House Panel Approves $2 Bln. to Toughen Bridge Inspection Standards

By Sean McNally, Senior Reporter

This story appears in the Nov. 5 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

WASHINGTON — The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last week approved a $2 billion plan to toughen bridge inspection standards and limit states’ ability to spend federal bridge funds on other projects.

That funding was far short of the $25 billion originally proposed by the panel’s chairman, Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.).

“My initial idea was to create a separate bridge trust fund for deficient bridges, fund it with a 5-cent increase in the highway user fee, limit it to three years and make it earmark-proof,” Oberstar said at the Oct. 31 hearing.

The package passed by the committee authorized $2 billion to be spent out of the general fund, rather than the Highway Trust Fund, and was heavier on training, inspections and new methods for deciding which bridges get funding than Oberstar’s original vision.

Oberstar’s proposal, made following the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis on Aug. 1 “ran into a buzz saw [of opposition] in the Senate,” he said.

“If we can’t pass it through the Senate, there’s no use for the House trying to do it either,” Oberstar said.

This scaled-back bill would strengthen inspection requirements, which would be set by the Department of Transportation. It would require all bridges to be inspected every three years but more frequently for structurally deficient bridges, and would establish national bridge inspection protocols, because currently “there’s no federal standard, there’s no training requirement,” Oberstar said.

The bill also would establish a “fix it first” program prohibiting states from transferring federal bridge funds to other highway projects.

Previous highway bills “gave states authority to transfer up to 50% of their bridge funds to other programs covered by the national highway program, and they did,” Oberstar said. “States shortchanged themselves over a long period of time, including our state of Minnesota, and we need to do something about that situation.”

On Nov. 1, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced it had released $123.5 million in emergency funds for the reconstruction of I-35W, bringing the total from the federal government up to $183.5 million.

Although the bill passed the committee by a voice vote, there was dissatisfaction on both sides of the aisle.

Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), the ranking minority member of the committee, criticized the bill for reducing state flexibility and said he was “not real pleased with shifting to the general fund — all taxpayers subsidizing the lack of responsibility of some states.”

“Flexibility among federal highway programs is a program management tool states use to try to make the best use of their federal dollars,” said Tenn. Rep. John Duncan, the top Republican on the committee’s highway panel.

On the Democratic side, several members said they felt the bill did not go far enough.

“This bill just does not have enough money in it to fulfill our obligations,” said Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.). “This bill only calls for 3% of the amount of money the Department of Transportation itself says is necessary to fix structurally deficient bridges.”

DOT has previously estimated it might take as much as $65 billion, Oberstar said.

“We don’t have enough money in the system to do our job,” Capuano said, adding that, despite the bill’s flaws, “it is better than nothing and a good step forward.”

In a statement, American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves praised the bill, saying there “are very real safety and economic consequences from failing to adequately maintain and improve the system.”

Graves added that ATA was “pleased to support efforts that address the vulnerabilities of the nation’s infrastructure.”

Oberstar said he hoped, by passing this bill in 2007, that “by the time we come to the reauthorization in ’09, we’ll have a basis on which to act on a much broader, stronger, more effective program.”

“We are in an interim period as we move toward reauthorization, and I expect we’ll take a much more comprehensive approach to investing in our complete infrastructure, including our bridges,” said Rep. Peter De-Fazio (D-Ore.), the chairman of the highways and transit subcommittee.

Oberstar told reporters he expected the bill would reach the House floor in the first week of December, about the same time the House leadership expects to be completing a series of spending bills.

“I tried to do this 20 years ago and, by damn, they wouldn’t do it,” Oberstar said. “Well, I’m chairman of this committee now. We have a house majority, and I have a moral obligation to move this legislation.”