Foxx and 11 Former DOT Secretaries Call for Long Term Infrastructure Funding

With a short-term fix to the looming expiration of funding for the Highway Trust Fund expected shortly, USDOT Secretary Anthony Foxx, and 11 former USDOT Secretaries, have issued an "open letter" to Congress, urging a long-term solution to transportation infrastructure funding. The open letter is attached here.

Foxx and his predecessors emphasize that the expected short term funding does not "fix" America's transportation system. Noting that the USDOT Secretaries have lead the department for 35 years under 7 presidents, they write: "Suffice it to say we've been around the block. We probably helped pave it." The Secretaries also stated, "So it is with some knowledge and experience that we can write: Never in our nation's history has America's transportation system been on a more unsustainable course."

Other highlights from the open letter:

"This is no way to run a railroad, fill a pothole, or repair a bridge. In fact, the unpredictability of when, or if, funding will come has caused states to delay or cancel projects altogether."


"America needs to break this cycle of governing crisis-to-crisis, only to enact a stopgap measure at the last moment. We need to make a commitment to the American people and the American economy."

"Until recently, Congress understood that, as America grows, so must our investments in transportation. And for more than half a century, they have voted for that principle -- and increased funding -- with broad, bipartisan majorities in both houses. We believe they can, and should, do so again."

Failure to Fund Water Infrastructure Cited by National Research Council

The National Research Council's latest report on water infrastructure funding finds the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers faces an "unsustainable situation" in maintaining national water projects at acceptable levels of performance. A press release announcing the report is attached here, and a summary of the larger report is attached here. The full report can be obtained in pre-publication format from the NRC's website. The NRC report states the familiar rallying cry that decades-old locks and dams threaten the inland waterway system, and the economic activity the inland waterways sustain. Somewhat distressing is the foreboding, but realistic, statement that despite calls for funding and repairs, gradual deterioration will effectively require discommissioning of locks and dams: "Parts of the system could be decomissioned and divested, but it is more likely that the lock and dam network will be modified by gradual deterioration rather than any planned decomissioning."

Engineer Group's "Failure to Act" Report Addresses Airport, Inland Waterways, and Port Infrastructure

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) published its latest "Failure to Act" report addressing U.S. infrastructure. The lastest report is "The Economic Impact of Current Investment Trends in Airports, Inland Waterways, and Marine Ports." Needless to say from the title of the paper, the ASCE advocates investment in infrastructure projects. Among the interesting contents of the report are various graphs and charts, including graphs of costs (by commodity) from the use of undersized vessels in shallow harbors, lost trade due to gaps in inland waterway and port investment, and the top 10 sectors to be affected by decline in waterborne trade in 2020. This latest report is ASCE's third in the "Failure to Act" series, having previously published reports on Surface Transportation and Water and Wastewater.

Surface Transportation Bill Delays Positive Train Control, Cuts Amtrak, Calls for Harbor Funds to Be Spent

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has released its proposed surface transportation reauthorization bill, titled "The Amercian Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act." According to the Committee's schedule, a mark-up session is scheduled for tomorrow.

Here is Chairman John Mica's (R-FL) Press Release and the House Republicans Summary of the proposed bill (H.R. 7), is attached here. A link to the actual text of the 846 page bill is included within the chairman's press release.

Among the items covered in the bill is a five year extension, to 12/31/2010 for railroads to install Positive Train Control systems on certain track, which is explained as increasing "the opportunity for successful implementation" of PTC.

Also in rail arena, Amtrak would lose 25% of its operating subsidy in fiscal years 2012 (i.e. now), and 2013 in an effort to "focus it on providing better service."

For waterborne transport, the bill notes the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) has had increased revenue of 17.3% in 2011, but that expenditures from the fund have declined. The Bill does not mandate specific action, but makes these pronouncements about the Fund: 1) that "HMTF is not being used for its intended purpose and charging maritime commerce a maintenance tax while failing to provide the service for which it was established is unfair and places the Nation at economic risk." The Bill also urges the Administration to "request full use" of the fund "for operating and maintaining the Nation's navigation system; and for Congress to "fully expend the amounts" in the fund." (see Bill text at pages 823 and following).

The Bill also contains various consolidation/elimination proposals for duplicative programs, and for streamlining agency rule making. I hope to post in the near future on the proposed regulatory reforms.

U.S. House Holds Hearing on Aging Inland Waterways Systems

On September 21, the U.S. House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment held a hearing on the economic importance of the inland waterways system, and the critical challenges posed by aging infrastructure.

A press release from the Subcommittee attached here, explains both the economic benefit of water-borne commerce, but also the potential hazard to continued commerce posed by aging infrastructure, including locks that have been in service for decades.

In addition to Subcommittee Chair Bob Gibbs (R-OH), who called for addressing infrastructure needs to keep "American farms and businesses competitive and growing American jobs," other witnesses included Larry Bray of the University of Tennessee's Center for Transportation Research, Mike Tooehy, President of the Waterways Council, Inc., and Steve Ebke of the National Corn Growers Association.

A link to written testimony is attached here.