Senate EPW approves transportation extension
September 8th, 2011 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved, by a unanimous vote, a draft bill that would extend federal surface transportation programs through January 31, 2012. The legislation would be a clean extension of surface transportation programs and allows the Committee time to continue work on the Senate proposed two year surface transportation authorization bill. The current extension will expire on September 30th. ASCE has worked closely with Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer to speak with committee members and express the essential nature of another extension. On Wednesday ASCE sent a letter to Senators who serve on the Environment and Public Work Committee urging the need for another extension, while a long term authorization is worked out. Following the vote this morning, ASCE President Elect Andrew Herrmann, P.E., SECB, F.ASCE, stated “The American Society of Civil Engineers applauds the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee for supporting an essential funding authorization for the nation’s roads and public transportation systems. Today’s vote extending the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users – or “SAFETEA-LU” – for an additional four months ensures that 1.8 million jobs across all 50 states and the District of Columbia will be protected in the near term. “While we are heartened by the bipartisan support for this law, a four-month extension at current funding levels represents the bare minimum of what must be done to address our nation’s crumbling transportation infrastructure. America’s transportation system is the very backbone of our economy. If current funding levels are maintained long term – or if funding levels are cut – America can expect to lose hundreds of thousands of jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars in economic growth over the next ten years. To ensure a prosperous and competitive economic future, ASCE urges Congress to increase long-term investment in the country’s deteriorating infrastructure.” ASCE urges Congress to increase long-term investment in the country’s deteriorating infrastructure and pass a multi-year surface transportation authorization. If the nations does not invest in surface transportation now, in the next ten years our nation’s economy is at risk of losing nearly $900 billion according to the ASCE surface transportation economic study that was released in July. ASCE will keep all Key Contacts up to date as the latest extension is passed in the Senate and worked on in the House."Earthicane" hits East coast
August 31st, 2011 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
In the wake of an earthquake and Hurricane Irene pummeling the East coast, there is now a spotlight on infrastructure. Thousands of bridges and roads needed to be inspected to make sure that they were safe for use. The graphic shows the grades from the 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. These natural disasters are a reminder of the importance of infrastructure to our daily lives, and that our infrastructure cannot last forever without improvements and renovations. All of these categories were impacted in some way by these disasters. Schools were shut down, rail, roads, bridges and transit needed to be inspected for damage, flights were cancelled, dams and levees were full to the brim, sewage overflows dumped into waterways. As we recover from these natural disasters, we need to focus on preparing for future disasters by making improvements now to our infrastructure. Infrastructure improvements would assist in protecting lives and property against potential disasters. Congress needs to take action now on the nation’s infrastructure problems, before more lives and property are put at risk due to hazards and corrosion. ASCE and other groups involved in transportation are concerned that without swift congressional action to reauthorize surface transportation funding, jobs will be lost and transportation infrastructure will continue to deteriorate. In ASCE’s Failure to Act economic study we found failure to invest in transportation infrastructure will hurt the US economy and families in the long term. When Congress returns from their summer recess they will only have 11 legislative days until the 18.4 cents per gallon gas tax expires on September 30th, which will leave the highway trust fund without revenue. The recent FAA extension, passed during pro forma sessions held while most members of Congress were not in Washington, is set to expire on September 16th. ASCE hopes Congress will act quickly on these important pieces of legislation.Tags: economics, hazards, infrastructure, infrastructure report card
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Falling Apart & Falling Behind
August 11th, 2011 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Building America’s Future (BAF) unveiled their own study on transportation infrastructure titled, Falling Apart and Falling Behind, which highlights how crumbling transportation system makes the nation less competitive. Falling Apart and Falling Behind findings fit with the results of ASCE’s recent Failure to Act: The Economic Impact of Current Investment Trends in Surface Transportation Infrastructure. The report has four sections, the introduction which present the current status of our nation’s deficient transportation and the second of which identities why the U.S. has fallen from 1st place to 15th in the World Economic Forum’s infrastructure ranking. BAF’s study believes this is due to a lack of a coherent vision for nation infrastructure as well as, dwindling funding. The third part of the study shows our economic competitors are putting money into their transportation systems, while we are lagging behind. The U.S. spends roughly 1.7% of its GDP on transportation infrastructure while China spends 9% and Canada spends 4%. Other countries are making necessary investments in infrastructure to improve their economies as we hide from our growing infrastructure deficit. The fourth section makes these recommendations for how to deal with our transportation deficit: 1. Develop a national infrastructure strategy for the next decade that makes choices based on economics, not politics. 2. Re‐orient Washington’s priorities:- Pass a six‐year transportation bill.
- Target federal dollars toward economically strategic freight gateways and corridors.
- Re‐focus highway investment on projects of national economic significance.
- Invest more in mass transit.
- Implement the Next Generation aviation system.
- Improve facilities at economically strategic airports.
- Invest now in true high‐speed rail in economically strategic corridors.
- Establish a National Infrastructure Bank.
- Develop other ways to pay for road maintenance, including: congestion pricing, tolling, carbon auctions, fees based on miles traveled, Build America Bonds, or reserves built into capital budgets.
- Enhance or make permanent some of the innovative financing and funding mechanisms that have recently been put into place including: Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants and the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA).
- Develop “best practices” for public‐private partnerships.
- Increase accountability in the federal funding and project delivery process.
- Audit the U.S. Department of Transportation.
- Encourage and reward local innovation.
- Remove obstacles to state and local innovation.
- Increase Federal Leadership;
- Promote Sustainability and Resilience;
- Develop National, State, and Regional Infrastructure Plans;
- Address Life Cycle Costs and Ongoing Maintenance; and
- Increase Investment from All Stakeholders.
FAA Update
August 5th, 2011 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
On Thursday the House and Senate reached an agreement on a new FAA extension. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced a bipartisan deal to reopen the FAA and restore the government’s authority to collect airline excise taxes and fund airport construction. The agreement was the result of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood using the waiver authority granted to him by the House-passed extension to waive Essential Air Service (EAS) subsidy cuts for certain communities. The extension passed through unanimous consent Friday morning in the Senate and expected to be signed by the president, ending the two week standoff and reopening the FAA through September 16, 2011.Leaving on a Jet Plane: The Plight of FAA
August 4th, 2011 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
In the rush of the debt ceiling debate over the last few weeks, Congress failed to address a Federal Administration (FAA) program which has left thousands of FAA workers out of work. Members of Congress (ironically) left on flights out of Washington, DC for the August recess while FAA remained partially shut down due to lack of progress on the bill’s 21st extension. The Airport and Airway Extension Act originally expired in September of 2007 and has been running off short term extensions ever since, the most recent of which, expired on July 22nd. The extension has been held up due to language in the House passed extension (HR 2553) that would stop subsidies to small airports. The Senate wants a clean extension, but has been unable to move forward. With the two sides unable to agree on a resolution we have been left with a partial FAA shutdown. Since this bill was not extended, 4,000 FAA employees have been furloughed for over a week and dozens of FAA inspectors, imperative to public safety, are being forced into paying to work. These workers are deeply frustrated by the situation Congress has left them in. FAA Administrator has said, “It’s incredibly unfair” and “I’ve been around this business a long time. I’ve never seen anything like this,” Babbitt continued, “And I find it appalling, candidly.” FAA workers are worried that they will not see a paycheck until Congress returns in the beginning of September, which is cause for concern when it is easy for mortgage payments, credit card bills and other loans to add up quickly. Many of these furloughed workers have begun to file for unemployment. This shutdown effects more than FAA employees, the FAA had to halt hundreds of airport construction projects across the nation, which means approximately 70,000construction workers are also out of work. Steve Sandherr, CEO of the Associated General Contractors of America, pointed out that 35,000 support workers will also feel the impact of this shutdown. Factoring in all these additional impacts, Congress has certainly left the economy grounded. Failure to move forward on this bill before the summer recess has put approximately 109,000 employees out of work, which means these workers will have less money to spend in the economy and many of these workers will file for unemployment claims, which will most certainly hurt the nation’s economy during our delicate recovery phase. The hold up of this extension has also created an unintentional tax holiday for airlines which translates to a daily loss of between $25 and $30 million in excise taxes that cannot be collected for the Airport and Airways Trust fund. So far, the government has lost about $360 million. US DOT Secretary Ray LaHood said on his blog, “after nearly 35 years as a staffer in Congress, a House member, and now as Secretary of Transportation, I am dismayed by the persistent acrimony plaguing this simple extension.” In a recent press briefing at the White House, LaHood moved beyond polite politics and said, “End your vacation for a couple days, get off the beach, get out of your mobile homes or whatever you are traveling in, get back to Washington,” and “Come back and pass a bill.” President Obama called on Congress this week to take immediate action in pro forma Congressional sessions and called the situation “a self-inflicted wound that is unnecessary”. However, even with the President calling Congressional leaders in the House and Senate and demanding that the FAA be reopened; neither side has budged, instead each has dug their heels in deeper. As of today, there have been rumblings of a possible deal in Congress to address the FAA standoff, but no details have been released as of yet. ASCE urges Congress to pass a clean a new extension by unanimous consent in a pro forma Congress, so that critical airport infrastructure improvements can move forward and so FAA employees can go back to work. Partisan posturing is negatively affecting the Airport and Airways Trust Fund and putting the nation’s aviation system even further behind. Furthermore, the nation needs a multi-year aviation reauthorization bill as soon as possible, especially since the nation’s aviation grade is a “D” in the 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure.Failure to Act report released
July 27th, 2011 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
“We cannot solve the budget deficit without solving the infrastructure deficit.”
– Representative Earl Blumenauer
Today, ASCE released Failure to Act: The Economic Impact of Current Investment Trends in Surface Transportation Infrastructure. The report found the nation’s deteriorating surface transportation infrastructure will cost the American economy more than 870,000 jobs, and suppress the growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product by $897 billion by 2020.
The report, conducted by the Economic Development Research Group of Boston, showed that in 2010, deficiencies in America’s roads, bridges, and transit systems cost American households and businesses more than $129 billion, including approximately $97 billion in vehicle operating costs, $32 billion in delays in travel time, $1.2 billion in safety costs, and $590 million in environmental costs.
If investments in surface transportation infrastructure are not made soon, those costs are expected to grow exponentially. Within 10 years, U.S. businesses would pay an added $430 billion in transportation costs, household incomes would fall by more than $7,000, and U.S. exports will fall by $28 billion.
Productivity across the business sector will also tumble. Those increased costs will cause businesses to underperform by $240 billion over the next decade. As a result, U.S. exports will fall by $28 billion, including 79 of 93 tradable commodities. America would also lose jobs in high-value sectors as business income goes down. Almost 877,000 jobs would be lost by 2020, primarily in the high-value, professional, business and medical sectors which are vital to America’s knowledge-based service economy. Ultimately, Americans will get paid less. While the economy would lose jobs, those who are able to find work will find their paychecks cut by nearly 30 percent.
A lack of investment in transportation infrastructure would hurt American families who would see their household incomes fall by $60 a month by 2020, while having to spend $30 per month more for goods. The total cost to families would exact about $10,600 per family between now and 2020, equal to $1,060 per year on household budgets.
The report estimates that in order to bring the nation’s surface transportation infrastructure up to tolerable levels, policymakers would need to invest approximately $1.7 trillion between now and 2020 in the nation’s highways and transit systems. The U.S. is currently on track to spend a portion of that – $877 billion – during the same timeframe. The infrastructure funding gap equals $846 billion over 9 years or $94 billion per year.
Small investments in infrastructure, equal to about 60 percent of what Americans spend on fast food each year, would:
- Protect 1.1 million jobs
- Save Americans 200 million hours in travel time each year and
- Deliver an average of $1,068 to each family, and
- Protect $2,600 in GDP for every man, woman and child in the U.S.
Failure to Act
July 26th, 2011 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Have you ever wondered how much congestion costs you or what underinvestment in infrastructure really means? As if the nation’s economy isn’t struggling enough, a new study about to be released by ASCE finds the cost of deficient transportation infrastructure to American households and businesses is staggering. Wednesday, July 27th ASCE will release, “Failure to Act: The Economic Impact of Current Investment Trends in Surface Transportation Infrastructure.” The report builds off of ASCE’s Report Card for America’s Infrastructure and addresses the question, “what if investment does not change?” A key finding of this study is that the increasing deficiency of our nation’s roads, bridges, railways and transit will accelerate the decline in American families’ standard of living. The report delves into this issue deeper by examining — the cost to families and businesses of failing transportation infrastructure — the impact of surface transportation deficiencies on U.S. economic competitiveness — the levels of new investment needed to avoid serious economic consequences The findings of this report is come at a time when Congress ponders deep cuts in transportation infrastructure funding to help reduce the national debt — the opposite of what the nation needs to regain its economic footing and continue to be competitive in world markets. This is the first of four economic studies commissioned by ASCE. Subsequent reports will address water and wastewater, energy transmission, and airports and marine ports. This report will be available on July 27, 2011, and posted on ASCE’s website.Hotel industry to be hurt by aging infrastructure
June 10th, 2011 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Earlier this week Jonathan Tisch, CEO of Loews Hotels, commented that the nation’s aging infrastructure will be the next hurdle the travel and hospitality industries will need to overcome. Tisch was speaking at New York University International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference, where he asked fellow hotel industry leaders to band together and create momentum for public-private partnerships that would invest in the nation’s infrastructure. This technique worked for the industry when they pushed for the Travel Promotion Act.
Tisch said, “Just as we did with travel promotion, we need to have elected officials understand how vitally important travel and tourism is in terms of job creation and economic development. Through increased conversation, we can point out to officials that our country’s roads and airline system need to be upgraded to ensure that travelers can get where they’re going in safety and comfort.”
Tisch pointed out that travelers are frustrated. Regardless of how nice any hotel is, if it is a hassle for them to get there, they are not going to go. He continued by saying, there need to be improvements to airports, rail, highways and the air traffic control system to entice travelers.
Tourism plays a vital role in the US economy. In 2010, $758.7 billion was spent by domestic and international travelers in the United States, according to the United States Travel Association. To increase tourism and profits from tourism, it is necessary to improve the nation’s infrastructure. The public-private partnerships Mr. Tisch spoke about fits in with one of the key solutions outlined in ASCE’s 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure: increase and improve infrastructure investment from all stakeholders. The tourism and hospitality industries are an important part of the nation’s economy and we applaud their support for improving the nation’s infrastructure. It’s time for the other key stakeholders to begin advocating for solutions to the nation’s infrastructure investment deficit.
For more information on the economic impact tourism and travel have, check out Economic Impact of Travel and Tourism.
Traffic Congestion is Hazardous to Your Health
June 8th, 2011 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
The Transportation Construction Coalition, of which ASCE is a member, recently released a study by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis on the public health cost of traffic congestion. The study, “The Public Health Costs of Traffic Congestion: A Health Risk Assessment”, found that emissions resulting from traffic congestion in the largest 83 metropolitan areas resulted in more than 2,200 premature deaths last year. Additionally, the public health cost was at least $18 billion.
Emissions from motor vehicles contain pollutants which add to air pollution. One pollutant specifically, PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) is responsible for one third of observed PM2.5 in urban areas as the result of vehicle emissions. While directly emitted from vehicles, PM2.5 can form as nitrogen oxide (NOX) or sulfur dioxide (SO2). Several studies have shown strong evidence that PM2.5 exposure has been associated with premature deaths and other health problems, specifically heart attack, strokes, asthma attacks and other respiratory issues. In the Center for Disease Control’s 2009 National Vital Statistics Report diseases of the heart was listed as the leading cause of death of death in the United States while, Cerebrovascular diseases (stroke) was fourth.
This study is the first attempt to quantify the public health implications of growing traffic congestion. The public health toll was highest in the Los Angeles area, followed by New York/New Jersey, Chicago, and San Francisco/Oakland; areas that rank high in traffic congestion as well. To make matters worse the study forecasts that in 18 metropolitan areas congestion will rise more than 30 percent by 2030.
Potential strategies to combat congestion are defined in the report and range from better traffic management through congestion pricing, traffic light synchronization, more efficient response to traffic incidents, and adding new highway and public transit capacity. The report did note that the number of premature deaths is currently declining due to low emission vehicles, but without further action could be on the rise again by 2030.
ASCE’s 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, graded roads a D- citing that collectively, Americans spend 4.2 billion hours stuck in traffic annually. With this significant amount of time stuck in traffic, inhaling noxious fumes, we should pursue improvements to our roads to relieve congestion.
Key Senators Unveil Surface Transportation Principles
May 26th, 2011 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is inching closer to releasing a surface transportation authorization bill, which it hopes to mark up by the Fourth of July. This week the big four of the Environment and Public Works Committee, Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), James Inhofe (R-OK), Max Baucus (D-MT), and David Vitter (R-LA) released a much anticipated outline for the legislation. The broad outline of the bill shows that funding would be kept at current levels, meaning it would total $339.2 billion over six years. Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) acknowledged that additional revenues would need to be defined in order to move forward with the package, but at this time funding details continue to remain vague. In order to maintain current funding a minimum of an additional $13 billion annually would need to be available in the Highway Trust Fund.
Here are the key principles released yesterday:
• Funds programs at current levels to maintain and modernize our critical transportation infrastructure; • Eliminates earmarks; • Consolidates numerous programs to focus resources on key national goals and reduce duplicative and wasteful programs; • Consolidates numerous programs into a more focused freight program that will improve the movement of goods; • Creates a new section called America Fast Forward, which strengthens the TIFIA program to stretch federal dollars further than they have been stretched before; and • Expedites project delivery without sacrificing the environment or the rights of people to be heard.
At a time of budget cuts and talk of a House surface transportation bill only totaling between $210 and $240 billion over six years, the larger sum is encouraging. However, without a way to fund the path forward is complicated. As the House and Senate roll out their differing surface transportation authorization proposals in the upcoming weeks the focus will need to be on creating a concrete way fund a critical national program, which lies at the core of government responsibility.
To read ASCE’s policy on the authorization of the nation’s surface transportation program please read our Blueprint for Success and for further information on the condition of the nation’s infrastructure please read our 2009 Report Card.
