Better Roads Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/134675
Lattatudes Editorial Editor-in-Chief: John Latta Editorial Director: Marcia Gruver Doyle Online Editor : Wayne Grayson Online Managing Editor : Amanda Bayhi It's a Forest/Trees Thing. Editor Emeritus: Kirk Landers Truck Editor: Jack Roberts Construction Editors: Tom Jackson, Tom Kuennen, Dan Brown, Lauren Heartsill Dowdle editorial@betterroads.com Design & Production Art Director: Sandy Turner, Jr. Graphic Designer: Kristen Chapman 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. I t's right in front of us in our everyday lives, but sometimes we don't see it. That's our transportation infrastructure system out there, one we pay for. We value it, but largely we don't know what comes out of our pockets every month to maintain and improve our roads, bridges and public transit. We want a safe, efficient and well-maintained transportation infrastructure. In fact, according to a new survey, about 80 percent of us say it is at least, if not more, important to us than cable, cell phone, Internet, water, sewage and household electricity and natural gas services. But we know what we pay for those other things. It's right there in our monthly bills. The survey, commissioned by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), shows we really love driving (78 percent say driving a motor vehicle is "very" or "extremely" important to our ability to conduct our daily lives.) We appreciate riding public transportation (21 percent, including 34 percent of low income respondents). And the vast majority of us (88 percent) say transportation infrastructure is important to maintaining a strong U.S. economy and important in ensuring national defense and emergency response capabilities (83 percent). As you might expect 74 percent of us agree that "investing in transportation infrastructure should be a core function of the federal government." That's the forest. The trees we're not seeing. A stunning 40 percent of survey respondents say they "don't know" how much their household pays each month in gas taxes (the basic source of highway funding) FHWA says the average U.S. household paid $46 per month in gas taxes in 2011— the most current year available. One-quarter of survey respondents (24 percent) estimated they pay more than double that. ARTBA, citing Commerce Department 2011 data, points out that the average household spends about three-and-a-half times more each month for household electricity and natural gas service ($160) than we pay in state and federal gas taxes. We also pay three-and-a-half time as much monthly, on average, for landline and cell phone service ($161) and nearly two-and-a-half time as much for cable and satellite television, radio and Internet access ($124). Do you get upset when your cable goes out and the cable guy will (might) be there sometime between now and next Wednesday? When your Internet connection collapses, there are no bars on you cell phone or the sewage backs up? Well, you're paying for your highways and bridges too, and they may just start having some equally frustrating performance by John Latta, Editor-in-Chief issues in the not too distant future if we don't invest more in them. jlatta@randallreilly.com Better Roads June 2013 3 Lattatudes_BR0613.indd 3 5/31/13 10:57 AM