Capitol Comments

Focus is on Highway Trust Fund

By Sean Slone, CSG Transportation Policy Analyst

Several state leaders learned last week reauthorization of the federal highway program may be delayed, and some Senate and administration officials are focused instead on shoring up the federal Highway Trust Fund.

The Council of State Governments hosted a legislative “fly-in” June 23-24 that gave participants an opportunity to meet with staff from the key committees that will debate the next federal authorization for transportation programs.

Stimulus Projects Funded, but Road for Transportation Policy Long

By Mikel Chavers

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey can finally build an $8.7 billion second tunnel under the Hudson River thanks to funding from the 2009 Recovery Act. The existing tunnel is more than 100 years old.

“The impacts will be felt around the country,” said Renee Radcliff Sinclair, the executive director of Congressional and Public Affairs at the Northwest Region of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. And she hopes other stimulus infrastructure projects funded by the Recovery Act will have similar far-reaching effects.

“It has been able to jumpstart this critical project that impacts movement of goods and people,” Sinclair said.

Pricing Concept Can Reduce Road Congestion, Raise Funds for Transportation Projects

By Crady deGolian

States increasingly face transportation budget shortfalls and must find innovative ways to meet the new challenges presented by increased demands on state and federal roads.

That was the message at the Transportation Advisory Group meeting during The Council of State Governments annual meeting Dec. 4.
One innovative method to make up for budget shortfalls, while also reducing demand on roads, is tolling and congesting pricing.  Patrick DeCorla-Souza from the Office of Innovative Program Delivery with the Federal Highway Administration described this alternative financing option during the session.

Arizona Unveils Statewide Camera Program to Catch Speeders

Starting this Friday, Arizona will deploy its statewide photo enforcement system—an army of mobile and fixed cameras designed to catch speeders on the state’s highways, the Associated Press reports.

At week’s end Arizona’s photo speed enforcement program will become what is believed to be the first statewide program of its kind, according to AP.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano directed state officials to develop a photo speed enforcement program last year after she saw benefits from a program using cameras in Scottsdale.

Transportation Needs Shifting

Declining revenue and a skeptical public are among the barriers state officials must overcome to fund the improvements needed in the nation’s aging infrastructure.

The country is undergoing a “paradigm shift, a departure from where we were in the 1950s,”  Kris Kolluri, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation, said Monday during a Council of State Governments Eastern Regional Conference transportation committee meeting.

Transportation: A National Perspective on Freight and Goods Movement

In terms of substance policy, and finance, the U.S. infrastructure system is broken, a member of a bipartisan national transportation commission said during The Council of State Governments Eastern Regional Conference annual meeting.

Frank McArdle from the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission opened the transportation policy meeting by providing a bleak outlook on the state of infrastructure.

FROM THE EXPERT: The Road to Dwindling Transportation Budgets

By Sean Slone, CSG Transportation Policy Analyst

With high gas prices prompting many Americans to cut back on driving this summer, states are finding that their two main sources of transportation funding are drying up.

That threatens to delay or bring to a halt ongoing work on roads, rails and bridges around the country and potentially lead to the loss of thousands of jobs. The declining revenues also come at a time when costs for asphalt and other construction materials are straining state transportation budgets. The cost of asphalt alone is up 25 percent to 30 percent this year, while construction inflation is up 40 percent over the last three years.

Federal and state taxes collected on each gallon of gasoline go into both the federal Highway Trust Fund and state road funds. But those revenues are dropping precipitously as Americans cut back on their driving. Vehicle miles traveled on the nation’s roads fell in May by 3.7 percent from a year ago, the seventh consecutive month of year-to-year decline and ninth in the last 12.

States Looking to Save on Gasoline Bills

As prices at the pump continue to increase to up around $4 a gallon this summer, several states are looking at options to cut costs.

Just in time for the Independence Day holiday, Kentucky State Police announced a plan to scale back patrols and set up at least 200 checkpoints to reduce the amount of gas officers use, according to The Courier-Journal. 

The new policy will run from July 4 and is expected to continue through Labor Day, according to the newspaper. Kentucky State Police spent $132,000 more for gasoline in May than they did in May 2007, according to The Courier-Journal.

State Police Capt. Tim Lucas told the Louisville-based newspaper the plan was in efforts to "let traffic come to us instead of us seeking traffic."

State Legislators Can Drive Innovative Transportation Finance

State legislators need to be aware of what’s coming at them when it comes to financing transportation projects. That’s the simple truth from Kathy Ruffalo, who is on the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission.

Here’s what legislators face: The federal piece of the transportation finance pie—the Highway Trust Fund—is not raising enough money to put back into the system, she said, “We are in trouble.” People are driving less, she said. “Last month we had the largest decrease because of the fuel prices in this country,” Ruffalo said. 

“That’s only going to exacerbate the problem,” she said, adding that as people buy less gas, less tax goes into the system to maintain and build America’s roads.

Public-Private Partnerships An Answer for Some States

States reeling from declining revenues and aging infrastructure are looking at innovative alternatives to finance transportation projects.

One alternative is public-private partnerships, also known as PPPs. Several states have either leased or have proposed leasing public assets such as toll roads. State Rep. Randy Borror of Indiana, who helped shepherd through the legislature a $3.8 billion lease arrangement of the Indiana Toll Road in 2006, described the Indiana plan Thursday at a Financial Services  workshop.

Borror said the state budget was in a deficit, there were 200 unfunded transportation projects on the books, some as old as 40 years, and other funding options were not feasible. He said the other options included increasing the gas tax, restructuring debt, issuing more bonds and increasing tolls.