ISTEA: A New Direction for Transportation Policy

Abstract

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991 is likely to be remembered as one of President Bush's most significant contributions to government decentralization and the ideals of New Federalism. It is a landmark piece of legislation that makes wholesale revisions in the federal government's role in transportation policy, providing state and, especially, local policymakers with an unprecedented opportunity to determine the future direction of the nation's surface transportation programs. However, at the same time it decentralized authority over project selection, it continued to expand the number of crossover sanctions attached tofederal transportationfunding and preempted state authority over truck weights and lengths. This underscores recent research findings that suggest that federalism principles are important tofederalpolicymakers but not necessarily more important than other competing values that emanate from different political, social, and economic views.