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"Two Cents Makes Sense,"
ARTBA Says
Washington, D.C. [July 16, 2002]—The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) told a key House subcommittee July 16 that more efficient cash management of federal highway user fees combined with small annual increases in the federal motor fuels excise—two cents or less per year—could double federal investments in highway and mass transit capital improvements by 2009. The finance program outlined by ARTBA President & CEO Pete Ruane in testimony before the House Highways and Transit Subcommittee would ramp up federal highway investment by $5 billion per year, reaching $60 billion in FY 2009. Over the same period, mass transit investments would ramp up to $14 billion. ARTBA pegged its investment targets to the levels it anticipates the U.S. Department of Transportation and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) will report later this year are necessary just to maintain current safety, traffic congestion and system physical conditions. The Congress must reauthorize the federal highway and mass transit programs before October 1, 2003. "Better cash management of Highway Trust Fund revenues combined with a modest annual increase in resources that will maintain the purchasing power of highway user dollars and also provide for real program growth are key to meeting the nation's surface transportation needs," Ruane said. "Two cents makes sense," he said of the annual gas tax adjustment ARTBA is proposing. "The reality is without a new or expanded revenue stream, the purchasing power of the federal highway program will be less in 2009 than it is this year. It boils down to a question of political will and doing things more efficiently." A Zogby International poll of 1,025 registered voters, commissioned by ARTBA and conducted July 9-11, found 67 percent—almost equally divided between Republicans and Democrats—would support an annual two-cents-per-gallon increase in the federal gas tax if the revenue is used exclusively for highway, bridge and mass transit improvements. Nearly 70 percent believe the nation is facing a "transportation capacity crisis." Sixty percent said highway and mass transit investment should be a higher federal priority than it is now. Under the current budgeting of trust fund revenues, user revenues are "warehoused" in the Highway Trust Fund for up to seven years before they are spent, ARTBA points out. This results in an unnecessary build-up of the trust fund balance that could balloon to over $40 billion by 2009, according to U.S. Treasury Department estimates. ARTBA is proposing a true "pay-as-you-go" system that would collect only the amount of user fee revenue necessary in a given year to cover the federal government's cash outlays for the highway and mass transit programs. In its testimony, the association also called for federal encouragement of toll-financed, truck-only lanes—where appropriate and feasible—using Interstate highway right-of-way, tunneling and air rights. Such action, ARTBA says, would improve highway safety and add critically needed capacity to the nation's highway network. ARTBA also urged creation of a blue-ribbon Presidential commission to provide Congress with a game plan for financing future surface transportation capital improvements as the nation moves toward increased use of alternative motor fuels and vehicle powering sources like electricity to meet environmental and energy goals. ARTBA, which is based in Washington, D.C., exclusively represents the transportation construction industry, both public and private sectors, in the Nation's Capital. The U.S. transportation construction industry generates $200 billion annually in U.S. economic activity and sustains 2.5 million American jobs. The association marks its 100th anniversary this year. ###
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