May 9, 2002
 

Honorable Thomas E. Petri
Chair, Subcommittee on Highways and Transit
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
B-370 RHOB
Washington, DC  20515

Dear Chairman Petri:

On behalf of the National Association of State Highway and Transportation Unions (NASHTU), I would like to submit the enclosed report Highway Robbery for inclusion in the record of the Subcommittee’s “Major Project Management: Solutions for Major Success” hearing held May 1, 2002.

NASHTU is comprised of 28 unions, affiliates and associations from 18 states and the District of Columbia representing hundreds of thousands of state and local department of transportation engineers, architects, project managers and inspectors, and related employees.  NASHTU is dedicated to ensuring that federal transportation dollars are spent on safe, cost-effective projects that serve the public interest. 

NASHTU is very concerned about the enormous problems caused by contracting out design, construction management, oversight, and inspection on transportation projects, particularly on major projects over $1 billion.  As outlined in detail in the Highway Robbery report, when private companies designed, engineered, built, inspected and managed major projects in Massachusetts (the Central Artery/Tunnel in Boston) and California (the Red Line Subway in Los Angeles) the results were disastrous for taxpayers with delays in delivery, cost over-runs, and severe problems with safety and quality.   

In fact, the “Big Dig” had $1.4 billion in cost overruns in 1999 alone.  The Red Line Subway’s private construction managers and inspectors cut corners and ignored design specifications from the start, ultimately resulting in the collapse of Hollywood Boulevard. 

Both of these projects speak to the need for having inspection and oversight functions, at a minimum, on major transportation projects done by state and local government engineering and technical employees who are guardians of taxpayer dollars and public safety.  If experience has taught us anything it is that private consultants motivated by profit, and interested first and foremost in maintaining “relationships” with other private firms, are ill-suited to perform these essential, and intrinsically public, functions. 

Thank you for the opportunity to include this letter and our report in the public record.  If you have any questions or seek any additional information, please call me at 916/446-0584.

Sincerely,

Ted Toppin
NASHTU Coordinator

cc: Hon. Robert A. Borski, Ranking, Subcommittee on Highways and Transit
     Hon. Don Young, Chair, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
     Hon. James Oberstar, Ranking, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee