TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY PETERS DISCUSSES ROADS AND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LONDON 000349 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EAIR ELTN UK SUBJECT: TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY PETERS DISCUSSES ROADS AND AVIATION IN UK ¶1. (U) Summary: Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, Ambassador Tuttle, and state and local elected officials met with UK Transportation Secretary Ruth Kelly on December 7 to discuss private-public partnerships to address road congestion, stage II of the U.S.-EU aviation agreement, and environmental emissions. The delegation also met with Archie Robertson, CEO Highways Agency, and toured that agency's Regional Control Center. End Summary ¶2. (U) Secretary Peters was accompanied on the trip by South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, Missouri Department of Transportation Director Pete Rahn, A/S for Transportation Policy Tyler Duvall, DAS for Aviation and International Affairs Michael Reynolds, DAS for Governmental Affairs Kerry O'Hare, Chief of staff Robert Johnson, and Special Assistant to the Secretary Kate Stusrud. ¶3. (U) Secretary Peters explained to Secretary Kelly President Bush's directive to the Department of Transportation (DoT) to help reduce U.S. dependence on foreign sources of oil and to reduce emissions in part by improving fuel efficiency of the USG vehicle fleet. She explained the President's goal of reducing reliance on fossil-based fuels by 20 percent in ten years, and the legislative process to enact some of these changes into law. Secretary Peters also explained the U.S. corridor management approach of using tax benefits and expedited environmental permitting as ways to reduce traffic and environmental harm. Congestion -------------- ¶4. (U) Secretary Kelly described UK efforts to reduce congestion as having surpassed expectations. The London municipal government's imposition of a congestion fee a few years ago had initially frightened the business community, who felt it would damage the local economy, but Kelly said there has been no evidence of harm. In fact, the tariff has been increased (BPS 8 or USD 16/day) and the economy and traffic situation both seem to be fine, Kelly said. She did admit that most people are not "wild" about paying the fee, but have accepted it. Kelly later informed the delegation that 1.8 million people signed a petition last year complaining that the congestion charge was only a revenue generator and violated privacy rights (through the many cameras throughout the city capturing motorists who have not paid the tax). Manchester and Cambridge are 
also considering implementing a similar system, and have been awarded grants by the British government contingent upon implementation of a congestion plan. ¶5. (U) In addition, Secretary Kelly explained, the UK is opening up road shoulders during peak times. This also defied pre-implementation fears of increased injuries; the personal injury rate fell from 5 to 1.5. Kelly attributed this to increased cameras and patrols on the roads identifying stopped vehicles, and to people beginning to drive more respectfully. Public Private Partnership -------------- ¶5. (U) Secretary Kelly described the UK approach to transferring risk to the private sector in building, maintaining and owning roadways as a learning process about how to consider and respond to inevitable failures. She said the UK is getting better at reducing failure rates as they gain experience. Kelly said that overcoming the public's skepticism of turning to the private sector for building infrastructure and assuming risk was difficult, but again, has come to be well-accepted in the road sector. Fuel Taxes -------------- ¶6. (U) Secretary Kelly, in response to Director Rahn's question, explained that UK fuel taxes are not dedicated to transportation (or environmental) projects, but instead go directly to the general fund. Stage II of U.S.-EU Open Skies Negotiations -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Secretary Peters conveyed the U.S. commitment to moving forward with Stage II with the EU and its member states, and to working with the U.S. Congress on key issues in the second round of negotiations. Secretary Kelly was pleased to know the U.S. is working hard and explained that this is an important issue to the UK. Secretary Peters encouraged Secretary Kelly to communicate directly with Congressman Oberstar about the current draft legislation in Washington regarding control and ownership that might upset the Open Skies agreement. Environmental Emissions -------------- LONDON 00000349 002 OF 002 ¶8. (SBU) Secretary Peters described the U.S. desire to work with the UK and Europe on a balanced approach within ICAO to emissions issues. Kelly said there was a pre-condition to aviation discussions that there be some type of framework around which all could begin discussions - and that the European Emissions Trading System is the best framework from which to learn. She said Europe had learned from the U.S. experience on emissions trading about how to price externalities. Highway Agency -------------- ¶9. (U) In a separate meeting, Highways CEO Robertson explained his agency's role, and how he encourages his team to borrow ideas from the U.S., i.e., HOV lanes, balancing of the flow with demand measures, controlling speed using signals, etc. He further explained the hard-shoulder pilot program on 17KM of highway which has polled an 80% customer satisfaction rate due to its reliability, and questioned whether in this age of more reliable vehicles there is actually a need for an emergency lane. He also indicated that congestion pricing will be his second demand management tool. In a country with approximately 30 million drivers/year averaging 15,000-20,000 miles/year there have been a total of 3000 roadway deaths. The delegation then visited a Highways Agency traffic management center outside of London, where they were shown motorway traffic management technology. TUTTLE