Abstract
This Special Issue of Public Works Management & Policy (PWMP) commemorates the 20th Anniversary of the partnering of the Section on Transportation Policy and Administration (STPA) of the American Society of Public Administration with PWMP. The goal of STPA is to organize a policy focus on transportation while PWMP is a peer-reviewed journal for academics and practitioners that addresses the planning, financing, development, and operations of civil infrastructure systems at all levels of society-federal, state, and local. The STPA-PWMP partnership brings together transportation policy researchers and practitioners with an internationally recognized medium to showcase their work. The seven articles in this Special Anniversary Issue represent a small but exemplary sampling of the transportation policy research being carried out by STPA members. This special issue is particularly timely as it dovetails nicely with President Biden’s signing of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law on Nov. 15, 2021.
Gas taxes represent one of the most important revenue sources for state transportation funding. In “What Drives States to Raise Gas Tax Rates? An Empirical Analysis,” Can Chen, Min Su, and Ping Zhang empirically examine the underlying motivation, obstacles, resources/capacity, and diffusion factors driving state legislative decisions of raising fixed gas tax rates. Using a discrete event history analysis, this study finds that states raise gas tax rates in response to the growing funding needs of maintaining and improving the quality and performance of state highway infrastructure. Additionally, state internal characteristics—poverty rate, personal income, rising gas prices, as well as the external influences of neighboring states affect the adoption of a gas tax rate hike. This research has key policy implications for state lawmakers who are considering a gas tax rate hike to fund needed transportation infrastructure.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) makes extensive use of the U.S. multimodal transportation network to move material for operational support and to keep facilities supplied as well as the movement of personnel. Chad Miller, in “Military Transportation in State Freight and Defense Community Plans,” examines state freight and defense community plans to identify how the transportation needs of the DoD are being addressed in state transportation planning. The study finds that nationally, the DoD and federal agencies work closely together to maintain the nation’s defense transportation network, but at the local and state level, closer cooperation on transportation issues should be developed.
In 2015, the United Nations Member States unanimously adopted seventeen Sustainable Development Goals as a part the Agenda for Sustainable Development, including one goal for Gender Equity having powerful connections to and impacts on air transport. “Sustainability, Gender Equity, and Air Transport: Planning a Stronger Future,” by Deniz Zeynep Leuenberger and Rebecca Lutte discusses the relationship between sustainability, gender equity, and air transport and makes recommendations for a future of transport that is economically, socially, and environmentally more sustainable.
Public transportation is vital for connecting individuals to resources necessary for improving their quality of life and pursuing urban social equity. However, in many parts of the U.S., transit users are frequently stigmatized for lacking access to private automobiles. In “Transit Stigma: Transit Administrators' Views of the Role of Policy Elites in Perpetuating Stigma,” Josephine Hazelton-Boyle and Gerard Wellman examine how U.S. public transit administrators are working to address “transit stigma,” defined as the unjust representation of individuals who utilize transit services as a lower class of individuals. The study discusses the innovative and cutting-edge approaches transit administrators report using to end or mitigate transit stigma in their service areas.
In “Capital Management Capacity: Conceptual Development and Pilot Testing of a Framework,” Benjamin Seymour, Juita-Elena Yusuf, Carol Ebdon, and Arwi Srithongrung-Kriz develop a conceptual framework for assessing capital management capacity of government agencies. Building on the Government Performance Project (GPP) framework, the 2019 Srithongrung, Yusuf, and Kriz normative framework of a systematic capital management and budgeting process, and the current literature on capital management, the proposed framework incorporates elements of all three to reflect the “Management Infrastructure” that evaluates essential yet often hidden aspects of capacity. Two case studies illustrate the application of the framework for understanding how processes and practices support effective budgeting and management of capital projects.
Given the continuing interest in public private partnerships (PPP) to expand financing options for transportation infrastructure, “Structuring Public-Private Partnerships for Public Value: Analysis of Two Transportation Infrastructure Case Studies” by Martin Mayer and Juita-Elena Yusuf is particularly timely. The study examines the accountability of PPPs in terms of providing public value and analyzes how the structuring of PPP comprehensive agreements can achieve this goal via the improved infrastructure and reduced congestion. The findings provide insight into the roles, relationships, and interactions of the public and private partners, how elements of public value and performance are incorporated into each PPP contractual agreement, and, how PPP outcomes are monitored to ensure accountability.
Last, but certainly not least, in “The Implementation of Active Transportation Policies at the Local Level: Findings from a North Carolina Survey,” Suzanne Leland, Christina Danis, Sarahanne Smith, and Robert Boyer present the results of surveys and interviews conducted with more than 300 cities, towns, counties, MPOs, and COGs in North Carolina. The study identifies policy approaches to encourage the development of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure as well as opportunities and barriers to local government participation and capacity.
We hope that this 20th Anniversary Issue spawns another decade of continuing excellence in the conduct and dissemination of research in the field of transportation policy.
Can Chen, Georgia State University
Chair, STPA
Richard Little, Editor
Public Works Management & Policy.