Crises typically aren’t solved in Washington, just delayed. So it goes with this week’s “fix” for transportation funding.
There’s a sense of relief in the transportation industry after the House passed, and the White House endorsed, a temporary funding measure to the tune of $10.8 billion. The Senate is expected to agree to it, pushing to at least next spring a severe funding shortage for roads and transit projects that was set to hit next month.
The way the legislation came together is yet another indication most funding and oversight for transportation infrastructure needs to be moved out of federal hands.
Start with the fact this impasse came so close to producing a funding crisis for state and local DOTs. Partisanship and gridlock in Washington wouldn’t be so problematic if Washington didn’t control so much in the first place.
U.S. Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ranger, has proposed shifting most of the federal gas tax, and the accompanying responsibility for transportation planning, to the states — which, of course, is where the gas taxes are paid and the transportation plans are implemented anyway.
If you worry about Georgia’s ability to handle such a move, don’t. National data indicate we have the sixth-lowest percentage of roads in “poor” condition and the 11th-smallest proportion of deficient bridges, despite having the seventh-most miles of public roads to maintain.
Then there’s the way Congress “paid for” the $10.8 billion bill. Almost two-thirds of the cost of the House bill is offset by something known as “pension smoothing.” In short, Congress allows companies to put less money in their pension funds, which in turn increases their taxable income.
But all that means is we’re solving a short-term crisis by making a longer-term problem exponentially worse. Just another day on Capitol Hill.
Finally, we have a fresh local example of the problematic strings that come with federal funding. I mean the latest delay for Atlanta’s downtown streetcar, due in part to still-incomplete federal tests.
It is unfathomable that it should take $100 million and two and a half years to install 2.7 miles of what is, for all intents and purposes, century-old technology. Unfortunately, such costs of time and money are hallmarks of any project that requires the myriad layers of approval and studies required by federal regulations.
In touting his bill, Graves cites a study saying excessive federal involvement consumes about $185 million a year in Georgia alone, money that could be spent on asphalt and steel instead of gold-plated consultants.
Transit infrastructure would be more affordable without all those extra costs. So would roads and bridges, as the Georgia DOT has been at pains to demonstrate over the past year or two. The state has completed scores of congestion-relief projects on a shoestring budget, to show what it can do when not bound by federal mandates.
Add it all up, and we can’t afford for Washington to be our transportation hub any longer.
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