Hutchinson calls for reform in funding for federal highway program
By: U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
Issue date: 5/4/09 Section: News
In 1956, the first stretch of asphalt in the Interstate Highway System was laid, paving the way for the vast network of highways and byways that have become a critical part of American life and culture. Every day in our nation, Americans stay connected and commerce flows directly from north to south and coast to coast because of this highway system. Few undertakings in our nation's history have matched the scale of the Interstate System or the significant national interest that it has served.
More than 50 years have passed since President Eisenhower signed the legislation to create the Interstate System, and construction on the final span of national highway was finished nearly 20 years ago. Yet, highway users in all 50 states are still paying into the national highway system through a formula designed around the now-obsolete purpose of completing the Interstate System.
This funding formula is no longer serving the best interests of each state and its motorists. Our transportation mission should evolve to maintaining and improving this valuable infrastructure. We must add highway capacity in areas where population and commercial growth is exceeding what our infrastructure can withstand. Likewise, our funding structure must change to meet these shifting priorities.
The policy of revenue sharing was instituted in 1956 because some states with a lot of land mass but lower populations were unable to generate enough revenue to build the roads comprising a truly national highway system. Even though the highway system is complete, the current formula continues to send some states excess revenues while the roads and residents of "donor states," like Texas and Arizona, are shortchanged. In short, the gas tax revenues of Florida, Ohio, or any other donor state could well be spent on the bridges of Madison County or bike trails in Vermont, rather than on crumbling or congested highways in Miami or Cincinnati.
Furthermore, of the federal funding that states do receive, there are no fewer than 108 federally mandated programs that must be factored into decisions on how the money will be spent. And once a state decides to begin a transportation project using some of its federal highway funding, it takes an estimated 12 to 15 years of bureaucratic process before a state can even break ground. This level of federal micromanagement fails to acknowledge that our local leaders are best positioned to carry out the present transportation mission: maintenance and improvement.
More than 50 years have passed since President Eisenhower signed the legislation to create the Interstate System, and construction on the final span of national highway was finished nearly 20 years ago. Yet, highway users in all 50 states are still paying into the national highway system through a formula designed around the now-obsolete purpose of completing the Interstate System.
This funding formula is no longer serving the best interests of each state and its motorists. Our transportation mission should evolve to maintaining and improving this valuable infrastructure. We must add highway capacity in areas where population and commercial growth is exceeding what our infrastructure can withstand. Likewise, our funding structure must change to meet these shifting priorities.
The policy of revenue sharing was instituted in 1956 because some states with a lot of land mass but lower populations were unable to generate enough revenue to build the roads comprising a truly national highway system. Even though the highway system is complete, the current formula continues to send some states excess revenues while the roads and residents of "donor states," like Texas and Arizona, are shortchanged. In short, the gas tax revenues of Florida, Ohio, or any other donor state could well be spent on the bridges of Madison County or bike trails in Vermont, rather than on crumbling or congested highways in Miami or Cincinnati.
Furthermore, of the federal funding that states do receive, there are no fewer than 108 federally mandated programs that must be factored into decisions on how the money will be spent. And once a state decides to begin a transportation project using some of its federal highway funding, it takes an estimated 12 to 15 years of bureaucratic process before a state can even break ground. This level of federal micromanagement fails to acknowledge that our local leaders are best positioned to carry out the present transportation mission: maintenance and improvement.
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