AASHTO Journal, 23 January 2015
Bud Wright, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, says Congress can “build muscle for the American economy” by bolstering the Highway Trust Fund so states can whittle down the infrastructure backlog.
WrightWright, in an opinion article carried by the trucking industry weekly newspaper Transport Topics, said that is a big lesson of the recent “Bottom Line Report” on infrastructure needs by AASHTO and the American Public Transportation Association.
He said the report “makes a strong case that just shoring up the Highway Trust Fund to maintain current levels will not make much of a dent in congestion that saps economic vitality. It shows that a flat-level federal program will not keep pace with increased vehicle miles traveled on highways or with demands for public transportation services, much less close the investment gap that already exists.”
Although President Obama and key leaders in Congress are exploring how to pay for a trust fund fix, and Obama urged lawmakers again in his latest “State of the Union” speech to pass infrastructure legislation, many lawmakers are discussing how to keep funding the trust fund at current program levels.
However, Wright said the report on investment needs shows that “simply maintaining current federal spending levels won’t get the job done.”
He said spending more tax dollars on transportation will save lives, create substantial ripple effects in added jobs and put in highway and transit networks that can support economic growth for decades.
But while states are increasing their own transportation revenues, and federal infrastructure loans are expanding, “the main federal programs limp along.”
Wright: “Investing in that infrastructure will require some gutsy decisions on Capitol Hill about how to pay for it. But the bottom line is this: We have a choice between making the country stronger or making it weaker. We can pay to fix our transportation systems and then reap the payback that comes from oiling the machinery of commerce. Or we will certainly pay higher and higher costs from slower commuter and freight travel, more highway crashes and deaths, more disposable income lost from extra hours stuck on roads, more car and truck repairs from jostling on broken pavement.”