For Immediate Release September 20, 2002 Contact: Jane Van
Ryan, 202-857-1239; janevanryan@highways.org
American Highway Users Urges Congress to Keep
the Trust in the Highway Trust Fund and Maximize Return on
Investment
WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2002 - The American Highway
Users Alliance today urged Congress to "keep the trust" in the
Highway Trust Fund and to maximize the return on the taxpayers'
investments.
Testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives
Transportation & Infrastructure Highways and Transit
Subcommittee, President and CEO William D. Fay said that the
motorists and truckers who pay user fees into the Trust Fund should
benefit from them. He also discouraged Congress from spending Trust
Fund dollars on non-transportation programs.
"I urge you to consider more than whether or not the
program or project…is a 'good' one," Fay said. "It must also be an
appropriate use of the user fee that motorists pay and should help
reduce the deplorable death toll on our roads or improve the traffic
congestion gripping every U.S. urban area."
Fay also listed several actions that Congress should
consider during the reauthorization of the federal highway bill:
- Maximize the
return on the user fees collected by approving the MEGA Trust Bill
and clamping down on fuel tax evasion;
- Include strong
streamlining provisions in the reauthorization bill;
- Provide
significant funds for research on roadway safety and target
special funding for safety improvements;
- Broaden the
Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program to include
capacity expansion and bottleneck removal programs;
- Shift more funding
from fixed rail programs in the transit account to commuter bus,
paratransit and bus rapid transit projects, as well as increase
the General Fund's share of public transit funding;
- Support quality
growth, not extreme slow growth, and recognize that new and
improved highways can serve as a backbone for planned growth;
- Create a
bottleneck removal program;
- Preserve state
flexibility in obligation authority; and
- Take action now to
avert the impending truck transportation crisis by providing
priority funding for truck-only lanes and other projects to keep
freight moving.
"By dedicating the next surface transportation bill to
making highways safer and more efficient, Congress will reaffirm its
commitment to supporting our Constitutional right of 'life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness,' preserving freedom of movement, and
sustaining our quality of life," Fay said.
The American Highway Users Alliance
represents over 45 million motorists, truckers, and a businesses
that depend on safe and efficient highways to transport their
families, customers, employees, and products and pay the taxes that
finance the America’s roads. The Highway Users advocates public
policy that dedicates those taxes to improved highway safety and
mobility.
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