Editorial: The Cost of Waiting Is Going Up

This Editorial appears in the May 22 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

Traffic congestion is getting worse, and so is the logjam on Capitol Hill as the Trump administration and congressional leaders struggle to come up with a viable program to fund the nation’s infrastructure.

We can’t afford to wait much longer.

A fresh reminder of what’s at stake came from a new report from the American Transportation Research Institute this past week, putting a $63.4 billion price tag on lost productivity in the trucking industry alone due to highway congestion in 2015, a big jump from an estimate of $49.6 billion in 2014.

Delays on the National Highway System caused more than 996 million hours of lost productivity, ATRI calculated, which is equivalent to 362,243 commercial truck drivers sitting idle for an entire working year.

The problem is worse, of course, in and around large population centers, so it’s not surprising to see Florida, Texas, California and New York topping the list of states with the worst congestion.

So we know where the problems are. The next logical question is: What are we doing about it?

The answer to that lies in Washington, D.C., and in state capitals across the country where law- makers and government officials are trying to come up with a coherent strategy to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure.

But as our reporting on the much ballyhooed “Infrastructure Week” activities this past week shows, the task of funding, maintaining and improving roads and bridges and modernizing other aspects of our transportation infrastructure, remains a work in progress.

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s May 15 statement that President Donald Trump would share a “vision” of his $1 trillion infrastructure plan “in the next several weeks,” and that a legislative proposal won’t be ready until later this year, was a disappointment for those hoping for a big announcement.

There is wide agreement among Americans of all political stripes that investment in infrastructure is good for business, good for trade and good for workers.

“It’s ‘go’ time,” said Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO. “Bring legislation to the floor, and the labor movement will help you pass it.”

U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue added, “Supplies can only be sourced and shipped as quickly as the infrastructure allows. One outdated corridor or inefficient border can create bottlenecks that are very significant.”

We couldn’t agree more. Let’s get on with rebuilding infrastructure and rebuilding our country.