Federal Funds Helped States Pay for Transportation Work in 2010

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Fallout from the recession continued to dominate states’ transportation decisions during 2010, as some federal money flowed in, but tax revenues for many remained depressed.

Federal economic stimulus funds allowed many states to carry out badly needed road and bridge maintenance. Indeed, for some states, the federal money underwrote record transportation spending.

Vermont, for instance, spent $120 million on paving in 2010, topping its previous record of $100 million. In June, Ohio marked the end of the 2010 fiscal year by celebrating a record $2 billion in transportation construction spending, and then kicked off the 2011 fiscal year with plans to spend another $2 billion.

Many states, however, had to make severe cuts in their transportation budgets that diminished services and employment rolls.

Between February and October, the Missouri Department of Transportation eliminated 201 positions.

In Indiana, the Department of Transportation announced in September that it also was laying off workers. The state already had laid off half its commercial vehicle inspectors in June — the same month that Michigan laid off a third of its inspectors.

New York was among the states that targeted highway rest stops for closure in order to save money, although in 2010, Virginia and Arizona reopened the rest stops they closed during 2009.

In the face of strong legislative opposition, however, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell abandoned his plan to infuse the state’s lagging transportation fund with cash reaped from turning the state-run retail liquor system over to private investors who were to pay for retail liquor licenses.

Infrastructure investment made headlines nationally in October when the Hoover Dam Bridge opened to traffic crossing the Colorado River between Nevada and Arizona. Part of a new U.S. 93 bypass that takes traffic off the top of the dam, the bridge sits nearly 900 feet in the air and is the longest single-span concrete arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere.

In Michigan, lawmakers failed to pass legislation that would allow the state to partner with Canada to build a new publicly owned bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, that the trucking and auto industries say is critical for international trade. Canada has offered to pay Michigan’s share of the construction costs but the proposed new bridge is strongly opposed by Matty Moroun, the owner of the current crossing, the Ambassador Bridge.

On the legal front, in October, Pennsylvania became the 25th state to outlaw contracts that shift all liability for accidents onto carriers, even if an accident occurs on a shipper’s property.

In all, six state legislatures last year responded to the trucking industry’s call to pass such anti-indemnification legislation. Besides Pennsylvania, the six included Florida, Louisiana, Alaska, Washington, Connecticut and Iowa.

Also on the legal front, in a victory for American Trucking Associations, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ruled in October that it was illegal for New Jersey, New York City and Cook County, Ill., to require decals or other forms of identification on or in trucks.

FMCSA agreed with ATA, which had filed a complaint about the three jurisdictions, that states and local governments cannot require “any form of identification other than forms required” by the federal government.

Throughout 2010, states continued to weigh the wisdom of allowing drivers to send text messages or talk on cell phones while behind the wheel.

In some states, such as Delaware, legislators banned both practices — effective as of Jan. 2. However, in other states, Wisconsin among them, lawmakers were only willing to ban texting.

One state that took an aggressive stance early on against texting and talking on cell phones while driving was New Jersey, which passed a ban in 2007. In 2010, though, the state had to revisit the law to add an exemption. Lawmakers had accidently outlawed truckers from using citizen band or other two-way radio devices.