Stuck in Traffic? Looks Like You’ll Stay That Way.

2008-09-09T11:49:10-04:00

For the last couple of years the experts (the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget, no less) have been telling us that the federal Highway Trust Fund is going to be in the red at the end of Fiscal Year 2008 and that Congress must do something to make up the needed $8 billion or else states won’t get their budgeted funds. Well guess what folks, by my count, the end of FY 2008 is in exactly three weeks, and we’re only slightly closer to a solution than we were a year ago.

The House this summer passed a stand-alone bill that makes up for a 1998 transfer of (coincidentally) $8 billion out of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), but so far numerous attempts to attach the Trust Fund “Fix” have been unsuccessful in the Senate.

Last week, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Mary Peters urged immediate action, “Time and again, the President has warned Congress of the pending shortfall and submitted fiscally prudent budgets to close the gap,” said Secretary Peters. “Americans cannot afford to have Congress play ‘kick the can’ with highway funding for another year, another month, or frankly, another week.” She also renewed her call to pass this legislation and make sure previously planned projects get the funding they deserve.

ASCE supports the Highway Trust Fund Fix and is urging its members to contact their legislators and ask them to move the bill. The Transportation Construction Coalition has a state-by-state listing of lost projects and jobs if we fail to pass this legislation on its website. To send your Senator a message about the Trust Fund Fix, visit ASCE’s Advocacy Website.

While informal polling and behind the scenes rumors signal that generally the overwhelming majority of the Senate supports this legislation, it is stalled due to the objections of a few members. Notably, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) has said he opposes taking money from the General Fund to give to transportation and instead suggests taking the money from the Federal Transit Trust Fund. ASCE strongly opposes this plan, as the rising fuel prices which have depleted the HTF have also led to record use of transit in the last year.

So the choice is pretty clear, either they do nothing, and all the planned road improvements and congestion easements in your community are put on hold for yet another year, or your already over-crowded bus or train gets a service cut back. Both are bad options, the only sure success is to replace the $8 billion and get through this year until Congress passes a new surface transportation bill. So, it’s pay now, or keep waiting.

One Year Anniversary of the Minneapolis Bridge Collapse – Where are we?

2008-08-01T12:19:13-04:00

Today marks the one year anniversary of the I-35 W Bridge collapse in Minneapolis, MN, when thirteen people lost their lives when the structurally deficient bridge tumbled into the Mississippi River. While the bridge has been replaced in record time, and work on Capitol Hill is underway to fix the nation’s deficient bridges, the problem is far from solved.

Immediately following the collapse, Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota and Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, introduced the National Highway Bridge Reconstruction and Inspection Act (H.R. 3999) to provide $1 billion for immediate re-inspection of deficient bridges and to introduce new technologies into bridge inspection and monitoring. All good things. ASCE supports the legislation and advocated for its passage, which just happened last week. On the Senate side, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, also of Minnesota, just introduced the companion bill which will hopefully make it through the process quickly.

Despite the bill’s progress, bad news came in the form of a recent report from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). The report, "Bridging the Gap: Restoring and Repairing the Nation's Bridges" pegs the cost of fixing the nation’s deficient bridges at a staggering $140 billion. Beyond just the cost, AASHTO advises better monitoring of deficient bridges, better public education on the risks and needs, and a stronger federal role in the rehabilitation of the nation’s aging transportation network – not just its bridges.

The 2005 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure graded the nation’s bridges at a "C" – one of the highest grades for any of the categories, and since that time, the percent of structurally deficient or functionally obsolete bridges has actually declined. It’s hard to believe that despite those facts, we experienced such a catastrophic failure. It’s true, events like the I-35 W collapse are rare, but they demonstrate the risks of an aging and inadequately maintained national infrastructure. If something that was doing the best fell apart so badly, what are the consequences of the next failure?

For more information on the state of the nation’s bridges, CBS Evening News did a great story last night. Watch it here.

Our Failing Infrastructure

Stuck in Traffic? Looks Like You’ll Stay That Way.

One Year Anniversary of the Minneapolis Bridge Collapse – Where are we?