Two Months Is Too Little When It Comes To Transportation Infrastructure Funding

With precious little time remaining until the end of May, when the most recent continuing extension (of which there have been more than 30) expires, the old question of what is the story with a new transportation authorization again gains attention in Washington for a few days until it fades away into the background-again.

Before I get too carried away here, it is not as if nothing is happening inside the Beltway so I need to back up.

On Friday, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) issued a statement trumping legislation they will introduce to keep highway and transit funding intact through the end of July.

So will two weeks until the current extension expires, we now have another one for two more months on the books.

“While highway and transit program spending authority expires at the end of the month, the Highway Trust Fund has sufficient resources to fund its obligations through the end of July,” Shuster and Ryan said in a statement. “It was our preference to move an extension through the end of the year, but we will need more time to reach a bipartisan agreement on offsets. This legislation will allow transportation spending to continue through July, while we work towards a next step to close the Trust Fund’s shortfall. Doing so will require our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to be constructive in working towards a solution. Only then will we be able to produce a plan that gives states the certainty they need to build the roads, bridges, and other infrastructure our communities and economy need to thrive.”

How can this same situation keep repeating itself over and over when so much is on the line when it comes to the importance of having, maintaining, developing our nation’s transportation infrastructure?

What’s more, this goes without mentioning, that the current state of our country’s transportation infrastructure remains in a constant state of disrepair.

This was firmly highlighted by a recent DOT entitled “Beyond Traffic,” which cited various troubling findings regarding the current state of U.S. transportation infrastructure were revealed, including: drivers spend more than 40 hours per year stuck in traffic; 65 percent of the roads they drive on are in less than good condition; one of four bridges they cross needs to be replaced; over the next 30 years, Americans will ask more out of the country’s transportation than ever before, while the country’s population will grow by 70 million, and freight traffic will increase by 45 percent.

Shouldn’t data like this be more than enough to get Congress to truly start thinking big picture about improving things on the freight transportation front for both the short-term and the long-term?

No, it isn’t, and the main culprit, as always, comes down to money.

It has been mentioned in this space more than a few times that Congress has not raised the federal gasoline tax since 1993. This is equal parts amazing and insane on multiple levels.

One being that is 22 years since Highway Trust Fund taxes have been increased. Current taxes levied for the HTF stand at 18.4 cents per gallon for gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon for diesel, which together account for about 90 percent of HTF net revenues. These revenues are allocated for federal highway, transit, and highway safety programs.

The problem, though, is that the HTF is essentially insolvent and has been for some time now, leaving a shortfall being what is being paid into it and what is needed.

To be sure, there are myriad proposals floating around with ways to stem the bleeding, but at the end of the day, those words have not been turned into action of any kind, all the while our transportation infrastructure, and, by extension, our future economic growth prospects, remain hindered.

It is easy for Congress to put on a brave face and tell voters, and each other, everything will be all right. But the fact of the matter is things are not all right, especially when it comes to the future of U.S. transportation infrastructure.

What’s more, with an Election Year on deck, we can likely expect what we have already seen in terms of progress: more of the same, with the “same” being not even close to enough.