February 21st, 2013 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Last week ASCE sent a Key Alert to its members in Wisconsin urging passage of legislation that would allow an amendment to the state constitution to protect transportation funding. The passed measure,
Assembly Joint 
Resolution (AJR) 2, allows the citizens of Wisconsin to vote on amending the state constitution to protect transportation funds intended for transportation from being “raided” for other uses by the state government. AJR 2 passed the Wisconsin Assembly earlier this month and this past week on February 20, 2013 the state Senate voted 25-8 to amend the constitution. , a move that This ensures this issue will be decided by the citizens of Wisconsin by referendum in November 2014. If passed by the voters voters approve a restriction of such spending, the constitution will be amended, protecting Wisconsin’s transportation funds in that state in the future.
Read about the Wisconsin bill
here
February 22, ASCE sent a Key Alert to its members that live in Virginia asking them to contact their legislators to support the compromise in favor of multi-year transportation bill that was completed agreed to yesterday. The 100-member House and 40-member Senate have just days to act on the bill. If it fails to garner 51 votes in the House and 21 in the Senate by the time the legislative session ends this Saturday, February 23, one of Virginia’s most pressing problems will again go unaddressed.
Read about the Virginia bill
here
What will happen? Find out next week!
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October 15th, 2012 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
On November 6th, our country will face many difficult decisions about its future. However, one issue in
Colorado Springs, CO is not difficult whatsoever: the
Pikes Peak Cog Railway Car. Courtesy Flickr/wallyg
renewal of the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA). Question 5A asks voters in
El Paso County, Colorado to approve the extension of the PPRTA, a one percent tax to improve roads and bridges. The initiative is not a tax increase, but rather a continuation of an already successful program.
Currently, the PPRTA funds the construction and maintenance of area road projects. In fact, the Colorado Springs Independent argues “the accomplishments of PPRTA I were huge,” and “the projects now are equally vital, taking care of major needs to existing infrastructure, and improving roads and bridges that our governments no longer have the wherewithal to address.”
Civil engineers have taken to supporting the PPRTA. ASCE is releasing the
2012 Report Card for Colorado Springs Infrastructure this coming Wednesday. In the report, local civil engineers examine the needs of El Paso County and how and why PPRTA is vital for continued infrastructure improvements.
So on November 6
th, please remember that transportation infrastructure allows us to go to work in the morning, get our children to school safely, and connect to businesses all over the world.
Tags: economics, state report cards, transportation
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October 10th, 2012 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
That $4 billion dollar figure is up from the $1.9 billion in infrastructure bonds that were on the ballot just 2 years ago according to the National Conference of State Legislators. From transportation bonds in Alaska to a dam repair initiative in Hawaii to a clean water question in Rhode Island, infrastructure has come
Car crossing bridge in the Alaskan Yukon. Courtesy Flickr/Thom Watson
back into focus.
ASCE has identified statewide measures in six states that are of interest to our members and to the civil engineering profession as a whole. ASCE members in Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Maine, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island should be on the lookout for Key Alerts urging action on these important ballot items. For more information on these
you can visit here.
Leading up to the election on November 6 we will be highlighting a different ballot item every Wednesday in this blog. Check back next week for a discussion on the $1.3 billion upgrade to state and municipal roads in Arkansas.
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September 26th, 2012 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Early last Sunday, the Senate voted to pass a continuing resolution (CR) that funds the government for the first half of Fiscal Year 2013, which begins October 1. The bill expires March 27, 2013 and will provide $1.047 trillion in discretionary spending, which matches the cap set in the Budget Control Act (BCA) signed in August 2011. The House passed the CR the previous week.
The funding will be about $8 billion above current levels and the increase — about 0.6 percent — will be spread across the board for all agencies. However, Congress still must deal with the automatic spending cuts it ordered last year when it required the president to sequester $110 billion in FY 2013 if the House and Senate failed to come up with comprehensive budget cuts. So far, those efforts have failed, and the automatic cuts are scheduled to take effect on January 2.
Last week the
Office of Management and Budget(OMB) released a report detailing the across-the-board cuts in the FY 2013 budget under the mandatory
Courtesy Flickr/Tax Credits
sequestration law. “The sequestration would result in a 9.4 percent reduction in non-exempt defense discretionary funding and an 8.2 percent reduction in non-exempt, non-defense discretionary spending,” the OMB reported.
Congress exempted certain programs from the automatic cuts in the Budget Control Act –sequestration. Among the infrastructure accounts exempted are the
federal Highway Trust Fund and the
Airport Improvement Program grants-in-aid. The
National Flood Insurance Program funding of $171 million in 2013 also is exempt from sequestration. “The administration cannot choose which programs to exempt or what percentage cuts to apply,” the OMB said.
If Congress does not take action before January 2
nd, among the infrastructure programs to undergo mandatory cuts in 2013 is the Corps of Engineers military construction program, a decrease of $383 million (9.4 percent) from $4.072 billion in the BCA. The Corps’ Civil Works program will be reduced by $505 million from $5.772 billion. These cuts included $150 million in construction, $176 million in operation and maintenance, and $86 million in Mississippi River and Tributaries spending.
The State and Tribal Assistance Grants program at the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funds wastewater and drinking-water infrastructure through the State
Revolving Loan Fund (SRF) programs. The account will be reduced by $293 million (8.2 percent) overall from $3.5 billion. The OMB does not identify how much money will be cut from the wastewater SRF and how much from the drinking-water SRF.
The Federal Transit Administration would be cut by $172 million, including $156 million from a total of $1.9 billion for capital investment grants, an 8.2 percent reduction. Customs and Border Protection would lose $19 million of $237 million (8.2 percent) from its construction program.
The water program at the Bureau of Reclamation would be cut by $89 million (8.2 percent) from $878 million. A further $302 million from the account’s total of $1 billion would be exempt from sequestration.
The National Park Service budget for construction would be cut $13 million from the $156 million in budget authority. Another $126 million would be exempt. The State Department’s embassy construction program of $1.5 billion would be cut by $129 million.
Congress has the authority to act before January 2 to eliminate or redistribute some or all of the sequestration requirements for FY 2013 in an effort to reduce spending by $110 billion.
The full OMB report can be seen
here.
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September 4th, 2012 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts both accounts of the Highway Trust Fund will go broke sometime in FY 2015 unless Congress acts to shore up the fund that pays for surface transportation projects. According to a CBO chart obtained, the highway account will end FY 2012 with $8.7 billion and the transit account with $4.7 billion. The transit account could run dry in late 2014.
ASCE has long supported an increase in the gas tax to provide additional revenues for investment in surface transportation systems, a move that has been supported by many economists as consistent with reducing the federal budget deficit. However, the political climate in Washington has not allowed a serious discussion on this matter in some time.
More information on the gas tax can be
found here and the CBO chart can be viewed on
this site.
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August 15th, 2012 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Legislators from around the country gather every year at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Legislative Summit to talk about policies that work in the real world. State
legislators are literally hunting for ideas they can bring home to their communities to help them bolster their local economies and create jobs. Among the key sessions, was a dynamic panel on creating jobs through infrastructure investment. Focused on the reality that construction costs are rising yet states needs to borrow at affordable rates, this session’s speakers discussed both the polices that work and the next wave of potential investments that legislators can focus on now.
To start the panel off, ASCE President Andrew Herrmann P.E., M.ASCE began the discussion by highlighting the clear case for investing today using the
Failure to Act economic studies which show the high costs to the US, jobs, and businesses if necessary infrastructure investments are postponed.
Deb Miller, former Secretary of Transportation, Kansas, now with
Cambridge Systematics, Inc., and Illinois Senate President
John J. Cullerton highlighted how accountability and clear expectations allowed several key investments to move forward in their states and how these projects supported local businesses and the state’s economic goals. Geoffrey Buswick, Standard & Poor’s, touched on the financing options available and the reality that borrowing options may change as the economy recovers.
Through our participation in meetings like this, ASCE is able to interact with leading policymakers from around the country, and particularly those legislators who have been leaders in their states on infrastructure issues. As sates continue to face fiscal challenges it’s encouraging that state legislators like those gathered in Chicago continue to seek solutions to the infrastructure deficit.
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August 1st, 2012 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Yesterday, Georgia voters went to the polls and voted on, among other things, whether to impose
Georgia's 12 Economic Development Districts
a new 10-year Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (T-SPLOST).
The referenda offered Georgians an opportunity to vote for a one percent regional sales tax to fund transportation improvements in every corner of the state. If it had been approved across all twelve regions, the sales tax would have generated an estimated $18.67 billion over a 10-year period, which represents a significant investment in Georgia’s transportation infrastructure.
Unfortunately, out of the twelve economic development regions, only three, Regions 7, 8 and 9, the Central Savannah River, River Valley and Heart of Georgia regions respectively, passed the referendum. The good news is that these three regions represent an estimated $1.83 billion dollar investment in infrastructure. The bad news is the other nine regions, including the metro Atlanta region, all rejected the plan, leaving a potential $16.8 billion of infrastructure projects unrealized.
Governor Nathan Deal’s office told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he would now take a central role in transportation planning for the state’s metro areas, and he would not support a sequel to Tuesday’s referendum.
Only time will tell the future of transportation in Georgia.
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July 30th, 2012 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
2012 Mississippi Infrastructure Report Card
Last week, the Mississippi Section Report Card for the state’s infrastructure was featured in a front-page article in the Jackson Courier-Journal and Acey Roberts, P.E., M.ASCE, chair of the Report Card Committee, was interviewed on the Marshall Ramsey show, heard in Jackson on WFMN-FM. Roberts talked about Report Card which gave grades of D for Dams, D, C- for Drinking Water, C for Roads and Bridges, and C for Wastewater, C. Although the grades for Mississippi are either equal to or slightly higher than the nation’s grades, he said current issues must be addressed.
“The current path regarding maintenance and funding for our transportation and water systems in Mississippi must be reversed, said Roberts. “We hope that this report will be the first step toward understanding the issues and finding real solutions to bridge the funding gap.
Industry experts from public agencies, private firms and non-profit groups led this Report Card effort. To arrive at grades for each area of infrastructure, civil engineering expert volunteers examined the physical condition, capacity and future need, and studied funding sources and trends that impact maintenance and upgrades. The first report of its kind in Mississippi, ASCE’s Mississippi Section released the Report Card at the Mississippi State Capitol Building.
To view the 2012 Mississippi Infrastructure Report Card, visit the
ASCE Mississippi Section website.
View
Clarion-Ledger story.
Listen to an archive of the Marshall Ramsey radio show from July 26.
Tags: civil engineers, economics, energy, infrastructure, infrastructure report card, state report cards, transportation, wastewater, water infrastructure
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July 25th, 2012 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
On July 31st, voters in Georgia will head to the polls to vote on a referendum important to both the people of Georgia and the Civil Engineering Profession.
Georgia’s 12 Economic Development Regions. Click on the map to go to the T-SPLOST website.
Each of Georgia’s 12 economic development regions will separately vote on whether to impose a new 10-year Transportation Special Purpose Local Option
Sales Tax (T-
SPLOST).
These referenda will offer Georgians an opportunity to vote for a one percent regional sales tax to fund transportation improvements in every corner of the state. If approved July 31, 2012, the sales tax would generate an estimated $18.67 billion over a 10-year period, which represents a significant investment in Georgia’s transportation infrastructure.
If approved, local governments in each region would receive 25 percent of the revenues (15 percent in metro Atlanta) from the sales tax to spend at their discretion on transportation projects. Using a pre-determined formula, the money would be divided among all local governments in that particular region to fund projects such as bike lanes, pedestrian bridges or sidewalks or safety, transit and road improvements. Local governments would control their share of these discretionary funds, and the project list has not been finalized.
ASCE recommends that adequate funding for operating, maintaining, and improving the nation’s transportation system be provided by a comprehensive program with dedicated elements at the federal, state, and local levels, including state and local sales taxes. (
ASCE Policy Statement 382 – Transportation Funding)
The Georgia Section of ASCE has been advocating in favor of these referenda. If you live in Georgia please VOTE in general, and please VOTE in support of T-SPLOST.
For more information from the Georgia Section on
T-SPLOST visit their website:
To see the condition of Georgia’s infrastructure check out the
2009 ASCE Georgia Infrastructure Report Card’s website.
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July 16th, 2012 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Senator John Kerry, author of the BUILD Act and Infrastructure Bank proponent. Courtesy Flickr/Talk Radio News Service
The Congressional Budget Office released a report last week analyzing a
national transportation infrastructure bank, which is a proposal that many on Capitol Hill would like to use in order to boost funding and improve the selection process for projects. The report finds that an infrastructure bank could play a limited role in enhancing investment in surface transportation projects, but that is could create a selection process that would overcome certain barriers to the financing of multi-regional or multimodal projects.
The bank would provide financing through loans, and projects would have to include tolls, taxes or other dedicated revenue streams when repaying them. Private and NGO partners, as well as state and local entities, could apply. While this would assist with funding, the report said, only a select number of projects could qualify.
Read more here.
Senator Kerry (D-MA) introduced the BUILD Act, S. 652, last year, which is a broader infrastructure bank focusing also on water and energy projects. ASCE has endorsed the legislation. In the House Representative DeLauro (D-CT) has also introduced a version of the infrastructure bank with H.R. 402, the National Infrastructure Development Act.
ASCE
Policy Statement 532 supports the creation and operation of a national infrastructure bank that can fund transportation, environment, energy, and telecommunications projects of significance.
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