Georgia Yanks $123M in Road Projects, Boosting National Toll From Federal Inaction

The Georgia Department of Transportation added another $123 million worth of road projects to the nationwide tally of those delayed this year by states, because Congress has not yet passed a law to give long-term certainty to the federal highway program.

The action came the same day the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voted to advance a six-year highway/transit authorization bill. But that measure must still pass the full House, and then lawmakers must negotiate differences between it and a Senate-passed bill before Congress can pass a final version.

 McMurry

Meanwhile, the Highway Trust Fund’s program authority was scheduled to expire Oct. 29 under the latest short-term patch that Congress approved in July.

GDOT said Oct. 22 it had to pull 34 projects that are eligible for federal funding from a planned December bid-letting, because it could not count on federal reimbursement beyond the current expiration date.

“It has been 10 years since Congress has been able to pass a transportation funding bill of more than a two-year duration,”said GDOT Commissioner Russell McMurry.

“Temporary fixes do not create the certainty state DOTs require in order to plan major transportation projects,” he added. “We can’t do long-term transportation planning with short-term funding fixes.”

Georgia’s action is the latest sign of economic disruptions caused by the pattern of repeated short-term extensions. Early this year, Georgia delayed $715 million worth of projects as the HTF faced a springtime expiration, but GDOT was later able to move ahead with most of those.

Nationwide, various states have reported about $2 billion in projects they either had to delay launching as planned this year due to the federal program uncertainty, or even push off into next year.

Such actions not only delay the road or bridge improvements for passenger travel and freight flows – thereby preventing earlier action to address congestion or rough roads – but they put off the regional economic lift in jobs and material purchases that come from construction projects.

Other states that have delayed projects in the past year include Tennessee, Arkansas and Wyoming. North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple recently said his state has had to delay putting about $92 million in projects out to bid as it waits for Congress to act.