KERN TRANSPORTATION FOUNDATION

Newsl etter

DIRECTORS

Donna Carpenter
Chairman
Bruce Biggar
Chief Financial Officer
Peter Smith
Secretary

Gary Blackburn
Leigh Ann Cook
David Couch
Steve Esselman
Jack Gotcher
Jim Hunter
Ted James
Karen King
Jess Ortiz
Patricia Poire
Cathy Prout
Howard Silver
John Spaulding
Will Winn
TECHNICAL
ADVISORS
Bob Neath
John Shuler
Ted Wright
Inside this issue:
September 2014 Issue 9
Federal Highway
Trust Fund
Running Out
2
Tehachapi
Transportation
News
3
Obama Drives
a Self-Driving
Car
3
Dept. of
Transportation
States Concerns
About Rail Safety
4



Proposition 1B, that money is now
spent and the economic recovery
has brought with it renewed
inflation.

This isnt to say that our roadways
wont continue to expand, only
that they will do so at a much
slower rate and with less funding
from the state and federal
governments. The expansion that
does occur will, almost by default,
be limited to greater amounts of
f r e i g h t mo v e me n t t o
accommodate our growing
population. In particular, the state
government has si gnal ed
politically that its no longer
interested in paying for wider
roads or new highways.

That leaves our region once again
on its own to fund the
improvements we want to see.
Like Fresno, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, San Diego and
Sacramento before us, what our
transportation future looks like
will depend largely on what were
willing to invest in it locally. Its
the price we pay to maintain our
way of life.










Ahron Hakimi is the executive director
of Kern Council of Governments, the
regi onal transportati on pl anni ng
agency, and a colonel who commands
a transportation division in the U.S.
Army Reserve.
BY AHRON HAKIMI


When Ker n Counc i l of
Governments launched i ts
original ridesharing program in
the mid-1980s, the term social
media had yet to be coined.
Nevertheless, thats exactly what
it was: a computerized database of
individuals looking to connect
with each other to share a
commute to work or school in
order to save money or help
reduce air pollution.
Flash forward nearly 30 years and
social medias effects on our
transportation network are far
more widespread. In addition to
what is now CommuteKern a
considerably more sophisticated,
web-based ridesharing system
Kern COG has also developed its
phone-operated 511 traveler
information system, which also
has an Internet presence.

Thr ough Commut e Ker n
( commutekern.org ), users can
enter generalized information
about their location, destination
and daily commute times to be
automatically matched for free
with others who are going in the
same direction on approximately
the same schedule. Through
email, they can then contact
potential matches to share a ride.

Similarly, by dialing 511 or going
to kern511.com , travelers can
check road conditions on a real-
time basis before they depart in
order to avoid traffic hot spots or
at least be aware of any incidents
that might slow them down.
The most recent innovation,
however, comes to Bakersfield in
the form of worldwide companies
Uber and Lyft, which employ
social media mobile applications
designed to connect riders with
drivers who are willing to
transport them for a fee.
While these services may be
considered controversial because
they compete directly with taxis
and remain unregulated, they
nevertheless represent the latest
leap forward in transportation
demand management (TDM), a
sweeping term for mostly
technological improvements
designed to squeeze more
e f f i c i e n c y o u t o f o u r
transportation infrastructure. For
most commuters in California,
greater network efficiency, not
expansion, is the siren call of our
new transportation reality.

Both publ i c and pri vate
organizations are working quickly
to leverage new technology and/
or introduce older technology to
more regions in the fight against
traffic congestion.

For example, with the interchange
improvements at Highway 99 and
Olive Drive and again at Highway
58 and H Street, the Kern region
has been introduced to yet
another TDM innovation the
ramp meter. In use for decades in
larger urban areas, ramp meters
are fast-changing stoplights that
regulate the flow of traffic onto a
freeway by allowing only one or
two cars at a time. Though they
havent yet been turned on, both
locations are now fully outfitted as
congestion pressures increase.

Even as gas prices increase, both
state and federal fuel taxes have
remained relatively flat for most
of the last 25 years, resulting in
inflationary pressures that
dampen capital expansion. While
the recession was actually a good
time for project development and
California voters embraced almost
$20 billion of transportation-
rel at ed pr oj ect s t hr ough

Local Investments Will Shape Regions Transportation Future
The Kern
Transportation
Foundation
promotes a modern,
balanced
transportation
system that
enhances the quality
of life and advances
the economic
vitality of the
residents of Kern
County.
Page 2 KTF Newsletter Issue 9
The Kern River Park-
way trail is a native
riparian area which
extends over 30 miles
through Bakersfield
along the Kern River.
Federal Highway Program Could Run Out Of Money Aug. 2014
No Agreement In Congress
This spring, President Obama
introduced a four-year, $302
billion infrastructure bill that
would increase highway
spending by nearly a fourth. It's
an idea that's gone nowhere.
The president openly mocked
Congress for not moving on
transportation, warning that its
dithering could lead to mass
layoffs. "I haven't heard a good
reason why they haven't acted,"
Obama said in a speech near a
Washington bridge deemed
structurally deficient. "It's not like
they've been busy with other
stuff. No, seriously." There's no
end of ideas for transportation
funding. Individual members
have suggested ending
Saturday postal delivery and
devoting the savings to roads, or
giving corporations a tax break
so they'll repatriate overseas
profits.
The main tax-writing committees
in the House and Senate are
working on separate legislation.
But there doesn't seem to be
any consensus as yet. "I don't
have any confidence at all that
Congress is going to come up
with another general fund bailout
for the Highway Trust Fund,"
says Scott Dibble, who chairs
the Minnesota Senate
Transportation Committee.
"Even if they do, it begs the
larger question of what on earth
Congress is going to do to meet
the infrastructure needs that will
keep the country competitive."

Root Of The Problem

The perpetual shortfalls stem
from the fact that the federal gas
tax of 18.4 cents per gallon
hasn't been raised since 1993.
Meanwhile, the country's
population has grown
substantially and cars have
become more fuel-efficient, even
as construction costs have
continued to increase. The
American Association of State
Highway and Transportation
Officials estimates that the
average household pays $46 per
month in state and federal gas
taxes, while paying three or four
times that amount per month on
cable, utilities and cellphones.
"This isn't the first time we're
running into the insolvency
problem with the trust fund,"
says Joung Lee, AASHTO's
deputy director.
There's a bipartisan proposal in
the Senate to increase the
federal gas tax by 12 cents over
two years. But there's never
been much appetite for the idea
of an increase in Washington.
"Do I want to be associated with
making the gas tax higher?"
asks Schank, the Eno Center
president. "They don't want to
be that guy. President Obama
doesn't want to be that guy."
One proposal being floated by
congressional Republicans
would lower the federal gas tax
to 3.7 cents per gallon,
essentially leaving transportation
funding and planning to the
states. That doesn't seem likely
to happen. The national
government won't want to
surrender its role in providing
basic infrastructure.
As things stand, though, the
federal government contracts
most infrastructure management
out to states. The states put up
the money for projects and then
get reimbursed through the
bureaucracy of the Highway
Trust Fund which is very
inefficient and wasteful. The
question now is whether states
will be paid back in a timely
manner. Most state
transportation departments,
having been through this before,
assume that Congress will come
through with the money in the
end. But some have already
started putting projects on hold.
As things stand, though, the
federal government contracts
most infrastructure management
out to states. The states put up
the money for projects and then
get reimbursed through the
bureaucracy of the Highway
Trust Fund which is very
inefficient and wasteful.

by Alan Greenblatt, NPR

July 03, 2014

Congress has yet another
problem it can't solve.
For years, the main federal
transportation program has been
spending more money than it
takes in. This year, the
Congressional Budget Office
estimates the Transportation
Department will disburse $45
billion while collecting only $33
billion for its Highway Trust
Fund. As a result,
Transportation Secretary
Anthony Foxx warned states on
Tuesday that they will start
seeing cuts of 28 percent in
federal funding for roads and
bridges next month unless
Congress comes up with some
extra money.
Congress might well do that
it's pumped billions of extra
dollars into the fund several
times over the past six years.
"People are terrified of going
home to their constituents and
saying, 'We just shut down the
federal highway program,' or,
'We have cut the program to the
extent we're going to have to
shut some projects down,' " says
Joshua Schank, president of the
Eno Center for Transportation, a
think tank in Washington. "No
matter where members of
Congress are from, they're going
to catch a lot of slack from
transportation agencies, and
then people who are being put
out of work," he says.
The ability to tout new roads and
repairs at home is one reason
transportation spending has
traditionally enjoyed deep
bipartisan support. But the bill
for perennially short-shrifting
infrastructure has come due.
Most observers think Congress
needs not just another short-
term patch, but new strategies
that would be more sustainable.
It's just that no one can agree on
what those might be. "They'll
probably find some way to patch
that deficit with the general fund,
because the states will be hurt,"
says Robert Puentes, a
transportation fellow at the
Brookings Institution. "But we're
not really talking about large-
scale systemic solutions here."
TRANSPORTATION
The act of
transporting, or the
state of being
transported; carriage
from one place to
another; removal;
conveyance.
Page 3
Issue 9
TRANSPORTATION NEWS FROM TEHACHAPI, CALIFORNIA
testing facility to make a
case for pouring more
federal funds into U.S.
infrastructure,
enthusiastically entered a
self-driving car stationed at
a simulator. Man, this is so
exciting, he remarked. I
havent been on the road in
a long time. After a quip
about his height Yeah,
Im a little tall, but thats
OK the president took
the wheel and buckled up.
Safety first, he said.
The car was
positioned in front
of a large, 180-
degree screen
where images of
cars and trucks
whizzed by. As the
vehicle lifted up
and tilted back,
Juliet Eilperin The
Washington Post
WASHINGTON
President Barack Obama
displayed genuine
excitement Tuesday while
visiting the Turner-
Fairbank Highway Research
Center in McLean, Virginia
in part because it gave
him a chance to get behind
the wheel for once. The
president, who came to the
transportation technology-
Obama yelled out, Whoa!
The shiny blue Saturn
bobbed up and down as the
president operated it,
moving forward as it
accelerated and backward as
it slowed down; Obama
steered the wheel. A gaggle
of photographers and
videographers captured
images right outside his
window. A few minutes
later, he compared the
experience to a television
show that featured a high-
tech, self-aware automobile.
It was sort of like Knight
Rider, he said, prompting
laughter from a crowd of
nearly 200 of the centers
employees. I have to say,
though, it was a little
disorienting. I havent
driven in about six years.
And Im going down the
highway, and I think
Obama takes wheel of self-driving car
city staff to seek out
potential partners for the
bike path, the Tehachapi
N e w s r e p o r t e d .
Consultants from Gravity
Logic visited the area to
assess whether Tehachapi
could benefit from a gravity
mountain bike path. The
concept of the path
involves a series of bike
paths that would allow
potential visitors to use a
lift to access high points of
the trail and then plummet
a trail on a bicycle.
Assistant City Manager
Chris Kirk said the
mountain path would be
one of the only such parks
open year-round in the
country. The City Council
has authorized $25,000 set
as i de f or pot ent i al
partnerships to fund the
project.
ELECTRIC CAR OWNERS

Tehachapi is going electric.
Well, at least for those
driving electric vehicles.
The city will be getting a
couple of electric charging
stations to provide in-town
fueling stations for those
driving popular hybrid
vehicles, the Tehachapi
News reported. City
Manager Greg Garrett said
the EV Charging Stations
are important because they
will allow motorists with
electric vehicles to stop and
charge in Tehachapi. The
city does not know the cost
of electricity for the
st at i ons yet . Those
number s wi l l come
together after installation,
Garrett said. After the final
price per refueling is
established, users will be
charged an appropriate fee.
Most electric-car drivers
use an app on their phone
that shows them where the
nearest EV Charging Station
is located. With the electric
station in Tehachapi, more
drivers will stop in the city,
Garrett said. Bill Mason, a
Bear Valley resident, said
having the fuel station in
Tehachapi will be more
beneficial than driving to
the Nissan charging station
in Bakersfield. The
installation of the stations is
slated to begin in about six
months.

DOWNHILL GRAVITY
BIKING, TOO

The downhi l l gravi ty
mountain bike path in
Tehachapi is a go. The City
Council gave approval for
www.ChinaLakeMuseum.org
Monday through Saturday
10 AM to 4 PM

Kern
Transportation
Foundation

webpage under const.

KTF Board Meeetings:
KernCOG Board Rm.
4th Monday Monthly
11:30 AM to 1 PM
The Public is Invited
P.O. Box 417
Bakersfield, CA
93302-0417
A Transportation Department
analysis found that such vehicles
could eliminate about 80 percent
of crashes involving non-
impaired drivers, while a
separate study by the Texas
Transportation Institute showed
they could save as much as 3.9
billion gallons in wasted fuel a
year.
Now, as the father of a daughter
who just turned 16, any new
technology that makes driving
I had a little bit of a lead foot I
was starting to hit 90, he
conti nued, drawing more
laughter. And then like right
next to me, the press pool is
standing there, and theyre kind
of traveling with me at 90 miles
an hour, and it got me a little
queasy. But Ive recovered.
Obama said self-driving vehicles
could cut down on accidents,
commuting time and fuel
consumption.
safer is important to me, Obama
said. And new technology that
makes driving smarter is good
for the economy.
Obama takes wheel (continued from page 3)
Page 4 KTF Newsletter
The mission of the Kern
Transportation
Foundation is to provide a
forum for advancing the
requirements of a
modern, balanced
transportation system
that meets the economic
and social needs of the
public in Kern County.
The Kern Transportation
Foundation will work to
the following:
- Identify and create
public awareness of
current and future
transportation needs in
Kern County.

- Investigate solutions to
providing a balanced
transportation systems.

- Build the private/public
partnership required to
develop a modern,
balanced transportation
system.
Kern Transportation
Foundation Mission
Statement
DOT Wants to Eliminate Older Rail Cars Carrying Crude Oil
BY CURTIS TATE
McClatchy Washington
Bureau

WASHINGTON The U.S.
Department of Transportation on
Wednesday proposed a two-year
phaseout of older railroad tank
cars used to transport crude oil,
which have been involved in
several serious derailments over
the past year.
Transportation Secretary
Anthony Foxx outlined the long-
anticipated proposals more than
a year after a deadly derailment
in Quebec focused government
and public scrutiny on the rising
volumes of crude oil shipped by
train.
The public has 60 days to
comment on the proposed rules,
and Foxx said the department
wouldnt grant an extension
because of the urgency of the
issue. The shortened time frame
is likely to set off a flurry of
efforts in Washington by oil
producers, rail companies,
refiners and tank car
manufacturers, as well as
community and environmental
groups.
The department had sought input
from these groups, which often
had different priorities and
couldnt agree on the details. But
Kevin Sheys, an attorney who
advises rail transportation clients,
said DOT took a balanced
approach.
The crude needs to move, but we
have to move it safely, he said.
And the proposed rule seems to
reflect the governments effort to
balance those goals.
The DOT will seek the phaseout
or retrofit of older model DOT-111
tank cars from crude oil and
ethanol service. Theyve long
been known to be vulnerable to
failure in derailments.
We are proposing to phase out
the DOT-111 tank car in its
current form, Foxx said.
The department offered various
options for upgraded tank cars,
including thicker steel shells,
electronic braking and rollover
protections. The proposal would
require retrofits within five years
for newer tank cars built to an
industry-adopted higher
standard.
The DOT proposed a maximum
40 mph speed in all areas for
trains that are operating with
older tank cars and for urban
areas with more than 100,000
residents. Trains with tank cars
that meet the new requirements
would be permitted to travel at 50
mph outside urban areas.
It also proposed codifying its May
7 emergency order requiring
railroads to notify state and local
emergency officials about
shipments of 1 million gallons or
more of Bakken crude oil, a
lighter type from the northern
Great Plains thats been involved
in recent derailments.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill
whove been pushing the DOT
and the Obama administration to
move swiftly on the new rules
responded favorably to
Wednesdays announcement.
We have seen the devastating
impact on communities
nationwide when our regulatory
regime lags behind rapid industry
changes, said Sen. Jay
Rockefeller, a West Virginia
Democrat who chairs the Senate
Commerce, Science and
Transportation Committee.
In addition to the notice of newly
proposed rules on tank cars,
speeds, braking and crude oil
testing, the DOT released an
advanced notice of new
regulations to govern the
expansion of comprehensive oil-
spill response plans for crude oil
trains.
Currently, railroads arent
required to have such plans for
crude oil trains, but derailments
in Quebec, Alabama, North
Dakota, Virginia and elsewhere
since last year have revealed gaps
in emergency response training,
equipment and staff.
We are not necessarily done yet
with all the ways we plan to
address this issue, said Cynthia
Quarterman, the head of the
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration at the
DOT.
The department on Wednesday
also released the results of its
crude-oil testing effort begun last
year. It concludes that Bakken
crude oil, which is extracted from
shale rock by hydraulic
fracturing, is more volatile than
other crudes.
The department proposed a
sampling and testing program,
and it would require crude oil
shippers to provide information
from the tests upon request. The
petroleum industry and refiners
have disputed the departments
research on Bakkens volatility,
and on Wednesday they cited
industry studies that have found
the opposite.