Transportation Programs Need Long-Term Funding, Says DOT’s Mendez
ARLINGTON, Va. — Acting Deputy Transportation Secretary Victor Mendez on June 3 cautioned Congress against approving a short-term legislative fix to address looming shortfalls in highway funding this summer, urging it to approve a long-term “strategic” plan instead.
“When you’re actually trying to build infrastructure, you don’t build it a week at a time,” Mendez told data experts at the Geospatial Transportation Mapping Association annual conference here. “You can’t do that two months at a time or six months at a time. That’s not how you run a business, and those of you in the private sector I think would understand that.”
Mendez added that his department, agencies around the country and many companies have more time to outline an infrastructure vision for their communities when they have long-term guidance from the federal government.
Transportation officials and professionals have argued that a 2012 transportation law’s two-year reauthorization that expires at the end of September did not help agencies plan for long-term projects.
Despite Mendez’s insistence, most indications coming from congressional leaders suggest they will push to approve temporary funding to keep a depleted federal highway account solvent in July. That would give transportation policy writers time to come up with an agreement on how to fund highway projects in the years to come.
The federal Highway Trust Fund’s reliance on a national tax on gas and diesel fuel is no longer enough to meet the fund’s obligations. The fund is used to help states pay for infrastructure projects.
