An Unshared Vision Creates a Pot-Holed Highway System

Last week in Washington, D.C., the IWLA Government Affairs Committee heard expert speakers discuss a variety of issues, including highway funding. Their analysis of the prospects of House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica’s bill’s chance of being passed by both houses of Congress were best summed up by one of the speakers: “I give it three chances: “fat, slim and none.”

One problem is that Mica and his Republican allies seek to pay for the bill through mechanisms that are dead on arrival to Democrats, such as opening up drilling for oil in ANWR. Another is that fiscal conservatives in Mica’s own party are balking at its sheer size at $260 billion. Yet, another problem is that for many, many years, the Highway Trust Fund has been raided by members of Congress for earmarks to keep their local voters happy with them.

What is lost in the political jockeying is the wealth of the American people. The purpose of a fee on highway users was to create and maintain a connected United States that moves people and freight in a safe and efficient manner. What has devolved is the creation of a pot of money divided and allocated among special interest and pressure groups for things like mass transit and bike paths. The losers are the American people who over pay for an under-developed and uncompleted system.

Safe, efficient and reliable freight movement is and will continue to be the lifeblood of the U.S. economy. Jobs and commerce depend upon an integrated network of freight infrastructure to support trucking, freight rail transportation, port activity and intermodal transfers. To do this right demands that policymakers return to the concept of moving people and freight and not funding special projects with other people’s money.