IT’S BEEN ALL TALK AND NO ACTION WHEN IT COMES TO
fixing the nation’s infrastructure. Despite a spate of articles, calls for
action, and attempts at legislative fixes, we seem to be no closer to a
solution than we were 10 years ago.
In 2012, President Obama signed into law the “Moving Ahead for
Progress in the 21st Century” Act (MAP- 21), which provided funds
for highway expansion. But that ultimately proved to be more of a
patch than a solution. Part of the problem was a lack of a comprehensive plan and funding mechanism. Although he discussed infrastructure numerous times, President Obama seemed to view the
issue largely as a job creation opportunity. It was
a flashback to 1936, when Franklin D. Roosevelt
created the Works Progress Administration
(WPA), which provided jobs for several million
Americans. During the WPA’s eight years in
existence, WPA laborers built 651,087 miles of
highways and roads, built or repaired 124,031
bridges, and constructed thousands of other public facilities. The problem then, as now, was that
there was no comprehensive plan, other than to
put people to work.
So when President Trump hinted that he’d
make a big infrastructure announcement in his
Feb. 28 address to Congress, we pricked up our
ears. During the campaign, he had repeatedly vowed to address the
problem, and we were looking forward to hearing about his plans.
But in the end, we were disappointed. In a speech that devoted only
139 of 5,006 words to this critical issue, Trump simply restated what
he has said before: “I will be asking Congress to approve legislation
that produces a $1 trillion investment in the infrastructure of the
United States … creating millions of new jobs. Crumbling infrastructure will be replaced with new roads, bridges, tunnels, airports,
and railways gleaming across our beautiful land.” As for financing,
he is proposing that the work be funded through public/private
partnerships (referred to as P3s). That, of course, translates to
“tolling our interstates,” which is currently illegal (the practice was
banned under the legislation that authorized the interstate highway
system in 1956).
Concurrently with all this, Congress has refused to raise the fuel
tax, which has not been adjusted in 24 years. Most industry organizations and experts, including the American Trucking Associations
and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have advocated for an
BY CLIFFORD F. LYNCH fastlane
The continuing infrastructure
fiasco
increase, but congressional leaders apparently would rather have a root canal than
raise fuel taxes. This is in spite of the fact that
recent surveys have shown that 79 percent of
adult Americans approve of infrastructure
spending.
In the meantime, several states have raised
their fuel taxes to pay for their own projects.
Last month, the U.S. Conference of Mayors
also weighed in on the subject, pressing
the federal government to
distribute infrastructure
funds directly to cities,
bypassing the states. In
short, the entire problem
has gotten out of control.
There still is no sign of an
overall plan for the needed
improvements. And the
funding issue is far from
resolved. Many of our
needs will not be attractive to investors. And even
if private investors step up
to finance specific road and bridge projects,
they will have to be repaid, which means the
costs will ultimately be passed on to users.
We could easily find ourselves paying tolls
and user fees, plus increased state taxes,
leaving us in a worse position than we would
have been in if Congress had simply raised
fuel taxes in the first place.
And as far as the “new roads, bridges, tunnels, airports, and railways gleaming across
our beautiful land,” good luck with that
one.
Clifford F. Lynch is principal of C.F. Lynch & Associates, a provider of logistics management advisory services, and author
of Logistics Outsourcing – A Management Guide and co-author
of The Role of Transportation in the Supply Chain. He can be
reached at cliff@cflynch.com.
