ATA Selects Infrastructure Task Force Members
This story appears in the Dec. 19 & 26 print edition of Transport Topics.
American Trucking Associations has selected 11 people for its new task force to evaluate funding options for repairs to and expansion of the nation’s highways and bridges.
James Burg, president of James Burg Trucking Co., and David Congdon, CEO of Old Dominion Freight Line, are co- chairmen of the group that will have its first meeting via conference call Dec. 19.
Joining them are eight carrier executives and Neal Kedzie, president of the Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association, who will represent state trucking associations.
“These individuals have been asked by the leadership of ATA to evaluate all potential sources of funding for our roads and bridges,” ATA President Chris Spear said in a Dec. 12 statement.
“While this does not mean we are abandoning our historic support for the fuel tax or opposition to tolling existing highways, it does mean that we will be looking at alternatives to help the new administration develop long-term, sustainable infrastructure funding,” he said.
Spear announced his intention to form the task force in October but accelerated its creation after President-elect Donald Trump said he wants to spend $1 trillion over 10 years for infrastructure improvement.
Congdon said in an interview he wants the group to submit a final report to ATA’s Executive Committee by its winter meeting Jan. 29-31.
Burg said diesel and gasoline taxes still have a lot to offer in terms of low administrative costs and funneling money directly from road users to the Highway Trust Fund, but those levies cannot carry the entire funding burden — especially as vehicles become more fuel-efficient.
Burg, whose company moves heavy-haul flatbed loads, and Congdon, whose North Carolina- based company is a major less-than-truckload carrier, offered thoughts on good and bad options:
“Bad would be not sharing the funding burden among all users of infrastructure, mainly the highway system. That would be the worst option,” Burg said, adding that funding options with low administrative costs are desirable.
He said his home state of Michigan has been considering sales tax revenue to fund transportation. While he likes that idea for a state, he said it would not work well on the federal level, as there is no national sales tax.
Congdon said he is wary of public- private partnerships and a surge in toll roads.
“I don’t want to see a new bureaucracy in toll roads,” he said. “We, as a country, need to fund our highways to fix our approach to a competitive, global marketplace.”
The other members are Kevin Burch of Jet Express and ATA chairman; Mike Ducker of FedEx Freight; Eric Fuller of U.S. Xpress Enterprises; Rich McArdle of UPS Freight; Dennis Nash of Kenan Advantage Group; Tonn Ostergard of Crete Carrier Corp.; John Smith of CRST International; and Paul Will of Celadon Group.
