Ray Lahood’s Legacy

USE OF DISCRETIONARY GRANTS TO PUSH FREIGHT PROJECTS LaHood’s “stewardship” of stimulus funding allocated through the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program instilled trust in congressional appropriators. Three more rounds of TIGER followed, pumping $3.1 billion into transportation infrastructure projects total, although the future of the program is now in doubt.

INTERMODAL RAIL PUSH LaHood hasn’t shied away from his fondness for intermodal rail transport, and the DOT displayed its intermodal backing by favoring projects that sped the shipment of containerized goods through rail. LaHood’s support has raised the mode’s profile on the Hill.

RAISED PROFILE OF PORTS AND MARITIME CONNECTIONSPorts, short-sea shipping and inland waterways have long been the redheaded stepchild of the transportation world. LaHood elevated their status by pushing TIGER funding toward such projects, setting the stage for Obama’s fast-tracking of seven infrastructure projects connected to the Panama Canal expansion.

AN EYE ON TRUCK SAFETYTrucking’s regulatory landscape changed in deep and perhaps permanent ways under LaHood, whose dogged attack on distracted driving was reflected in his pursuit of several trucking-related initiatives (including a nationwide truck driver texting ban). The CSA effort, for example, may have a greater impact on domestic transportation than any individual DOT rulemaking.

LOADS AND “LIVABILITY”Few LaHood initiatives drew as much scorn from freight transportation advocates as attempts to make “livability” a key part of transportation plans and projects. But the DOT looked beyond cyclists and pedestrians as part of its more multimodal approach to reduce congestion, blending urban, environmental and transportation planning and coordinating policy with other agencies.

THE NEXT DOT CHIEF?

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