President Dwight D. Eisenhower had the foresight

to understand how a system of Interstate highways

would transform the Nation. If there was ever a

time to take a similarly daring look at a broadened

surface transportation network, it is now! The

Nation faces challenges similar to those of the

Eisenhower era. However, the imperative for

change due to the global economy is even stronger.

Transportation is a critical engine of the

Nation’s economy. Investments in the national

transportation network over the Nation’s

history, and especially the Interstate Highway

System during the last half-century, have been instrumental in developing the world’s

largest economy and most mobile society.

Transportation is the thread that knits the

country together, providing the mobility that

is such an important part of overall quality of

life and is so deeply embedded in our culture

and history. Highways, transit, rail, and water

systems provide unprecedented access to jobs,

recreation, education, health care, and the many

other activities that sustain and enrich the lives of

American families.

By 2050, the total U.S. population is projected to

reach 420 million, a 50 percent increase over

50 years. This growing society will demand higher

levels of goods and services, and will rely on the

transportation system to access them. In turn, this

will cause travel to grow at an even greater rate

than the population. As part of an increasingly

integrated global economy, the U.S. will see

greater pressures on its international gateways and its international gateways and domestic freight

distribution network to deliver products and

materials to where they are needed. The Nation

is faced with a massive increase in passenger and

freight travel.

The Nation’s surface transportation program has

reached a crossroads. Will it continue to function

as it has since the completion of the Interstate

system, pursuing no discernible national interests

other than the political imperatives of “donor

State” rights and congressional earmarking? Or

will it advance concerted actions to confront the

transportation challenges facing the Nation that

have reached crisis proportions—the deferred

maintenance of its basic infrastructure; the

burgeoning international trade and its impact on

our road and rail networks; the traffic congestion

that is crippling metropolitan America; the

continued carnage on the Nation’s highways; and

powering cars and trucks with fossil fuels, much of

which is imported from foreign countries?