Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/93285
by Tina Grady Barbaccia, News and Digital Editor Agg For daily news updates and web-exclusive news items, visit the "AggBeat Online" section of our website at www.aggman.com FUTURE OF HIGHWAY FUNDING 'MAP'ing Out the A new transportation bill is being referred to as 'devolution lite.' Two years of funding provides a reprieve, but a lack of federal mission poses a dichotomy. Now that the much-anticipated new highway bill has been passed, Congress and the transportation construction and equipment industries should be resting easier with guaranteed funding through the end of September 2014. The $105 billion, 27-month legislation, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century, a.k.a. MAP-21, that passed on July 5, authorizes funding for highways, highway safety, and transit for fiscal years 2013 and 2014 at a level slightly higher than fis- cal year 2012, but slightly below the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act — A Legacy for Users, or SAFETEA-LU, the previous surface transportation bill that expired on Sept. 30, 2009, and underwent 10 extensions be- fore Congress made compromises to move the bill forward for President Obama's signature. However, resting easier might end up being a short nap for the industry. "This was a tortuous process, but it was ultimately successful," Jack Schenendorf, of counsel with the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Covington & Burling LLP, said in the "MAP-21: What's in it for my business?" webinar hosted by the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA). "[However], I think there has been a loss of credibility in the [highway] program. MAP-21 is being referred to as 'devolution lite.'" Not only is there "no clear federal mission," he noted, but the bill's passage represents a dichotomy and poses the ques- tion, "Is this program trying to build America's future or simply handing out pork?" What's more, Schenendorf added: "There is plenty of money to meet legitimate transportation needs if it stopped being wasted on bad or low-priority projects." Despite these negatives, there is some good to come from MAP-21 besides just short-term funding, Schenendorf noted. There are programmatic reforms regarding consolidation, formulas, earmarks, enhancements, and freight. Performance management and streamlining are also positive outcomes. The consolidation establishes four core programs — the National Highway Performance System, the surface transportation program, the Highway Safety Improvement program, and the 4 AGGREGATES MANAGER October 2012 CMAW program — plus metropolitan planning. The consoli- dation also reduces the number of programs — e.g. interstate maintenance, bridges, safer routes to schools, recreations trails, etc. — by two-thirds. MAP-21 Contract Authority vs. 2011-12 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 2011 actual 2012 actual 2013 authorized 2014 authorized Federal Fiscal Year Source: Chamber of Commerce MAP-21 Summary Safety Transit Highway-Exempt Highway The new law requires the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish performance standards within 18 months in several areas, including safety, infrastructure condition, conges- tion reduction, system reliability, freight movement, environmen- tal sustainability, and reduced project delivery delays. The perfor- mance standards may only be established after the DOT consults and coordinates with states, transit agencies, stakeholders, and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs). Performance targets must then be established within a year after the DOT es- tablishes performance standards, Schenendorf said. "MPOs must establish performance targets within 180 days of a state adopting performance targets, [and] performance measures and targets must be incorporated into long-range planning and short-term programming processes." The program will be run around these performance standards. "This is really changing how money is reinvested," Schenendorf says. "It's more of a performance-based approach." $ billions