Focus Trust Fund on Highways

For years, we all have watched the travails of the Highway Trust Fund, as the nation’s infrastructure has crumbled and the nation’s roadway and bridge needs have grown along with the population.

As if it’s not bad enough that the trust fund doesn’t take in enough cash to cover the nation’s current needs, we’ve all had to watch as some of those precious dollars that do flow into the fund get spent on projects that have little to do with highways.

For years, we have led the protest over the misuse of trust fund dollars on programs that — while they may be full of merit — don’t qualify for trust fund financing. The trust fund is supposed to be used for projects that enhance the safety and mobility of the people who contribute to it.

Thus, it is painful to read about Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s recent thinking, as illustrated by a blog post under his name earlier this month on a Department of Transportation website.

LaHood, who has touted bicycle use several times during his tenure, opined on Dec. 13 that road projects that include bicycle lanes create more jobs than do traditional road projects.

He cited a University of Massachusetts study that looked at a few projects in Baltimore and found that pedestrian and bicycle projects created up to 14 jobs per $1 million of spending, while road projects produce only seven.

Coupled with a study done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing widespread public support for street designs that increase physical activity, LaHood wrote, there is “a powerful argument” for continuing DOT’s support for bicycle and pedestrian projects.

Well, Mr. Secretary, far be it from us to undermine your support for projects that make Americans fit and happy. But we urge you to find another way to pay for them than by tapping the already inadequate resources of the Highway Trust Fund.

We’re not even going to question the findings of the UMass study, although we have our doubts. And we will admit that the amount of money we’re talking about is not — at least by Washington standards — astronomical.

But what’s at issue here, in large part, is symbolic. This administration has refused our entreaties to raise fuel taxes to provide more cash to the Highway Trust Fund. Please don’t add insult to injury by diverting some of the fund’s resources to projects that have little to do with the stated goals of the trust fund.