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April 17, 2007 Testimony Before the House Subcommittee on
Highways and Transit Hearing on Public Private Partnerships
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
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