Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/319866
I n a far-too-rare example of bipartisan harmony, the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee last month unanimously voted in favor of the MAP-21 Reauthorization Act that essentially would extend the two-year 2012 MAP-21 legislation for another six years, increasing Federal-Aid Highway Program funds incrementally to offset inflation from $38.4 billion beginning in 2015 to $42.6 billion by 2020. At press time, the bill is waiting for action by the Senate Finance and Commerce committees. And this welcome news couldn't come at a better time. Caitlin Hughes Rayman, director of the Office of Freight Management and Opera- tions for the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration, delivered some sobering news in her remarks at the 2014 CCJ Spring Symposium in Nashville, Tenn. She said the Highway Trust Fund will encounter a shortfall before the end of fiscal year 2014, potentially zeroing out by late August. "Nearly 65 percent of America's major roads are not in good condition, and one in four bridges needs significant repair or cannot handle today's traffic," said Rayman, underscoring the need for significant funding. She added that by 2020, the Highway Trust Fund's purchasing power will have dropped by half since 1990 at a time when the population has increased by 30 percent. While an extension of MAP-21 is certainly better than some alternative funding ideas that have been floated recently – such as interstate tolling – trucking industry groups argue that more can be done to provide more sus- tainable revenue sources for infrastructure improvements. As Rayman was delivering her remarks, officials from the American Trucking Associations were meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., where a task force outlined their own list of revenue alternatives to help the Highway Trust Fund crisis, ATA's number-one priority. At the top of the list is a familiar suggestion: a fuel tax increase to support infra- structure improvements. Other ATA task force funding recommendations include: s 0ROCEEDS FROM REPATRIATION OF OVERSEAS CAPITAL s )SSUANCE OF 4REASURY BONDS SUBSIDIZED WITH REVENUE FROM INDEXING THE FUEL TAX s ! NEW ANNUAL hHIGHWAY ACCESS FEEv FOR ALL MOTORISTS s 5SE OF ROYALTIES FROM NEW OIL AND GAS LEASES s ! PERBARREL TAX ON IMPORTED OIL AND DOMESTIC CRUDE PRODUCTION AND IF NECESSARY s ! TRANSFER FROM THE 'ENERAL &UND TO ENSURE SHORTTERM Highway Trust Fund stability. "While we continue to believe that the fuel tax is the fairest, most efficient method of funding our highway system, we also recognize the political difficulties of get- ting an increase through Congress," SAID "ILL 'RAVES !4! PRESIDENT AND chief executive officer. "The work of this task force lays out what is acceptable to the trucking industry, and what should be acceptable to our political leaders to address the Highway Trust Fund crisis." Even former DOT Secretary Ray LaHood now is advocat- ing a 10-cent-per-gallon fuel tax increase. "America is one big pothole," he said last month. h)TS NOT JUST BECAUSE OF THE BRUTAL WINTER )TS BECAUSE WE HAVENT KEPT UP WITH OUR INFRASTRUCTURE )F WE WANT TO GET back to being number one [in infrastructure], we have to have the resources to do it." )N TODAYS POLITICAL CLIMATE FULL BIPARTISAN SUPPORT ON any issue outlines just how serious that problem is. While the MAP-21 Reauthorization Act – if it passes as written – certainly provides a bridge for funding through 2020, Congress simply is postponing the issue of a sustainable long-term solution. Just-in-time manufacturing produc- tion and freight delivery both have led to greater supply chain efficiencies. But when just-in-time is applied to highway funding, it unfortunately leads to way- too-late infrastructure improvements. 6 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | JUNE 2014 UPFRONT A MAP-21 extension is good in the short term, but Congress continues to kick the can down the road on a real solution BY JEFF CRISSEY Just-in-time highway funding JEFF CRISSEY is Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. E-mail jcrissey@ccjmagazine.com. Nearly 65 percent of America's major roads are not in good condition.