V.

Government Regulation and Administration

The national government takes an active role in supervising a nation’s transportation systems. Transportation departments or ministries manage the planning, construction, funding, and regulation of these systems. Such government agencies study transportation needs and allocate resources in order to maintain the existing transportation systems and to anticipate future needs. The United States has an extensive system of government regulation, but, in contrast to what happens in other countries, most U.S. transportation services are privately owned and operated.

A.

Regulation in the United States

In the United States the federal government’s role in transportation is defined in the Constitution and in laws and court cases that have clarified and interpreted this role. The federal government regulates many important aspects of transportation, including transportation system planning, market competition, and vehicle design and safety. The government enacts laws that are intended to provide fair and competitive markets for transportation users and provides funding for construction of transportation projects. The U.S. Department of Transportation, an agency that is part of the president’s Cabinet, is responsible for the nation’s transportation system. Every state also has a department of transportation (DOT), and every county and city also has some organization with responsibility for local transportation.

The federal government allocates billions of dollars for transportation and raises that money in a variety of ways. In 2000 about $119 billion was spent by all levels of government in the United States just on road construction and maintenance. Over $7 billion was spent on public transportation. From 1982 to 1998 the federal government spent more than $38 billion for the construction and operation of airports. From 1945 to 1998 public agencies spent over $15 billion improving harbors and ports. The revenues to fund these expenditures come from three major sources: income, property, and sales taxes; special user taxes such as the gasoline tax and the airport use tax (the revenues from which are placed in trust funds to be used for specific transportation investment purposes); and user fees such as road and bridge tolls. Since the 1950s, user taxes have been the most important means of financing major highways, but costs are often greater than available funds. The gap between revenues and expenditures has been filled in two ways. One method has been to directly subsidize a given transportation program. The second has been to privatize services traditionally provided by government. Privatization can take several forms, from private operators providing transit services to private sources of funds being used to construct toll roads.

The planning and construction of state transportation systems is the responsibility of the state DOTs, and the planning for metropolitan transportation systems is the responsibility of metropolitan planning organizations. By federal law, every state and metropolitan area in the United States must have a transportation plan. The actual construction of transportation facilities is done through contracts with private construction companies.

Although much of the U.S. transportation system is operated by private interests, in some special cases government agencies operate or provide overall control of transportation systems. Urban transit services in the United States first started as private businesses, but as a result of serious financial problems in the face of competition, most services today are operated by public agencies. Government agencies also provide traffic control for some transportation systems. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) provides two types of air traffic control services. The agency operates air traffic control towers at 545 airports, providing instructions for landing and departing aircraft. It also operates 21 air route traffic control centers throughout the country that guide aircraft along flight routes.

Many government agencies play important roles in regulating the safety and environmental aspects of motor vehicles. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the permissible levels of pollutants that may be emitted from motor vehicles. Other agencies regulate safety and fuel efficiency requirements. The federal and state governments provide traffic control rules and regulations that dictate how motor vehicles are to be operated, and the federal government issues manuals and guidance that assure uniformity in the use of traffic control devices from one state to another. Various other agencies regulate rail, air, and maritime transportation.

B.

Regulation in Other Countries

The role of government in transportation varies from country to country depending on local tradition and legal precedent. One of the biggest differences between the United States and other countries is the role of the private sector in the operation of transportation services. Federal, state, and local governments have a significant role in the U.S. transportation system, and businesses in the private sector generally maintain the provision of service and the use of that system. Private firms own and operate the railroads, airlines, water transportation companies, pipeline operators, and motor carriers. In most other countries, such as the countries of Europe and Asia, the major transportation service providers are often state-owned. In many countries where the transportation system was developed under colonial rule, the country’s independence was accompanied by the nationalization of the railroads and airlines. The governments of these countries have provided heavy subsidies to their transportation services. Many of these governments are now experimenting with privatizing these services in order to reduce costs.