Better Roads

December 2013

Better Roads Digital Magazine

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TransportationTalk Editorial Editor-At-Large: Tina Grady Barbaccia Editorial Director: Marcia Gruver Doyle Online Editor : Wayne Grayson States Aren't Waiting Around for Federal Support Online Managing Editor : Amanda Bayhi Production Editor: Lauren Heartsill Dowdle Editor Emeritus: Kirk Landers Truck Editor: Jack Roberts Construction Editors: Tom Jackson, Tom Kuennen, Dan Brown editorial@betterroads.com Design & Production Art Director: Sandy Turner, Jr. Production Designer: Timothy Smith Advertising Production Manager: Linda Hapner production@betterroads.com Construction Media Senior VP of Market Development, Construction Media: Dan Tidwell VP of Sales, Construction Media: Joe Donald sales@constructionmedia.com Corporate Chairman/CEO: Mike Reilly President: Brent Reilly Chief Process Officer: Shane Elmore Chief Administration Officer: David Wright Senior Vice President, Sales: Scott Miller Senior Vice President, Editorial and Research: Linda Longton Vice President of Events: Alan Sims Vice President, Audience Development: Stacy McCants Vice President, Digital Services: Nick Reid Director of Marketing: Julie Arsenault 3200 Rice Mine Rd NE Tuscaloosa, AL 35406 800-633-5953 randallreilly.com For change of address and other subscription inquiries, please contact: betterroads@halldata.com Better RoadsTM magazine, (ISSN 0006-0208) founded in 1931 by Alden F. Perrin, is published monthly by Randall-Reilly Publishing Company, LLC.© 2013. Executive and Administrative offices, 3200 Rice Mine Rd. N.E., Tuscaloosa, AL 35406. Qualified subscriptions solicited exclusively from governmental road agencies, contractors, consultants, research organizations, and equipment and materials suppliers. Single copy price $5.00 in U.S. and Canada. Subscription rate for individuals qualified in U.S. and Canada $24.95. Foreign $105.00. Special group rates to companies qualified in quantities over five names. We assume no responsibility for the validity of claims of manufacturers in any advertisement or editorial product information or literature offered by them. Publisher reserves the right to refuse non-qualified subscriptions. Periodical circulation postage paid at Tuscaloosa, Alabama and additional entries. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage retrieval system, without written permission of the copyright owner. For quality custom reprints, e-prints, and editorial copyright and licensing services please contact: Linda Hapner, (224) 723-5372 or reprints@betterroads.com. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS. (See DMM 707.4.12.5); NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: send address corrections to Better Roads, 3200 Rice Mine Road N.E.,  Tuscaloosa, AL  35406. T he nation's infrastructure system can be likened to an economic circulatory system – giving us freedom, opportunity and mobility – and this should never be taken for granted, said former Kansas Gov. Bill Graves at the Infrastructure for the Future (IFF) Summit held in Washington, D.C., last month. "We should never undervalue the greatness and freedom our nation's roads provide," says Graves, now president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations. This means understanding highways and bridges aren't free – and they certainly aren't cheap. It also means there's no solution to the transportation-funding challenge that will be free. Touching on the current two-year transportation bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), which expires at the end of September and the Highway Trust Fund's impending insolvency in 2015, Graves quickly pointed out devolving to the states is not the answer. With action lacking at the federal level, states stepped up to address the funding challenges by getting creative and taking action. Wyoming just increased fuel tax by 10 cents per gallon to fund the state's infrastructure. This legislation passed, too, with a Republican-dominated state government. Pennsylvania Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell just signed a transportation bill in Pennsylvania, showing that states aren't waiting around. However, the state Departments of Transportation might be setting a dangerous precedent. "Every state will tell you we need a federal [transportation funding] program," notes Bud Wright, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), at the IFF Summit. Without a federal a component to work with the states, "we'll have the most expensive gravel road ever built in America," adds Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman. Instead of letting the problem fester and hoping it will go away, a long-term, sustainable solution needs to be developed at the federal level. David Abney, chief operating officer of the United Parcel Service (UPS), has done the math about how much it's costing by not moving forward and the critical role transportation plays in our nation. It's astounding. UPS delivers nearly 16.3 million packages every day, except starting around Dec. 17, when that number rises to about 29 million packages. That's a lot of transportation for a lot of packages and a lot of money for the economy. It's 6 percent of the U.S. GDP and 2 percent of global GPD. Just five minutes of congestion costs UPS $105 million. For a company that has evolved from a patchwork of hand-drawn maps to a true network with calculated logistics, UPS champions treating infrastructure with a holistic approach and not in state-segregated silos. "We may cross several states, but we need a holistic system by Tina Grady Barbaccia, connected in the best way," Abney says. Editor-At-Large That's what we need. The states have stepped up. Now tinabarbaccia@gmail.com it's time for a holistic approach at the federal level. Better Roads December 2013 3

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