Transportation Moves America

Individual decisions regarding where to live, work, vacation, shop and play are all possible because of the availability of transportation choices. In addition, the nation’s economic health is tied to transportation. Whether it’s creation of jobs or movement of freight, the nation depends on transportation infrastructure. The challenge facing policy makers is to maintain and modernize the infrastructure as demands on the system continue to multiply and resources are stretched beyond capacity.

AAA’s Get There America public awareness campaign captures the essence of mobility and what the public expects of their transportation system: safety, mobility and efficiency.

• Get There Safely – Traffic safety is among the most serious public-health challenges of the 21st century. AAA’s safety agenda calls for building better and safer roads, reducing high-risk driving, improving data collection and protecting vulnerable road users.

• Get There Your Way – Americans want a transportation system that facilitates the many choices they have regarding where they live, work and recreate. AAA supports a strategy that maximizes the contributions of the automobile and public transit, along with bicycles and pedestrians.

• Get There on Time – Gridlock doesn’t have to be a daily reality. A balanced, comprehensive approach would include sufficient funding, smarter use of existing transportation networks and improved traffic management systems among others.

Transportation Funding

Among the most critical issues Congress will consider in the next transportation reauthorization is funding. A simple, but essential, precedent was established in TEA-21 that must be maintained:

All revenue flowing into the Highway Trust Fund must be invested in transportation programs.

The increased funding made possible by TEA-21 has made progress toward correcting years of under-investment, but demands on the system continue to grow.

In 2000, highway users paid some $35 billion into the Highway Trust Fund. The majority of this revenue — 58 percent — comes from the 18.4 cents per gallon federal gas tax motorists pay at the pump.

Despite significant investment, documented needs still outstrip available funding, according to the Federal Highway Administration’s most recent Conditions & Performance Report.

In 2000, capital expenditures from all levels of government for highways and bridges totaled $64.6 billion. To maintain current conditions, FHWA estimates government funding should total $75.9 billion. To improve the physical condition and performance of the nation’s roads and bridges, some $106.9 billion would be needed.

AAA recommends:

• AAA's Top 10 Needed Road Improvements - based on July 2003 Reader's Digest study.
• The link between Highway Trust Fund revenues and transportation investments be maintained to ensure the highest levels of safety and the greatest degree of mobility and efficiency for all travelers.
• The Revenue Aligned Budget Authority mechanism be retained, but revised to minimize dramatic funding fluctuations from one year to the next.
• Considering a variety of alternatives to increase revenue into the Highway Trust Fund, including:
  • Drawing down a portion of the growing balance in the trust fund.
  • Resuming interest payments on trust fund balances.
  • Transferring 2.5 cents of ethanol revenues from the General Fund to the Highway Trust Fund. Ethanol-blended fuels are taxed at a lower rate than gasoline — 13.1 cents per gallon vs. 18.4 cents — and 2.5 cents of that is transferred to the General Fund rather than the Highway Trust Fund. The General Accounting Office calculates that the 2.5-cent transfer has cost the Highway Trust Fund a total of $2.15 billion from 1998-2001.
• Creating a blue-ribbon commission to make recommendations for revising the user fee system to preserve the link between user fee revenues and transportation investments. As automobiles continue to become more fuel-efficient and alternative fuel options expand, gasoline taxes are unlikely to be a sufficient resource to sustain the program.

Get There Safely
Get There Your Way
Get There On Time