This Editorial appears in the May 5 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today. For years, trucking has been pleading for government officials to take seriously the need for a well-funded, long-term surface transportation plan, not because it is convenient for the industry but because it is a demonstrated necessity for the nation’s long-term economic health.
There never has been a serious argument that the Interstate Highway System’s creation was irrelevant or that jobs do not flow directly from goods moving swiftly over the nation’s roads. So we’ve been pleased with Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx’s infrastructure tour ahead of the rollout of President Obama’s $302 billion, four-year transportation plan.
The plan was unveiled five months before the expiration of the current MAP-21 law and also before bills to renew transportation funding have been introduced in either house of Congress — even more to like. Yet the details of the Obama-Foxx plan should leave serious students of transportation policy dispirited.
The main problem is funding. Nearly half of the money, $150 billion, would come from the Treasury’s general fund, rather than dedicated sources such as fuel taxes. If this happens, it will get the nation past the president’s term and into 2018, but then there is the potential for turmoil. Using general funds sounds appealing, but that money is the subject of intense competition among all.
Another source of funding would be expanded highway tolls, with the money going either to state governments or to public-private partnerships.
We remain convinced that money from users is the best way to pay for transportation maintenance and expansion. Diesel and gasoline taxes — throw in levies on alternative fuels, too, if you’d like — collect money from users of roads and then funnel the cash quickly back into road spending without much overhead.
No fleet executive enjoys paying taxes, but if you have to, that’s the ideal way. Administering tolls is much more costly.
Beyond the issue of funding, there’s also allocation. Of that $150 billion from the Treasury, the Highway Account of the newly renamed Transportation Trust Fund gets only a plurality, $74.4 billion over the four years of the plan. The Mass Transit Account gets $51.55 billion, and the Rail and Multimodal accounts get a combined $24 billion.
This flies in the face of reality because trucks move about 70% of the nation’s freight.
“It is clear that this administration is aiming to hijack the Highway Trust Fund and convert it into a fund to finance myriad projects to benefit interests that do not pay user fees into the fund,” remarked Dave Osiecki, chief of national advocacy for American Trucking Associations.
