(ARA) – America’s highways are the backbone of our nation’s economic growth, allowing companies to generate more than $64 billion dollars a year. Almost 75 percent of goods and services shipped in the United States are transported by trucks over the nation’s highways -- yet the infrastructure is crumbling at an alarming rate.

According to Americans for Transportation Mobility -- a national coalition working to improve our nation’s infrastructure -- poor or hazardous road conditions are to blame for nearly one-third of all fatal crashes; and congestion costs the nation nearly $70 billion in wasted fuel and productivity each year.

“Road use is expected to increase by nearly two-thirds in the next 20 years, and the majority of America’s highways are already at or past capacity. Something needs to be done about it now,” says Dennis S. Day, spokesman for Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), a national trade association representing more than 33,000 general contractors and related firms.

The impact of the problem is being felt in large cities across the country. According to a report released by the American Highway User’s Alliance, commuters can face five hours of traffic jams per day at the nation’s worst bottleneck -- the Ventura Freeway at Interstate 405 in Los Angeles. Three other interchanges in Los Angeles also made the list of the top ten worst bottlenecks along with two interchanges in Atlanta, and one in each of the following cities: Houston, Chicago, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C.

People who live and drive in those cities are spending so much time in their cars everyday that even AAA is acknowledging something needs to be done. “Triple-A supports all reasonable efforts by local authorities to relieve serious traffic congestion problems in major urban areas while preserving the public’s freedom of mobility,” says Dawn Duffy, the Automobile Association’s spokesperson. Among the recommendations the agency currently supports are increasing the availability of park and ride facilities at transit stops, electronic toll collection, and constructing bypass routes around congested urban areas and separate car-only and truck-only lanes where feasible.

Construction projects to improve congestion are being planned in many cities across the United States to bring relief, but to get them started and completed will take long-range planning and significant investment.

In February 2004, the U.S. Senate passed a $318 billion dollar six-year highway and mass transit bill that lawmakers promise will create jobs, relieve congestion and boost economic activity in every state. This seems like a lot of money, but the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that highway and transit systems need up to $375 billion to maintain and improve road conditions. The possibility of raising the gas tax has been discussed to help fund the program, but President Bush has already threatened to veto any bill that includes a tax increase, so the government would have to borrow billions more, further increasing the growing deficit. Despite what some critics say, the Senate bill is deficit neutral and is paid for through the federal gasoline user fee in a pay as you go system.

“There’s no denying it’s going to cost a lot of money to make the improvements we need to save lives, reduce congestion, improve roads and create jobs, but for every year we wait, the cost goes up exponentially. Now is the time to act,” says Day.

Currently, the House of Representatives has failed to act on the highway and transit program other than to extend it until June 2004 further delaying any long-term progress on the nation’s roads.

Readers are urged to contact their Representative and weigh in on this debate by contacting the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

Courtesy of ARA Content

Reprinted on Political Forum with permission.

The irony is that had Bush spent some significant money on infrastructure projects early in his term, he would not be facing a jobless recovery now. He would be a hero for improving the infrastructure, something business likes as well as the average guy. In other words, he would be a shoe-in for re-election instead of in another tough fight for a razor thin win/lose margin.

Stubbornly ignoring the need and refusing to do so has bought him exactly what...? The fact is, infrastructure spending is money well spent, and if you do it when the economy is in the tank, you get lower bids, and get to make political hay as well. Hard to imagine what the downside would have been except it might have meant small tax cut for the wealthy.

oc

1. How do you expect to pay for it?

2. A tax cut for the wealthy? Are you defining "wealthy" the same way Dems define it?

Hey, folks don't want to pay the price to maintain them, so lets privatize them! Yeah, that's the ticket. Myself and some other investors would like to buy several interstate highways. We plan to charge stiff tolls, and figure we will just let the maintenance go so it will be pure profit. We look to cut deals with both the teamsters and the trucking companies under the table so they don't order mob hits on us. So, the entire burden will fall on the average person with a car. When we've transferred enough money to offshore accounts in the Caymans and Zurich, and disrupted commerce as much as we figure we can get aways with, we will fold the tent on our shell corporation by declaring bankruptcy and let the government sort out the ensuing mess...

Seriously, I expect we would pay for infrastructure projects the way they are always paid for, with tax money. We paid to build them, they are the backbone for our commerce, and collectively we will be fools should we allow them to fall into disrepair. Non-military spending under Bush has grown at an average rate of 12% according the the American Conservative Union (twice the rate as under Clinton) while they have also passed the largest tax rollback in the history of our country, so congress and the president clearly don't share your concern for how things will be paid for.

I define wealthy as those grossing over $500,000 annually who are employed by others and paid a salary, or those grossing over $350,000 who receive their income from sources other than a salary.



oc

Beyond politics, the queston is whether we should improve the current infrastructure, or simply maintain it. Several cities, such as L.A. and Washington D.C. need a serious, comprehesive overhauls to their transportation systems. Quick fixes have long been used to solve over-use and congestion. An extra lane or two only funnels more people to places they don't need to be.

If it is true that road use is expect to increase by two-thirds over the next twenty years, then serious thought needs to be given to alternative and mass transit.