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In Our View: Running on Empty

Congress must salvage Highway Trust Fund as nation's infrastructure crumbles

The Columbian
Published: May 10, 2014, 5:00pm

Many times during his presidency, and even when he was initially campaigning for the office, President Obama has spoken about the country’s crumbling infrastructure. Take November 2011, for example: “Our aging transportation infrastructure costs American businesses and families about $130 billion a year. That’s a tax on our businesses; that’s a tax on our consumers. It is coming out of your pocket. It’s a drag on our overall economy. And if we don’t act now, it could cost America hundreds of billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs by the end of the decade.”

Obama certainly is not the only person who has noted the need to invest in bridges and roads. Studies show that nearly one in four of the nation’s bridges are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, and the American Society of Civil Engineers has estimated that the average U.S. motorist spends $324 a year on mechanic visits necessitated by deteriorating roads. Yet the problem could be exacerbated — and soon — if Congress does not act to bolster the Highway Trust Fund.

Most big transportation projects — bridges, extensive road repairs, new highways — are paid for by a combination of local, state, and federal funds, with the federal portion coming from the Highway Trust Fund. That fund is rapidly running out of money, a demise facilitated by years of neglect, and the federal government is expected to begin delaying payments to states as early as this summer. As The Wall Street Journal reported, “Congress has tackled or punted many of the ‘must pass’ bills of 2014, but evaporating highway money looms like a pothole on the road to midterm elections.”

For some states, such as Oregon, that could have dire and immediate consequences. According to a study by Pew Charitable Trusts, between 35 percent and 40 percent of Oregon’s highway and transit funds come from the federal government. Washington ranks toward the low end of the list, with less than one-quarter of such funding coming from the feds.

The Highway Trust Fund is supported primarily by the federal gas tax, which is 18.4 cents per gallon — much less in real dollars than when it was set at that level in 1994. State taxes are piled on top of that, and Washington’s 37.5 cents per gallon is among the highest in the nation. But, with gas taxes generally not keeping up with inflation, and with Americans using less and less gas because of changing habits and more efficient cars, the revenue streams are dwindling. Congress has bolstered the Highway Trust Fund in recent years with transfers from the general fund, but as The Washington Post wrote: “The last authorization, a $19.5 billion chunk granted in 2012, expires at the end of this September — at which point, unless Congress acts, the federal contribution for hundreds of state projects will drop to zero.”

An increase in the federal gas tax is a nonstarter; there’s no appetite for it in Washington, D.C. But Congress must devise a solution. Taxing miles traveled rather than gas purchases? That would ensure that users of hybrid and electric cars pay for their share of wear and tear on roads. Get out of the gas-tax game altogether and leave it solely to the states? That would have some benefits, but could lead to wild inconsistency of road quality across the country.

Either way, Americans must find a willingness to reinvest in the nation’s infrastructure. Some might cheer the fact that the federal government is collecting a smaller proportion of our income through gas taxes. But we won’t be celebrating the next time we drive a pothole-pocked road or hear of a bridge collapsing.

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