AASHTO Journal, 27 February 2015
Utah Department of Transportation Executive Director Carlos Braceras urged Congress Feb 25 to pass a “robust, long-term” highway and transit bill before current authority for Highway Trust Fund programs expires May 31.
Braceras, who is also secretary-treasurer of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, made the comments at a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which has responsibility for writing the highway portion of a bill.
Braceras addresses senators on highway funding.Speaking both on behalf of UDOT and AASHTO, Braceras told senators that repeated short extensions of federal programs in recent years was hurting the predictability states need to plan and finance infrastructure projects that support the economy.
“AASHTO remains committed to helping Congress pass a robust, long-term surface transportation reauthorization bill prior to the expiration of the current extension in May,” Braceras said.
He made the remarks as AASHTO members were meeting at a nearby hotel for an annual legislative conference, and as many prepared to visit Capitol Hill offices later that day to directly press lawmakers and their staffs on transportation issues.
Currently, some policy observers say Congress will be unlikely to complete a long-term bill before June, and will need at least one more short-term extension.
Braceras told the EPW Committee: “The negative impact of these short-term extensions and the near-constant threat of Highway Trust Fund insolvency cannot be overstated.”
He explained that “while we as a transportation industry do everything in our power to build our projects as fast as possible, many of them take several years to complete. The lack of a long-term surface transportation bill that provides a predictable stream of federal funding makes it nearly impossible for state DOTs to plan for large projects that need funding over multiple years.”
The UDOT chief added that “major transportation projects in several states are sitting on the shelves or have been delayed due to the unpredictability of federal funding,” delays that “have serious economic consequences both in the short- and long-term.”
Braceras said state departments of transportation “play a critical role in ensuring that we have a reliable and efficient transportation network, but they “are only able to play this role through a robust partnership with the federal government.”
He said that “any effort to disrupt the federally funded, state-administered structure of the federal-aid highway program … could undermine the very foundation of a strong federal role in transportation investment.”
Prodding Congress to avoid setting new national-level performance standards, Braceras said Congress should instead work with state DOTs as they implement program reforms initiated by the 2012 MAP-21 highway bill, some of which are still awaiting regulatory guidance from the USDOT.
He also urged lawmakers to consider authorizing a pilot program that would let states have control of “consolidated funding” of federal money now split among different program categories, provided those states meet certain performance measures.
And he asked that state DOTs be allowed to modify the federally established Primary Freight Network mileage, to add more segments beyond the current PFN cap of 27,000 lane miles.