Failing transport system imperils prosperity

Written by jrood

The United States is saddled with a rapidly decaying and woefully underfunded transportation system that will undermine its status in the global economy unless Congress and the public embrace innovative reforms, a bipartisan panel of experts concludes, reports The Washington Post.

U.S. investment in
preservation and development of transportation infrastructure lags so far
behind that of China, Russia and European nations that it will lead to "a
steady erosion of the social and economic foundations for American prosperity
in the long run."

That is a central
conclusion in a report issued on behalf of about 80 transportation experts who
met for three days in September 2009 at the University of Virginia. Few of
their conclusions were groundbreaking, but the weight of their credentials
lends gravity to their findings. Co-chaired by two former secretaries of
transportation – Norman Y. Mineta and Samuel K. Skinner – the group estimated
that an additional $134 billion to $262 billion must be spent per year through
2035 to rebuild and improve roads, rail systems and air transportation.

"We’re going to have
bridges collapse. We’re going to have earthquakes. We need somebody to grab the
issue and run with it, whether it be in Congress or the White House,"
Mineta said during a news conference.

The key to salvation is
developing new long-term funding sources to replace the waning revenue from
federal and state gas taxes that largely paid for the construction and expansion
of the highway system in the 1950s and 1960s, the report said.

"Infrastructure is
important, but it’s not getting the face time with the American people,"
Skinner said. "We’ve got to look at this as an investment, not an
expense."

A major increase in the
federal gas tax, which has remained unchanged since it was bumped to 18.4 cents
per gallon in 1993, might be the most politically palatable way to boost
revenue in the short term, the report said, but over the long run, Americans
should expect to pay for each mile they drive.

"A fee of just one
penny per mile would equal the revenue currently collected by the fuel tax; a
fee of two cents per mile would generate the revenue necessary to support an
appropriate level of investment over the long term," the report said.

Fuel tax revenue, including
state taxes that range from eight cents in Alaska to 46.6 cents in California,
have declined as fuel efficiency has increased. President Obama mandated that
new cars get 35.5 miles on average per gallon by 2016, and government officials
said last week that they are considering raising the average to 62 miles per
gallon by 2025.

Facing midterm elections in
November, Congress has lacked the will to tackle transportation funding.
Efforts to advance a new six-year federal transportation plan stalled on
Capitol Hill after the previous one expired last year.

If Congress were to do the
report’s bidding, the task would be far broader in scope than simply coming up
with trillions of dollars in long-term funding to rebuild a 50-year-old highway
system. The experts also advocated the adoption of a distinct capital spending
plan for transportation, empowering state and local governments with authority
to make choices now dictated from the federal level, continued development of
high-speed rail systems better integrated with freight rail transportation and
expansion of intermodal policies rather than reliance on highways alone to move
goods and people.

But Mineta noted that 42
days after an eight-lane bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River in
Minneapolis in 2007, a survey found that 53 percent of respondents opposed an
emergency gas tax increase to pay for infrastructure repairs.

"The shelf life of a
tragedy like [I-35W] was 42 days," he said. Thirteen people died in the
collapse and more than 100 were injured.

The report emphasized that
federal policy should be crafted to address congestion by providing incentives
that encourage land use that reduces single-occupant commutes and promotes "livable
communities."

"Creating communities
conducive to walking and alternate modes of transportation . . . should be an
important goal of transportation policy at all levels of government," the
report said.

It also encouraged
expansion of innovative public-private partnerships to further transportation
goals, citing the high-occupancy toll lane project in Northern Virginia as an
example.

"The one option that’s
not in this report is throwing up our hands," said Jeff Shane, a former
Transportation Department official and a member of the panel. "That seems
to be the option that Congress chooses."

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