Solving the transportation crisis will take more than just Band-Aid solutions like raising gas taxes—U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters said Tuesday at the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee it’s going to take continued innovation from the states.
“I think the opportunity is in front of us to redefine the federal role,” Peters said, when it comes to building and maintaining America’s infrastructure. “You in the states are the ones who are setting the pace and driving local reforms.”
The number of federal programs has ballooned, Peters said, with the number of earmark projects growing from only a handful in the 1980s to more than 6,000 in 2005, amounting to more than $20 billion.
At the same time, the centralized fund for roads, known as the Highway Trust Fund, is predicted to go bust by an estimated $4 billion by 2009, according to July 2007 estimates from the Office of Management and Budget.
“State leaders all over America are getting tired of hearing Washington talk while gridlock grows,” Peters said.
Pubic-private partnerships are one way to finance highways and infrastructure without adding tax burden, she said.
“Now real people on Wall Street and on Main Street are talking about and embracing this new way of doing business,” Peters said of public-private partnerships.
With Peters’ rise in the ranks of state transportation departments, she has had a front row seat to the growth of innovative state public-private partnerships. And those projects continue to spread in popularity. Just last week in Puerto Rico, the private sector was invited to privatize two highways, she said.
States are also combating road overcrowding issues using congestion pricing methods. Congestion pricing models often charge customers who drive or use a particular road, bridge or special commuter lanes higher tolls during peak times and lower tolls during less congested periods.
The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $850 million to five cities to cut the gridlock. Those cities, Peters said, were selected for their potential to use public and private resources.
But the bottom line is, “the discussion will begin in earnest next year,” Peters said.
“Where states go, Washington ultimately follows.”
The Intergovernmental Affairs Committee also considered two drafts of the contentious Resolution on Climate Change and after some debate passed the Health Policy Task Force version of the resolution with its changes, known as the “Resolution on Public Health and Climate Change.”
—Mikel Chavers
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