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· creates perverse incentives for cities to increase

congestion, making them less likely to meet federal air

quality standards; and

· hands out billions of federal dollars for mass tran-

sit, roads, and other projects that satisfy political

agendas rather than local transportation needs.

Instead of renewing ISTEA, the federal government

should back out of the urban transportation arena.  The

"TEA-2" proposal, supported by Sen. Connie Mack (R-Fla.) and

Rep. John Kasich (R-Ohio), eliminates most of the federal

gas tax and devolves transportation decisions to state and

local governments.  A proposal such as that would allow

cities to focus on transportation rather than the game of

getting dollars from the U.S. Treasury.

History of Urban Transport

Through the end of the 19th century, Americans were

content to leave urban transportation to the private sector.

Urban developers always dedicated a large share of land to

streets to allow for a flow of commercial and private traf-

fic.  As the technology became available, private developers

also built streetcar lines and other forms of rail transit

to promote the housing developments accessed by those rails.

Private toll roads connected many cities.

Because of limited mobility, most cities had densely

populated urban cores.  Small lot sizes and multifamily

housing reflected both high land prices and people's need to

be close to employment and shops.  Streetcar lines allowed

many people to escape to "railroad suburbs," but even those

suburbs tended to be densely populated because most people

wanted to be able to walk easily to the streetcar stops.

In the early part of the 20th century, the increasing

popularity of the automobile led to a "good roads" movement

that advocated government construction and ownership of

roads.  That revolutionary idea was partly a response to the

perceived excesses of "monopolistic" railroad and toll road

owners.  But it was also in tune with the Progressives'

vision of "scientific management" by government officials.

Advocates of good roads felt that user fees, in the

form of gasoline taxes and vehicle registration fees, would

make roads self-funding and promote efficient, government-

managed transportation systems.  In fact, user fees have