For those of you with free time tonight, you may want to tune in to President Bush’s last State of the Union Address at 8 PM to hear about his plans for the coming year. At the top of the agenda are sure to be his old favorites like the war in Iraq and tax cuts. While these are no doubt important subjects, it would be nice for a change if our nation’s top political leader would take some time to acknowledge the infrastructure crisis that threatens our quality of life and economic competitiveness everyday.

A lot of people already “get it” that we need a concentrated effort to begin making up the estimated $1.6 trillion cost to improve our nation’s failing infrastructure. As part of recent proposed measures to stimulate the economy, congressional leaders like House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair James Oberstar, D- MN, want to add infrastructure spending increases to the final deal. Citing studies that show 47,500 jobs are added for every $1 billion of infrastructure spending, Oberstar and many of his colleagues believe this is a way to put people to work and build a foundation for lasting economic growth.

Over the last couple of weeks, infrastructure spending has been batted around as congressional leaders work to make a deal. Ultimately, it has been left out of the first phase, which will provide rebates to tax payers, but it may well figure into later plans aimed at long term growth. The President initiated this plan to stimulate the economy, but so far has been quiet on the question of infrastructure funding.

Since the Bush Administration has been fairly hostile to new spending recently, it is not likely that he will be an enthusiastic supporter of this proposal. The President cannot, however, continue to ignore the facts that the nation’s infrastructure is not adequate to meet current demands and facing an uncertain future. He has shown no leadership on this issue that so desperately needs one.

Tonight’s address might be too late, but let’s hope that as we all look back on the state of this union over the past seven years, that we can choose a new President who will have the courage and vision to lead us in this important endeavor. We at ASCE can work to educate lawmakers and the public about the state of the nation’s infrastructure, but without strong leadership from above, we risk a lot of talk with no action. As you listen to tonight’s speech, try to think about the things President Bush is not talking about and who might be the best person to talk about it in the future.

After some delay and much anticipation, the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission  released its report this morning with its recommendations for improving the nation’s surface transportation infrastructure. The commission is comprised of twelve members including the Secretary of Transportation, state and local transportation officials, policy experts, and transportation users and represents a broad spectrum of politics and experience. ASCE supported the creation of this commission in the SAFETEA-LU authorization two years ago, and has eagerly been awaiting the group’s findings.

Among the chief recommendations of the commission are to increase the federal government’s role in surface transportation significantly, and make it a full partner in future developments at the state and local levels. Additionally, the commissioners urge a complete overhaul of the federal transportation administration system to replace over a hundred agencies with ten over-arching and multi-modal agencies that will focus on key goals of surface transportation including mobility, environmental protection, increased mass transit, and freight movement, among others. Finally, the commissioners recognize the chronic under-funding of surface transportation and recommend immediate increases in the federal gasoline tax and eventual implementation of other revenue streams including vehicle miles traveled charges, congestion pricing, and increased use of public private partnerships.

While some of these proposals may seem somewhat radical and politically unpopular, the needs identified by the commission are not news to ASCE. The federal highway system built 50 years ago was designed to link cities for ease of travel and transport of goods - and it has done a tremendous job at that. Today, however, we don’t really need to link up any more cities or build new roads, what we need is maintenance and increased capacity on those old roads.

Despite this modern problem, most people still seem to have the 50 year old mindset that we can keep doing the same thing we’ve been doing. Two years ago when SAFETEA-LU was implemented, ASCE felt like we were the only ones saying that the current system is not just broke, but broken and needed a new perspective. The truth is that Americans must change their transportation behavior. This commission’s report might be the impetus we need to get both policy makers and the public to wake up to reality.

Unfortunately there are some who still don’t see the light – chief amongst them the current administration. Besides the fact that the commission recommends an eventual forty cent gas tax increase, most reporters at this morning’s press conference on the release of the report could not fail to point out Transportation Secretary Peters’ absence and dissent from the commission that she herself chaired. In what has become her boiler plate response to any reasonable plan to fix surface transportation infrastructure she said in a statement today, “Raising gas taxes won’t improve traffic congestion, it will only perpetuate our ineffective reliance on fossil-based fuels to fund infrastructure and send more of Americans’ hard-earned money to Washington to be squandered on earmarks and special interest programs,” Secretary Peters said. “A better way forward is to provide incentives to states willing to pursue more efficient approaches and to invest federal funds more effectively to give commuters real relief from gridlock.” Of the few other programs she mentioned in the statement such as congestion pricing, all are in fact included in the commission’s report, but with a way to pay for them.

With opposition at such high and integral levels, it’s obvious that the commission’s report will face some real challenges to implementation. ASCE, however, will be a leader in ensuring that the future of the surface transportation infrastructure looks a lot like the vision laid out today. This report may not be the silver bullet to deep and chronic problems facing the system today, but it’s a good start. Specific proposals in the report may not appeal to everyone, but at the very least, it should help us all to recognize that the new goal of the surface transportation system should be to contribute to a high quality of life for all Americans and be the backbone of our strong economy. We don’t need any more facts to tell us the system is broken, let’s take this opportunity to fix it.