planning organizations. 

8 (5) Transportation nonprofit and advocacy 

9 groups. 

10 (6) Bike and pedestrian and other transpor11 tation safety organizations. 

12 (7) Transportation trade associations. 

13 (8) Small and large transportation companies. 

14 (9) Environmental organizations. 

15 (10) Labor unions. 

16 (11) Academia. 

17 (12) And other groups the Task Force con18 siders helpful in achieving the conference’s mission. 

19 SEC. 5. NATIONAL INTERMODAL TRANSPORTATION PLAN. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Plan developed under this 

21 Act shall include all aspects and all modes of transpor22 tation, both public and private, including rail, aviation, 

23 waterways, roads, ports, bicycle, and pedestrian and shall 

24 include the following: 

25 (1) Summary of the findings of the study. 

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1 (2) Short-term and long-term goals. 

2 (3) A description of how each short-term goal 

3 will lead to, or at least not preclude, achieving long4 term goals. 

5 (4) Incremental steps and performance meas6 ures to achieve such goals. 

7 (5) What public and private resources will be 

8 required to implement the Plan. 

9 (6) Any recommended legislative changes that 

10 are necessary to meet national priorities and the 

11 short-term and long-term goals, including better 

12 intermodal transportation and mega-region planning. 

13 (7) An exploration of potential alternatives to 

14 what is proposed in the Plan. 

15 (b) LONG-TERM GOALS.—The long-term goals in the 

16 Plan shall take into account the following: 

17 (1) Accessibility, including how best to reason18 ably ensure that the various parts of the country 

19 have access to the national transportation system 

20 (road, rail routes, air routes, and water routes), in21 cluding how and when public subsidies or regulation 

22 may be needed. 

23 (2) Mobility, including the ease and expense of 

24 getting people and goods to their desired destination 

25 in order to meet economics and societal needs. 

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1 (3) National security, including addressing mov2 ing people and goods by alternative routes and 

3 modes in the face of either a natural or man-made 

4 disaster or intentional act. 

5 (4) Economic prosperity, including addressing 

6 how a vibrant economy requires timely and cost-ef7 fective movement of goods and services and how var8 ious national transportation policies can positively 

9 and negatively effect local and regional economies. 

10 (5) Social equity, including addressing the fact 

11 that transportation decisions have different costs 

12 and benefits on differing segments of our society and 

13 how goals may be established to help minimize those 

14 differences and ensure that vulnerable segments of 

15 society do not pay a disproportionate percentage of 

16 the cost. 

17 (6) Evaluate the environmental protection, in18 cluding addressing the fact that transportation 

19 issues will have varying impacts on the environment 

20 from its contribution to green house gasses and 

21 other emissions to short-term economic costs that 

22 may lead to a decision that is counter to a long-term 

23 environmental benefit. 

24 (7) Energy consumption, including addressing 

25 how to minimize overall transportation sector energy 

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1 needs and utilizing cost-benefit analysis based upon 

2 full-cost accounting. 

3 SEC. 6. FUNDING AUTHORIZATION. 

4 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 

5 as may be necessary to carry out this Act. 

Æ 

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