Editorial: Dwindling Infrastructure Funds?

This Editorial appears in the Jan. 12 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

For all the hopeful talk about how President-elect Obama’s stimulus program is going to provide a much-needed boost to the nation’s deteriorating infrastructure, there are growing concerns in transportation circles that the pot of gold may be a lot smaller than originally thought.

With the price tag of the full economic program running as high as $1 trillion, some transportation sources in Washington are warning that the cash for roads and bridges — what we really mean when we say “infrastructure” — could be as small as $30 billion.

And even worse, there are reports that some of this fund may be tapped by governors and other politicians as replacement cash for what would have been their shares of federal support for already scheduled construction projects.

We agree that some of the tax proposals floated by the incoming administration could spark freight levels by encouraging capital investment, but the direct infrastructure investment is still paramount for trucking.

What we believe the United States really needs is a good-faith, well-funded and long-term national effort to fix and expand our system of roadways to meet growing needs. And that includes the task of delivering the goods Americans want to buy.

While $30 billion is certainly a serious amount of money, it won’t come close to addressing existing needs. And worse, some knowledgeable insiders are warning, this stimulus money may well delay consideration of a new highway funding bill, the normal path for financing road projects.

For the stimulus package to be the spark that rekindles the economy, the money has to be released incrementally, and it needs to be spent wisely.

Our highways and bridges have been shortchanged for way too many years now, even as the Highway Trust Fund has dwindled toward insolvency.

This stimulus package can be a great head start for our rebuilding efforts. But the multiyear highway funding legislation also must be enacted, to ensure that long-term plans can be executed, not wasted.

We continue to support a major increase in fuel taxes as the best way to restock the Highway Trust Fund so we can pay for the projects Congress agrees are priorities when it passes the new highway bill. And Congress needs to ensure that the money in the trust fund is spent exclusively on appropriate highway and bridge projects.