Department of Transportation

The Department of Transportation (DOT) is focused on its core mission of promoting safety and increasing mobility, and supporting the development of infrastructure that will underpin job creation for years to come. For 2011, DOT has several major initiatives in these areas, in addition to plans to deliver transportation investments based on greater use of analysis and consideration of program performance.

Invest in 21st Century Transportation

• $4 billion to create a National Infrastructure Innovation and Finance Fund that invests in projects of regional or national significance, with effective leveraging of non-federal capital.
• $530 million as part of the President’s Partnership for Sustainable Communities to help State and local governments invest in sustainable transportation infrastructure that integrates with housing development and other critical investments.
• $1.14 billion – a more than 30 percent increase from 2010 – for the Next Generation Air Transportation System, the FAA’s effort to improve the efficiency, safety, and capacity of the aviation system through initiatives such as the transformation from a national ground-based radar surveillance system to a more accurate satellite-based surveillance system, more efficient routes through the airspace, and improved aviation weather information.
• $30 million to establish a Federal Transit Safety program to replace the current patchwork of state safety organizations with national standards and federal enforcement.
• $1 billion for high-speed rail, building on the $8 billion down payment in the Recovery Act and the $1 billion budgeted in 2010, to advance the development of rail projects that help to address the nation’s transportation challenges by investing in an efficient network of intercity corridors connecting communities across America.

High-Priority Performance Goals

The Administration is committed to building a transparent, high-performance government capable of addressing the challenges of the 21st century. As part of developing the budget, every department identified high-priority performance goals (along with the strategies and in-house resources to achieve them) that each will work to accomplish over the next two years. Highlights of this department’s goals are:

• Reduce the rate of highway fatalities to 1.13 - 1.16 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled by the end of 2011, through a variety of initiatives aimed at drivers, improved road design, and the use of technology to improve safety. 
• Reduce the risk of accidents- during aircraft departures and landings by reducing the number of runway incursions 5 percent from the 2008 baseline by the end of 2011.
• Improve Rail Transit Industry Focus on Safety Vulnerabilities:
  • Improve State Safety Oversight programs’ compliance with existing requirements by the end of the third quarter of 2010.
  • Form a compliance advisory committee, in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, to provide input on potential future regulation by the end of 2010.
  • Complete at least three workshops and training on transit asset management, including a focus on safety critical assets by the end of 2010.

To see the Department’s full set of performance information, please visit: http://www.dot.gov/about_dot.html#perfbudgplan.