Presidential Candidates Get Infrastructure Questions
March 9th, 2016 | By: Becky Moylan
One of the goals of the Report Card for America’s Infrastructure is to educate policy makers and elected officials on the need to invest in our infrastructure and inspire them to take action. During this presidential election season, many of the candidates have talked about infrastructure. Those conversations are a great sign that Americans are thinking about the importance of infrastructure and the need to improve it and candidates are being asked to share their ideas. In the past week, both the Republicans and Democrats have held debates in Michigan, a state which has been at the forefront of national news regarding water infrastructure over the past several months. In addition to the water infrastructure issues Flint is facing, last year the state legislature finally passed a surface transportation package after many years of inaction and decades of underinvestment. During the Republican Debate, held at the Fox Theater in Detroit—along the route of the streetcar that’s scheduled to open later this year—Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) was asked “Where are the national Republicans’ plans on infrastructure and solving problems like [Flint]?” The Senator answered by discussing the importance of accountability at all levels of government. A few days earlier, Donald Trump talked about infrastructure while answering questions during his Super Tuesday victory speech. During his remarks he commented “You look at the transportation systems they have [around the world] and the trains they have. We’re like a third world country.” The Democratic Debate took place in Flint, the city that has sparked national attention regarding lead in drinking water. Both democratic candidates have put forth infrastructure plans of their own. Several minutes of the debate were dedicated to the state of our nation’s infrastructure. First, Secretary Hillary Clinton was asked if her plan was big enough to tackle the needs. Clinton mentioned that the surface transportation bill finally passed after becoming a far more partisan issue than it should have been. She continued, that she would like to go further by adding an additional $250 billion on top of the FAST Act and creating a National Infrastructure Bank, which she foresees leveraging $25 billion of federal investments into $250 billion for infrastructure projects. Clinton concluded that there’s “no doubt” more needs to be done on our infrastructure from roads to airports to tunnels to water systems. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was then asked about his $1 trillion proposal. He answered by highlighting the American Society of Civil Engineers’ estimate that $3.6 trillion of investment is needed to improve our infrastructure to a grade of B and pointed out that such investment would put Americans to work in good-paying jobs. Debate questions focusing on infrastructure are a positive indicator that the conversation of infrastructure investment is getting serious attention. It’s also a good reminder that while the FAST Act and state infrastructure legislation are to be applauded, there is still much more that needs to be done to modernize our nation’s infrastructure. You can do something about it right now by educating yourself on presidential candidates’ infrastructure plans and writing your elected leaders about the need to improve infrastructure.State Transportation Funding Moves Slowly in 2016
March 2nd, 2016 | By: Maria Matthews
“Transportation Funding” was named a top 5 issue by The Council on State Governments for the 2016 legislative session. However, unlike the eight states who raised the gas tax in 2015 (Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah and Washington) we have seen few states make the leap toward investing in infrastructure in 2016.
The first state to sign a major infrastructure funding bill into law this session is Rhode Island. The Rhode Works program aims to raise revenue that will allow the state to rebuild roads and bridges making Rhode Island more attractive to businesses. By assessing user fees to large commercial trucks it becomes the last northeastern state to adopt this revenue stream. Rhode Island Department of Transportation is hopeful the additional revenue will help them leverage federal dollars and enable the state to tackle maintenance and rehabilitation projects that will bring additional jobs.
While Rhode Island has already taken action, ASCE is keeping a close eye on many of the states that appear on CSG’s “States to Watch” list. Here is an overview of what we’re watching around the country:
- California – Like Oregon to its north, California is embarking on a Road Charge Pilot Program. It is currently seeking volunteers to participate in pilot program that will assess a fee based on distance travelled or period of time they use the roads, rather than gas consumption. The pilot kicks off in July 2016 and the findings will be used to develop a model that can be fully implemented statewide.
- Connecticut – Governor Dannel Malloy has been a longtime advocate for improving the state’s infrastructure. His Let’s Go CT! plan is a 30 year vision for the future of Connecticut’s transportation system. Investment in this plan hinges on the legislature’s ability to send a “lockbox” measure to the ballot.
- Delaware – A 10-cent per gallon gas tax proposal has again surfaced in Delaware. While this may conjure memories of Governor Jack Markell’s push back in 2014, the current proposal is to raise the tax for a single year and revisit the need to continue the tax in the future. This boost in revenue would come on top of the increase in driver’s fees passed into law in 2015.
- Indiana – This state came into the legislative session with Governor Mike Pence’s $1 billion transportation proposal last fall. Fast forward to recent weeks and the gas tax increase that could have been allocated toward these projects is now off the table. We are keep a close eye as proposed revenue streams change and bills continue to move forward as the legislature is in its final few weeks of session.
- Missouri – The legislature here once again finds itself debating a gas tax increase. The state finds itself having to make Tough Choices Ahead as it determines whether the current transportation revenue streams will generate enough income for the state to leverage federal dollars. The Governor is in favor of a gas tax increase however, opponents have been successful at keeping a bill from advancing in either chamber.
- Nebraska – Coming off a session that passed a 6-cent phased in increase of its gas tax, Nebraska is looking to do still more for statewide transportation infrastructure. The legislature is looking to create an Infrastructure Bank with the full support of the Governor. The bill is still making its way through the unicameral legislature.
- New Jersey – Here the legislature has already decided to put a measure on the fall ballot that will dedicate all gas tax revenue to transportation projects. This is just one of many steps needed to ensure the state’s Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) remains solvent. The state is currently projects the TTF could be insolvent by this summer and recent reports say the state has already reached its borrowing limit for new road and bridge repair work. We are hopeful Governor Chris Christie and the legislature will arrive at a compromise.
Infrastructure in the News: Innovation Sends Snow Packing
January 29th, 2016 | By: Olivia Wolfertz
With winter storm Jonas blasting the Northeast with record-setting amounts of snow, our nation’s already stressed water pipes, roofs and roads were put to the test. While major snow events bring many challenges, they also provide opportunities for innovation. One innovation, coined by The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Chris Tuan, is a special concrete mixture that is designed to heat up and melt any snow or ice that settles on it. But Tuan is not the only groundbreaker. A family in N.J. developed its own geothermal solar snow-melt system that applies heat to the driveway and walkways to melt snow. In response to the havoc cold temps can cause on water mains and potholes, a team of innovators in Syracuse, N.Y. has taken steps toward installing magnetic sensors in their water pipes to reduce water main breaks, and is working with a company that has developed technology to map the city’s road deficiencies. Because the FAST Act will only provide limited funds for infrastructure maintenance, there is still great need for new ways to fund infrastructure. Because of this funding gap, many states are seeking ways to generate funding they need for projects. California is moving ahead with a Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) program that will involve 5,000 driver volunteers who track their mileage and pay taxes based on miles driven rather than how many gallons of gas they consume. And Alabama and Oregon are considering raising their state gas tax to generate more funding for infrastructure projects.s With intense winter weather wearing on our roads and water infrastructure and increased need for funding, it is still critical that elected leaders at the federal, state and local levels continue to prioritize investment into the backbone of our economy.D.C. Infrastructure Report Card Gives C- Overall, Lowest Grade to Levees
January 14th, 2016 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
The 2016 Report Card for D.C.’s Infrastructure is an independent review of the current state of infrastructure needs, capability and funding in D.C. by the National Capital Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Report Card was written over the past year by ASCE members from the D.C. region who assigned the grades according to the following eight criteria: capacity, condition, funding, future need, operation and maintenance, public safety, resilience, and innovation. The report grades the infrastructure assets and is not a reflection of the agencies and professionals who work every day to solve infrastructure issues. It is a tool that shows the condition and importance of D.C.’s vital infrastructure assets that support our daily life or can interrupt our lives if we don’t maintain them. To put it another way, if you drive or ride in D.C., if you drink the water or flush a toilet in D.C., or if you just want infrastructure that works – this Report Card is for you. In the 2016 Report Card for D.C.’s Infrastructure, ASCE assessed 11 categories of infrastructure and found that 3 of them earned poor D grades, 6 earned mediocre C grades, and 2 earned B grades. Levees earned the lowest grade in the Report Card at a D-. Levees protect the capitol area from flooding as well as the Anacostia Bolling base, and both have earned “Unacceptable” ratings creating a need for emergency repairs and an additional $5 million would be needed to finish the work to protect the capitol area. Transit received a D grade due primarily to the condition of Metro system and the safety implications of a lack of consistent funding and focus on maintenance. While bright spots exist with new Metrobuses, Circulator bus success, and an innovative Capital Bikeshare, with 85% of D.C.’s commuters using Metro, it should be clear that this should be a priority not only in D.C. but also for each stakeholder in this system. While we know D.C. Roads are congested, the D+ grade for roads is in large part due to DDOT needing 4 times its current maintenance budget. For every dollar of need, there’s only a quarter to spend. School facilities earned a grade of C- with more than 49 schools reporting at least one “poor” condition structural element, impacting more than 14,000 students. However, almost half of D.C. schools have been modernized which show a tremendous leap in the right direction and a clear investment in D.C.’s future. Energy earned a C with $3 billion needed for electricity upgrades and $650 million need to replace 50-year old natural gas pipelines. Both water and wastewater were given grades of C+. With pipes’ median age being about 79 years old, we shouldn’t be surprised that there are 400 to 550 pipe breaks each year, but we’re starting to replace 1% per year and renew the clean drinking water infrastructure residents use. Wastewater work is happening right now to expand the capacity of our system that will not only prevent neighborhood flooding but improve the quality of the Anacostia River. Solid Waste earned a grade of C+. Our city’s growth is requiring an increase of trucks to take away our waste. While 10% more of it is recycled than a decade ago, we still need to make progress to reach the long-term goal of 45%. We have more Parks per person in D.C. than almost any place in the U.S. yet 50% of D.C.’s open spaces have challenges leading to a C+ grade. Rail received a B- grade due to the significant private investment of CSX in their rail infrastructure and the Virginia Avenue Rail Tunnel allowing 400,000 freight carloads to pass through D.C. While more capacity is need for rail and passengers, future plans being set today could serve D.C.’s needs and improve our congestion. Finally, D.C. Bridges received a B-, one of the highest grades, showing tremendous progress in reducing the structurally deficient bridges from 8% to 3% in just 3 years. The future will require consistent maintenance of older bridges reaching the end of their lifespan, but improvements like this show that diligent management, maintenance, and investment together create the changes we need to see. The Report Card shows us the condition and needs in a letter grade, but what is very clear when you read this report is that innovative solutions to our challenges, like DC Water’s Clean Rivers Project, are going to shape D.C.’s future if we let them. Yes, we have infrastructure challenges, but there are solutions to each of them and some are already on the way and some we need to support to make reality. We’re also going to need to get back to the basics – maintenance needs to be as essential to our budgets as water for hot coffee in the morning. With innovation and maintenance, we can prepare for the future and modernize the infrastructure that will serve us and future generations.Read the full 2016 Report Card for D.C.’s Infrastructure.
2015 Media Relations Year in Review
January 8th, 2016 | By: Olivia Wolfertz
Last year, ASCE was mentioned in the media more than 12,900 times in all 50 states and in more than 30 countries around the world, including 27 major print and broadcast media outlets and wire services. ASCE members and staff interviewed on everything from the state of the nation’s infrastructure to fixing the Highway Trust Fund to Game Changers to the impact of natural disasters on infrastructure. Here are some of the major highlights from 2015: HBO’s Last W
eek Tonight with John Oliver (3/2/15) highlighting the state of the nation’s infrastructure
- Episode has been viewed more than 5.9 million times on YouTube
Op-ed in The Hill (7/27/15) authored by Bob Stevens touting ASCE’s Game Changers report.
CNBC Closing Bell interview (5/13/15) with Brian Pallasch following the Philadelphia Amtrak derailment
Fix the Trust Fund national radio tour led by Andy Herrmann
- Total listenership: 11.9 million
- Total number of airings: 2,064
- Number of stations airing: 1,814
2015 Infrastructure Year in Review
January 4th, 2016 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
App Makes Contacting Legislators a Breeze
The Save America’s Infrastructure phone app launched in May and has been downloaded by more than 1,800+ infrastructure advocates. Providing grades and facts about 16 categories of America’s Infrastructure as well as the 50 states, the app allows users to easily contact their elected officials directly through the app. The app is available on Android and iTunes for free.
State Legislative Wins Pushed by Infrastructure Report Cards
In 2015, both Utah and Iowa rapidly passed transportation legislation reforms on the heels of the release of ASCE’s State Infrastructure Report Cards. In fact, ASCE has released a recent Report Card in 12 of the 15 states that have taken recent significant action on infrastructure. These states include: GA, ID, IA, KY, MD, NE, NH, NC, PA, SD, UT, VT, VA, WA, and WY.
Sharing the Report Card with Business and Industry Leaders
The Report Card for America’s Infrastructure continues to draw interest from business and industry groups nationwide. Almost 50 Report Card presentations have been given by ASCE leaders to groups ranging from the Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce to the US/Canada P3 Forum to the Association of Actuaries. Request a presentation to your group by emailing reportcard@asce.org.
Highlighting #GameChangers and Solutions
In July, ASCE released Infrastructure #GameChangers report to highlight the innovative ways communities across the country are modernizing infrastructure. The report highlights trends in energy, freight, transportation and water infrastructure that are changing the way we design, plan, and build projects of the future.
Read the full ASCE 2015 Year in Review here.
FAST Act Summary Part Four: Rail
December 16th, 2015 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
This is the fourth and final in a series of summaries posted over the past two weeks on the contents of the newly-passed five-year federal surface transportation authorization law, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The first part explored the law’s funding and the future fiscal health of the Highway Trust Fund. The second part described the highway program elements of the law. The third summary described public transportation or transit policy and this final section focuses on the funding and policy changes to federal passenger rail programs. FUNDING The FAST Act provides $305 billion for highway, transit and railway programs. For rail, it would continue to provide much-needed capital investment for the nation’s passenger rail network while implementing bipartisan reforms aimed at increasing performance and accountability of the nation’s rail operator for intercity passenger service, Amtrak. The law authorizes $10.4 billion for passenger rail programs over the next five years. This authorization does not guarantee funding as this investment must actually be provided annually by Congress via the traditional appropriations process. Amtrak would receive modest annual funding increases of, on average, $90 million which amounts to a total funding level of $8.1 billion over five years. However, a key change in Amtrak budgeting is that funding will be separated between investments that can be spent on the (profitable) Northeast Corridor (NEC) and the (unprofitable) remaining National Network (NN). Over the life of the bill, $2.6 billion will be spent on the NEC while $5.5 billion will be spent on the NN. Remaining Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) grant programs would receive $2.2 billion over the next five years. POLICY PROVISIONS The FAST Act also:- Requires Amtrak to submit profit and loss statements for both the NEC and NN accounts. This will help ensure that adequate investment is being provided for capital infrastructure on the NEC and further seek to end the NEC “cross-subsidy” of long distance, state-supported routes;
- Improves the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) program, which provides long-term, low-interest loans for railroad-related improvements, by adding process improvements like approval deadlines to add clarity and reliability for potential borrowers;
- Requires infrastructure owners like Amtrak and states to annually produce five-year asset management plans and business line plans based on current authorization levels. There shall be four business line plans: NEC; state-supported routes; long-distance routes; and ancillary services;
- Provides further instruction to the NEC Operating and Advisory Commission and the Amtrak board of directors to produce a more sustainable, long-term investment and operating plan for both the NEC and the national network; and
- Establishes an independent study of methodologies for determining the cost-benefit and value of routes and services which will be an important process for determining the future scope of the national route network and the offering of intercity passenger rail service. This report will be provided to Congress in 2016 and the Amtrak board of directors will consider the recommendations within 90 days of its release.
FAST Act Summary Part Three: Transit
December 14th, 2015 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
This is the third in a series of summaries over the next few weeks on the contents of the newly-passed five-year federal surface transportation authorization law, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The first part explored the law’s funding and the future fiscal health of the Highway Trust Fund. The second part described the highway program elements of the law. The final forthcoming section will focus on the policy changes to federal passenger rail programs. The FAST Act provides $305 billion for highway, transit and railway programs. Of that, $60 billion is for transit, which represents an 18% increase in public transportation funding over the law’s five-year duration. Most of the percentage bump in transit investment will occur in the first year with the program seeing an immediate nine percent increase. Here is what the transit investment levels look like over the life of the bill:- (Pre-FAST Act) Fiscal Year (FY) 2015: $10.7 billion
- (Post-FAST Act) FY16: $11.8 billion
- FY17: $12 billion
- FY18: $12.2 billion
- FY19: $12.4 billion
- FY20: $12.6 billion
- Creates a new Bus and Bus Facility Discretionary grant program to address capital investment. This program is funded at $268 million in the first year, rising to $344 million in the last year. The program also includes a 10 percent rural set-aside and a cap that no more than 10 percent of all grant funds can be given to a single grantee;
- Creates an expedited project delivery pilot program in the Capital Investment Grant program for projects with less than 25 percent federal funding and those which are supported through public-private partnerships;
- Focuses on the need to address resilience in state and local planning by urging a reduction on the natural disaster vulnerability of existing transportation infrastructure;
- Directs USDOT to review the safety standards and protocols used in public transportation. The Secretary will then evaluate the need to establish additional federal minimum public transit safety standards; and
- Makes $199 million available to assist in funding the installation of Positive Train Control (PTC) safety technology.
FAST Act Summary Part Two: Highways
December 9th, 2015 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
This is the second in a series of summaries over the next few weeks on the contents of the newly-passed five-year federal surface transportation authorization law, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The first part explored the law’s funding and the future fiscal health of the Highway Trust Fund. The next sections will focus on the policy changes to transit and federal passenger rail programs. The FAST Act provides $305 billion for highway, transit and railway programs. Of that, $233 billion is for highways, which represents a 15% increase in road and bridge funding over the law’s five-year duration. Most of the percentage bump in highway investment will occur in the first year with the program seeing an immediate five-percent increase. Below are the highway investment funding levels over the life of the bill:- (Pre-FAST Act) Fiscal Year (FY) 2015: $40.3 billion
- (Post-FAST Act) FY16: $42.4 billion
- FY17: $43.3 billion
- FY18: $44.2 billion
- FY19: $45.3 billion
- FY20: $46.4 billion
FAST Act Summary Part One: The Funding
December 6th, 2015 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
This is the first in a series of summaries over the next few weeks on the contents of the newly-passed five-year federal surface transportation authorization law, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The next sections will focus on the policy changes to highways, transit and federal passenger rail programs. The backbone of federal transportation funding is the motor fuels tax, and those revenues are deposited in the protected Highway Trust Fund (HTF). Taxes on gasoline and diesel fuels for cars, trucks and motorcycles, have been levied for many decades, however the last time that the tax rate was raised was in 1993 — over 20 years ago. Since that time, federal spending on highways and transit programs has risen and the purchasing power of those dollars, as a result of rising construction and materials costs, has gone down. While the newly-passed five-year federal surface transportation authorization law, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, increased investment, it did not pay for these funding increases through a gas tax hike. Instead, the law relied on a variety of items unrelated to transportation, specifically two large offsets dealing with the Federal Reserve (Fed). OFFSETS The first Fed offset is one that was heavily opposed by banks. The provision would reduce what was a six percent annual dividend paid to banks on Fed stock that they bought when becoming members of the Federal Reserve system. The reduction would impact banks with over $10 billion in assets and cut the stock dividend pay-out to match the interest rate of the highest-yield 10-year Treasury note, which would likely be around two percent. This provision raises nearly $6 billion for the FAST Act. The second Fed-related offset is the largest one contained in the FAST Act and applies to the Feds capital surplus accounts. The Fed regional banks maintain various amounts of surplus cash, which added together amounts to $29 billion. The FAST Act takes $19 billion from this account and leaves a $10 billion surplus cushion at the Fed. However, due to Congressional budget scoring procedures the amount of money actually raised for FAST Act by doing this $19 billion draw-down is about $53 billion because Congress adds up all of the money that would have been in the account over a ten-year budget horizon. Added together, these and other offsets amount to around $70 billion in new money for the HTF over the five-year life of the FAST Act. This means that at the end of the FAST Act the HTF will have received over $140 billion in general fund transfer since it began experiencing fiscal trouble in 2008. This also means that by the end of the FAST Act gas taxes and other transportation-related revenues will only be providing half of the dollars necessary to support investment levels, which could complicate the policy process in numerous untold ways. For example, members of Congress may then ask: “Why should this program only fund roads and transit systems (which has historically been the case) if roads users and transit riders are no longer the funding basis of a large amount of the program’s revenues?” FUNDING LEVELS The FAST Act provides $305 billion for highway, transit and railway programs. Of that, $233 billion is for highways, $49 billion is for transit and $10 billion is dedicated to federal passenger rail. By the end of the bill’s five-year duration, highway investment would rise by 15%, transit funding would grow by nearly 18%, and federal passenger rail investment would remain flat. Most of the percentage bump in investment will increase immediately with highways seeing a five percent jump and transit receiving a nine percent jump in the first year. The funding then sees relatively flat, two percent annual growth. The bill actually provides higher levels of funding than the Senate-passed DRIVE Act would have, by over $680 million cumulative over the life of the bill. The bill also contains a HTF contract authority rescission of $7.5 billion at the end of the bill (September 30, 2020). This rescission would mean that states will have to return a certain amount of unobligated highway contract authority to FHWA. It is likely that states will soon plan their programs accordingly to be able to minimize the impact of this final-year budget cut. Rescissions have become common in surface transportation authorization bills as a way to bring down spending levels at the end of the law, which helps reduce the overall cost of the program for Congressional budget scoring purposes. There will likely be an effort in 2020 to eliminate or delay the implementation of the rescission. The last rescission to take effect was for $8.7 billion in 2009. Here are some funding highlights for highway and transit programs: HIGHWAYS- National Highway Performance Program: annual increases of nearly $500 million;
- Surface Transportation Program: first-year increase of $1 billion and nearly $200 million on top of that annually thereafter;
- Highway Safety Improvement Program: slight increase of $50 million annually;
- Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality Program: $50 million increase in the first-year and slight increase thereafter;
- TIFIA Program: heavy annual reduction from $1 billion per year to $275 million – $300 million annually throughout the bill;
- Highway Research & Development Program: slight increase, however new eligibilities added:
- $15 million annual Surface Transportation Funding Alternatives Studies program; and
- $10 million annual Performance Management Data Support program.
- (NEW) National Highway Freight Program: approximately $1.2 billion annually; and
- (NEW) Nationally-Significant Freight & Highways Projects Program: approximately $900 million annually.
- Formula and Bus Grants: $800 million increase in the first year and $200 million on top of that annually thereafter. Within that:
- $90 million annual increase for Urbanized Area Formula Grants;
- (NEW) $28 million for Research & Development Demonstration and Deployment grant (existing FTA R&D program reduced by $50 million annually);
- State of Good Repair: first-year $350 million increase and $40 million on top of that annual increase thereafter;
- (NEW) Bus and Bus Facility Discretionary program: approximately $300 million annually; and
- (NEW) Fast Growth and High Density program: approximately $550 million annually.
- Capital Investment Grants: Initial $400 million funding increase which sustains for life of the bill; and
- Positive Train Control Grants: $200 million provided in fiscal year 2017.
