At last. Something in these politically fractured times that has bipartisan support.
In a unanimous vote, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works introduced a new $287 billion highway reauthorization bill in late July that includes $259 billion to repair and maintain the country’s roads and bridges.
Not surprisingly, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers and the Associated Equipment Distributed applauded the bill, which they expect would give a boost to their industries and the overall economy. Both organizations have long called for such an initiative.
On top of the 21-0 vote from the committee, the America’s Transportation Infrastructure Act received an endorsement from U.S. President Donald Trump, who tweeted that it will “have BIG IMPACT on our highways and roads all across our nation . . . Do I hear the beautiful word, BIPARTISAN?” the Washington Post reported.
Such support came despite it being the first transportation bill “to acknowledge climate change,” The Post and other news media reported.
According to Delaware Sen. Thomas R. Carper, the top Democrat on the committee, $10 billion would go toward reducing emissions and enable infrastructure to be more resilient to climate change, The Post reported.
The bill still has to pass the House of Representatives. And Congress has to find the money for the initiative. Thomas said the Highway Trust is on “the brink of bankruptcy” and that the “budget gimmicks” largely financed the previous highway bill.
Even if the amount is approved, it will fall far short of meeting the $2.1 trillion infrastructure deficit that in 2017 the American Society of Civil Engineers calculated the U.S. would face by 2025.
Among the society’s recommendations is “a 25-cent-per-gallon increase in the federal gasoline tax over the next five years to adequately fund the nation’s bridges, roads and transit systems,” the American Journal of Transportation reported July 29. As the engineers point out, the federal gas tax has frozen at 18.3 cents since 1993, losing 40 percent of its purchasing power over that time.
Of course, it’s all like the mechanic used to say in those Fram Oil Filter commercials: “You can pay me now, or pay me later.” Back in 2017, the engineers estimated the infrastructure gap would cost the U.S. economy $4 trillion and 2.5 million jobs by 2025.
Or put another way, borrowing $2.1 billion to close the infrastructure deficit would return nearly double that investment within a decade. With interest rates still at historic lows, one could argue that it’s a far larger risk not to take on that debt when the rewards are so great. Robin Kemper, a professional engineer and president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, said unreliable infrastructure costs the average American family $3,400 a year in disposable income.
The spending has the added benefit of being on projects that by their very nature have to be built in America. These are U.S. roads and bridges, after all. The work can’t be outsourced to Asia. It has to happen on U.S. soil.
Also, with China, the other superpower, embarking on a massive Belt and Road Initiative to modernize infrastructure in the developing world, it makes geopolitical sense for the U.S. to undertake a similar project at home. If nothing else, it will ensure that American roads and bridges don’t crumble to Third World status. Think of it as a Marshall Project (or Manhattan Project) to reinvigorate the country’s cardiovascular system.
About the only valid criticism of the $287 billion highway reauthorization bill is that it doesn’t authorize enough money. It’s a start, though. And far better than nothing.
It should also help the overall economy, which is due for a slump after a prolonged growth spurt. Construction projects spending in the U.S. fell in June, the Associated Press reported in early August. The 1.3 percent drop was the largest since a similar decline last November.
More to the point, the decline in spending on government projects was the biggest in 17 years.
Better roads and bridges will enable people and goods to move around more efficiently and safely. What’s not to like about that? That’s true regardless of the power source. New highways and bridges won’t slow the adoption of electric vehicles. In fact, a higher gas tax as the engineers propose, might speed their adoption and inadvertently reduce the amount the gas tax can provide for infrastructure. So at some point a funding formula will have to take that into account.
The important thing is to get started soon so that the efficiencies of the better roads and bridges can work their magic by putting more people to work in skilled occupations, by cutting travel times, and reducing crashes that cost lives and money.
— Keith Norbury