9 September 2008
Completion of road and bridge construction projects across the country is in jeopardy due to a shortfall in the federal Highway Trust Fund. Why do we continue to fund an endless war when the infrastructure of our country is in dire need? Washington money finances 80-90 percent of federally aided road work. States whose finances are shaky may have to curtail projects. There has been a long debate in Congress on how to pay for road building. Federal excise taxes on motor fuel, 18.4 cents a gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents a gallon on diesel go for road projects but the fund is being depleted because motorists are driving less due to the high price of gas. A drop off of payments to the states will begin in the third week of September.
As states wind down the summer construction season, transportation officials will find longer and longer delays in getting payments from Washington. This will really create problems for not only motorists but for hundreds of thousands of workers in the construction industry and for contractors. In July the House passed a bill for 8 billion dollars from of general federal revenue from income and other taxes, not the dedicated motor fuel tax, for financing highway projects. The Senate was luke warm and the White House had been hostile to it but was forced to endorse the measure so the states did not suffer. Some wanted to use money from the mass transit fund but large cities that rely on trust-fund aid for their transit systems would resist such a move.
This problem is another headache facing the new administration. I don’t envy the next person taking office. The shift to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars because of expensive gasoline is the reason that the highway fund is being depleted. It seems that we can’t win for losing. The Bush administration is leaving a real mess behind both on the home front and in the war areas.
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