State flexibility, permitting reform, and infrastructure innovation were key themes expressed by Sean Duffy (above), the new secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, in his keynote address at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials 2025 Washington Briefing.
[Above photo by AASHTO]
Duffy began by emphasizing that “airspace” changes are being made in the wake of the crash between a U.S. Army Black Hawk Helicopter and American Airlines passenger jet at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on January 29; the deadliest U.S. aviation crash since 2001 that took the lives of 67 people.
“Our country has had a hard week,” he said, referencing that air crash along with a medical jet crash in Philadelphia on January 31that took seven lives and injured 24. “And the families of the victims of this past week have had an experience that I don’t think many can imagine.”
Where the Reagan National crash is concerned, Duffy explained that he will “make sure that we have the right policies in place inside our towers; to make sure when you fly, you’re safe,” he said. “Many of you have heard that we don’t have enough air traffic controllers [so] we need to surge more of them into the system. We have a plan in place that’s going to allow us to surge that [and] we’re going to announce that in the next couple of days.”
Duffy then turned to discuss President Trump’s transportation infrastructure vision: “He wants me to help you build more, build faster, build better, and probably more beautifully as well,” Duffy noted. “So that is the mission we want and we’ve got to partner together to figure that out. So I do want to build more but I want to build more with less money and I want us to build in a shorter period of time.”
From that perspective, the secretary said he is “getting back to the basics” of how USDOT can help states build faster and more cost effectively.
“We’re going to streamline the paperwork; we want to reform the requirements around the permitting process. That does not mean we shouldn’t do environmental studies,” Duffy added. “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t go through a permitting process. But it can’t take as long as it’s taking right now. And so I think there’s a real appetite on the Hill to help us streamline this permitting process to move our projects far more quickly.”
And the secretary stressed that, from his perspective, he wants “aggressive” change. “I don’t want incremental change,” he emphasized.
“I want fast change that’s going to transform the way we do business. I want to use more private capital. I want more technology and I want more innovation in your space,” Duffy said. “I’m going to reward the innovators who create and find ways to better build and more effectively build the projects that you guys care so much about. And for those who innovate and are creative, I’m going to give you more freedom and I’m going to give you more money to do your projects.”
That also entails, from his view, a “rethinking” of the federal-state partnership.
“We should rethink the way we’re doing business together by giving you all a lot more autonomy, a lot more authority, a lot more freedom to do the projects that you know are important in your communities,” Duffy said.
“That’s going to take a dialog. But I think, in this room, you have some of the best ideas and the most creative ideas,” he added. “And we need those great ideas that all of you have in this room to make sure we accomplish the goal of, again, building big, beautiful projects that connect the country.”
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