WASHINGTON-The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Federal Highway Administration and four other Transportation Department agencies will be combined into a single Intermodal Transportation Administration. This was what Transportation Secretary Federico Pena announced Feb. 6 as part of the Clinton Administration budget plans for fiscal year 1996.
Railroads, mass transit, shipping and special programs, as well as auto and tire safety and highway funding, will be under the purview of the new ITA. Aviation and the Coast Guard still will have agencies within DOT.
DOT also will cut its employees by nearly half, to 54,000 from 105,000, Mr. Pena said. About 40,000 employees will be lost when the department privatizes the U.S. Air Traffic Services Corp.; the rest will be eliminated from DOT civilian and military positions.
``Both our internal restructuring and this budget are designed to enable us to propel our country forward.*.*.*well into the next century,'' Mr. Pena said.
The fiscal year 1996 DOT budget-the last to be issued under the department's current configuration-is about $36.9 billion, or $2 billion less than 1995.
NHTSA's budget, however, is $340.3 million, $63.3 million more than FY 1995. The FHWA's infrastructure and research and development programs will be funded through the new Unified Transportation Infrastructure Investment Program.