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<\/p>\nWASHINGTON \u2014 Now that Pete Buttigieg is secretary of transportation, he faces a challenge: delivering on his promises of infrastructure overhaul.<\/p>\n
During his Senate confirmation hearing, he said there was a \u201cgenerational opportunity\u201d to change infrastructure. In a string of news appearances over the past month \u2014 including ABC\u2019s \u201cThe View\u201d and an interview with the actor Chris Evans \u2014 Mr. Buttigieg said that climate change, racial justice and job creation could all be addressed through infrastructure overhaul.<\/p>\n
We \u201chave a historic opportunity to take transportation in our country to the next level,\u201d he said on Mr. Evans\u2019s show, \u201cA Starting Point,\u201d which interviews elected officials and policymakers. \u201cWe should actually be using transportation policy to make people better off, make it easier to get to where you\u2019re going, easier to get a job, easier to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n
His statements have generated excitement among transportation experts, who are unaccustomed to seeing the secretary of transportation adopt a news strategy to communicate about the nation\u2019s infrastructure. But deep institutional change remains difficult, and reform will not come easy, they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting time,\u201d said Paul Lewis, the vice president for policy and finance at the Eno Center for Transportation, a nonpartisan transit research center in Washington. \u201cBut I do think a lot of the big things \u2014 the reform efforts \u2014 are going to take more time and effort than a lot of people are expecting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Buttigieg now takes charge of a department that has oversight of the nation\u2019s airways, railroads, highways, pipelines and shipping infrastructure. His department\u2019s rule-making powers and its budget of around $87 billion provide Mr. Buttigieg with influence on how Americans safely travel and transport goods across the country.<\/p>\n
In an email to colleagues on Wednesday, Mr. Buttigieg outlined his goals to the more than 55,000 employees in the department.<\/p>\n
\u201cI envision our department playing a central role in the vital, national project of building America\u2019s economy and infrastructure back better,\u201d Mr. Buttigieg wrote. \u201cWe will break new ground: in ensuring that our economy recovers and rebuilds, in rising to the climate challenge and in making sure transportation is an engine for equity in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n
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On Friday, in his first in-person event as secretary of transportation, he met with workers from Amtrak and commuter rail transit systems at Washington\u2019s Union Station to reinforce his support for Mr. Biden\u2019s executive order that mandates masks on certain modes of interstate travel and to urge lawmakers that the United States needed to rebuild the nation\u2019s infrastructure \u201cbetter than before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite these stated goals, Mr. Buttigieg is constrained.<\/p>\n
Large chunks of the department\u2019s budget, including much of the nearly $47 billion that is allocated for roads and public transit, is controlled by funding formulas set by Congress. Any hopes to significantly overhaul the nation\u2019s infrastructure \u2014 which has become a perennial joke on Capitol Hill \u2014 would require significant negotiation with federal lawmakers.<\/p>\n
Transit advocates and former government officials said that Mr. Buttigieg\u2019s profile in the news media and the favorable bipartisan reception he received last month at his Senate confirmation hearing give them reason to believe he could achieve change, but there are still other factors to consider.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s got the skills,\u201d said Beth Osborne, the director of Transportation For America, an advocacy group. \u201cThe question is: How much priority are these things going to get and will the White House give him backing?\u201d<\/p>\n
Timing is also an issue. Democrats are in control of the White House and both chambers of Congress, but pushing through a version of Mr. Biden\u2019s $2 trillion infrastructure reform plan could become difficult if it does not happen this year, political analysts caution, because the midterm elections in 2022 could change the political calculus for lawmakers.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Mr. Biden indicated that infrastructure overhaul would be a priority this year for his administration and that he \u201ccan hardly wait\u201d to sit down with Representative Peter A. DeFazio of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, to start the effort.<\/p>\n
Ray LaHood, President Barack Obama\u2019s secretary of transportation from 2009 to 2013, said that getting transportation reform through Congress would require Mr. Buttigieg to develop relationships with Washington lawmakers, and noted this was an area where Mr. Buttigieg had \u201csome work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. LaHood added: \u201cHe needs to really develop relationships now to help President Biden get his legislative agenda through Congress very quickly. He needs to start meeting with DeFazio and the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are some areas where Mr. Buttigieg is expected to make changes, including the department\u2019s $1 billion BUILD grant program that funds road, rail, transit and port projects across the country. Mr. Buttigieg has broad control over developing the criteria for what makes those project proposals competitive for funding, former transportation officials said, and it is a place where transportation secretaries of both parties have commonly identified their priorities.<\/p>\n
Experts said road projects that are climate-friendly, such as those that encourage bike lanes and bus travel, were likely to get higher priority for funding under the Biden administration. Projects that support sidewalks in distressed neighborhoods or cheaper transportation costs for low-income workers, could also become more competitive, they said. Under the Trump administration, the department often prioritized projects that increased car use.<\/p>\n
Addressing issues of race and climate through the Transportation Department could provide Mr. Buttigieg some difficulty. Senator Bill Hagerty, Republican of Tennessee, was one of 13 senators to vote against Mr. Buttigieg\u2019s confirmation because he said the secretary would \u201cuse the department for social, racial and environmental justice causes,\u201d instead of focusing on \u201cstreamlining environmental reviews for projects or other deregulation efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another area where transportation secretaries can exert control is through federal rule-making. Under the Trump administration, the department prioritized deregulation and private-sector collaboration. Under Mr. Biden, transit advocates are lobbying Mr. Buttigieg to enact rules that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote rail service in rural communities and require projects to better measure a community\u2019s access to jobs and essential services through public transit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mechanics of this stuff may seem dull,\u201d said Ben Fried, a spokesman for TransitCenter, a transportation philanthropy. \u201cBut the cumulative effect can be big.\u201d<\/p>\n
One topic Mr. Buttigieg is expected to address is the Gateway project, which is a program that seeks to build tunnels under the Hudson River for Amtrak and commuter trains. Approval of the project stalled during the Trump administration. Mr. Buttigieg, in his confirmation hearing, said he would work with lawmakers from the Mid-Atlantic to \u201cmove forward\u201d on it.<\/p>\n
And as Mr. Buttigieg takes charge of the nation\u2019s transportation agency, transit experts and former officials said they wanted to see how his following, and reported ambitions for higher office, would affect his approach to the role. \u201cI don\u2019t think the Biden administration would have picked Pete Buttigieg if they wanted him to be quiet and stay in line,\u201d said Mr. Lewis of the Eno Center for Transportation. \u201cThat\u2019s just not his style.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others said Mr. Buttigieg\u2019s approach to rule-making and regulation changes, more so than his public statements, would be how they judge his effect. \u201cDo they create big messaging events with no substance behind it? With no actual change?\u201d said Ms. Osborne, of Transportation for America. \u201cI am looking for substantive action.\u201d<\/p>\n