| | | | |  | | By Tanya Snyder | Presented by Capital Access Alliance | with help from Oriana Pawlyk
| | — Experts considered adding gates to bridges to stop drivers from driving onto them in case of emergency in the 1980s and 1990s but it has never been required. — There is no clear timeline for the cleanup of the destroyed bridge, the building of a new one and the reopening of the port. — The EPA clean truck rule goes slower than initially contemplated — but still way too fast for the trucking industry. IT’S MONDAY: You’re reading Weekly Transportation, your Washington policy guide to everything that moves. (Want it every day? Subscribe here.) We’re glad you’re here. Send tips, feedback and song lyrics to Tanya at tsnyder@politico.com and Oriana at opawlyk@politico.com, and follow us at @TSnyderDC and @oriana0214. “We were out on a date in my daddy's car / we hadn't driven very far / there in the road, up straight ahead / a car was stalled, the engine was dead.” (h/t Ken McLeod)
| | | | A message from Capital Access Alliance: Congress is positioned to include a pro-consumer measure in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization package. With the Senate reaching a bipartisan compromise to add a modest number of new flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), travelers are much closer to greater access to Washington, D.C. Learn more. | | | | | WARNING, DANGEROUS BRIDGE AHEAD: When you drive up to a railroad crossing and a train is coming down the track, alarms ring, red warning lights flash and a bar comes down to physically stop you from proceeding. But what happens if you’re about to drive onto a bridge that’s been rendered unsafe? Nothing. You just keep driving. Here’s an idea: Back in 1983, the National Research Council said standards for “motorist warning and restraint systems” were “urgently needed,” reported Tanya and Peder Schaefer. That was three years after a Florida bridge collapsed after being hit by a ship, killing 35 people. Then in 1991, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials included systems to stop people from driving onto dangerous bridges in their bridge design specifications, but that recommendation didn’t make it into the design guide codified into federal regulation. ‘They should be mandatory’: Traffic on Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge was stopped just in time to avoid greater calamity — the last car cleared the bridge just seconds before it fell last Tuesday — and that was only because police officers happened to be stationed on either end of the bridge, but they aren’t always there. Roberto Leon, a professor of structural engineering and materials at Virginia Tech, said the technology to warn drivers away from dangerous bridges “is out there” and said “protective systems are not just a good idea, they should be mandatory.” Best use of limited resources? Other experts say the benefits don’t necessarily outweigh the costs, given how rare bridge collapses are. American Society of Civil Engineers Past President Norma Jean Mattei says finite resources need to be used to “buy down the most risk” — and that’s probably not by adding gates to bridges.
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| | TIMELINE UNCLEAR: Federal and state officials don’t know yet how long it will take to clear the debris from the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse and reopen the Port of Baltimore, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday. “What I can tell you is the work is now underway,” Buttigieg said during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” He said there’s a 1,000-ton-capacity lift crane being put into place and another 600-ton crane on its way, putting to work the $60 million in emergency funds FHWA approved Thursday. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore last week indicated that rebuilding the fallen bridge will not be quick: “This work will not take hours,” he said. “It will not take days. It will not take weeks.” Kelly Garrity has the story, and Peder has more on the resources “pouring into Baltimore.” Mo’ money: Buttigieg acknowledged that Congress may need to approve additional funds to repair the bridge. His message to lawmakers skeptical of the expense, "Your district could be next." — Moore said Sunday that the bridge collapse is “not a Baltimore catastrophe, not a Maryland catastrophe. This is a national economic catastrophe.” Help available: The Small Business Administration is making low-interest, long-term Economic Injury Disaster Loans available to Mid-Atlantic small businesses affected by the bridge collapse, SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman announced Saturday. A NEW NO DRONE ZONE: The FBI on Friday didn’t pull any punches when it told drone users the FAA has put restrictions on the airspace near the Port of Baltimore “to ensure the safety of all first responders and crews in the area as well as to not interfere with their work," in the words of William DelBagno, special agent in charge of the FBI's Baltimore Field Office. He reminded drone users that they could be "charged federally” for flying drones in a restricted zone, which is illegal.
| | | | A message from Capital Access Alliance:   | | | | | A RULE FOR CLEANER TRUCKS: The EPA on Friday unveiled new tailpipe emissions requirements for heavy-duty trucks through 2032. The rule doesn't mandate movement toward zero emissions as quickly for trucks as for passenger vehicles but EPA says it will keep 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere through 2055. Alex Guillén has the story. Industry groups oppose the rule, saying it costs too much and moves too fast. Chris Spear, president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations, said in a statement that “the post-2030 targets remain entirely unachievable given the current state of zero-emission technology, the lack of charging infrastructure and restrictions on the power grid." The new rule covers everything from delivery vans and garbage trucks to school buses and 18-wheelers. “Such trucks emit 25 percent of greenhouse gases from the U.S. transportation sector even though they make up only about 10 percent of vehicles on the road,” Alex writes. Trucking companies can meet the requirements with more efficient internal combustion engines, expanded use of plug-in hybrids, battery electric trucks or hydrogen fuel cell trucks. Compromise: Like the passenger vehicle rule that came out last week, the truck rule is generally more lenient in its final version than the initial proposal, giving manufacturers more time to achieve greater reductions in emissions. Driven CRA-zy: Sens. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), as well as Reps. John James (R-Mich.) and Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho) pledged to issue a Congressional Review Act challenge to the truck rule, saying, “Biden’s EV mandates are delusional.” They had previously announced a similar effort against the light- and medium-duty standards announced last week.
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, the newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world, including WEF in Davos, Milken Global in Beverly Hills, to UNGA in NYC and many more. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW. | | | | | | | | DON’T USE WHAT YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND: Studies show that between 27 and 79 percent of drivers of vehicles equipped with driver assistance and crash avoidance technologies don’t understand the limitations of those systems — and drivers who don’t have a realistic understanding of the technologies are more likely to misuse them, GAO found in a new study. “Misuse is a safety concern particular to partial driving automation systems, a type of driver support system, which can take over some of the driving tasks in a vehicle but still requires the full attention of the driver,” GAO reported. NHTSA delays: NHTSA has been planning since 2022 to upgrade the New Car Assessment Program to rate crash avoidance technologies but this work has fallen behind schedule and the agency doesn’t provide much information to the public about the intended use and limitations of partial driving automation systems. GAO urged NHTSA to address those issues, and the agency agreed with its recommendations. NOT THAT ONE EITHER: The auto industry told the White House Friday that if the proposed sale U.S. Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel should fall through, it shouldn’t be sold to domestic rival Cleveland-Cliffs either. “Beyond the antitrust implications, this move would expose the broader manufacturing sector to possible supply chain interruptions or shortages — disruptions that could undermine the administration’s signature initiatives,” John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, said in a letter Friday to top White House economic adviser Lael Brainard. Biden opposes the Nippon deal and, according to The Wall Street Journal, had initially considered negotiating a deal between Cleveland-Cliffs as an alternative before deciding against it. Bozzella said that decision “should remain the administration’s official policy.”
| | SOMEONE’S GOT JOKES: President Joe Biden last week took a jab at Boeing’s ongoing woes, telling audiences during a fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall he doesn’t “sit by the door” when flying on Air Force One (also made by Boeing, of course). Boeing has been the butt of endless jokes turned into memes that are still sprawling across social media ever since the Alaska Airlines door plug incident earlier this year. (Boeing isn’t fond of them, as The New York Times recently pointed out). It’s no wonder why the president decided to pile on. Biden did add, however, “I’m only kidding. I shouldn’t joke about that.”
| | | | A message from Capital Access Alliance: With bipartisan support in Congress for authorizing a modest number of additional flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), travelers would benefit from more competition, greater access and more affordable prices. Congress: It's time to expand access at DCA.
Did you know that DCA's on-time performance is now top five in North America, despite false claims that the airport is "over capacity?" A leading global travel data provider, OAG, has proven DCA has a nearly 80 percent on-time arrival rate. The outdated federal perimeter rule is limiting consumer choice, and travelers who want to visit Washington, D.C. are burdened with the most expensive airfare in the nation. Learn more. | | | | | — “Officials studied Baltimore bridge risks but didn’t prepare for ship strike.” Washington Post. — “US FAA certifies Gulfstream G700 business jet." Reuters. — “Biden administration to hand out $4B in advanced energy tax credits.” POLITICO. — “Space is the new ‘Wild West.’ The EU is dying to step in and regulate.” POLITICO Europe. — “The Baltimore collapse focused attention on vital bridges. Thousands are in poor shape across the US." Associated Press. — “Opinion: Baltimore’s tragedy shows the US maritime transportation crisis demands our attention.” CNN. — “Bridge to the Bottom: Global Deregulation of Shipping." The American Prospect. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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