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.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.
Amendment to Block Trust Fund Diversions Fails
January 6th, 2011 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
After a mighty effort by members of ASCE and other transportation and infrastructure organizations, Republicans this week voted to remove guarantees that gas tax revenue be used solely to fund surface transportation projects and that yearly appropriations do not have to be at their authorized levels. While this is is certainly a blow to transportation advocates, it is still unclear if surface transportation funding will be cut. In addition, the Senate did not enact any such provision. ASCE and our coalition partners will be extra vigilant as spending proposals are released in the coming months. Grassroots advocates should be on the lookout for opportunities to let their representatives know that gas tax revenue should only go to surface transportation projects and that infrastructure improvement creates jobs.Keep the TRUST in the Trust Fund – UPDATE
January 4th, 2011 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
As we reported last week on this blog, incoming Republican House leadership is proposing a new rule for the 112th Congress that would strip out guarantees that federal gas taxes be used solely for authorized transportation purposes. ASCE and our coalition partners have been working to oppose this rule, and while it is still on the agenda, we can see some of our efforts making a difference. Thanks to the quick work of our grassroots advocates who contacted their representatives, Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-OH) offered a compromise amendment to the rule that maintains the current prohibition against using gas taxes for other purposes, but will allow transportation programs to be funded below the authorized level. This amendment is supported by incoming Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-FL). Another (troubling) sign that our message is getting out there and that people are realizing the potential consequences of the proposed rule is that Wall Street is having second thoughts about the profit potential in the infrastructure market. UBS this morning downgraded Vulcan Materials from a “buy” to a “neutral” citing potential political problems as the reason. Without even putting the rule into effect yet, this plan is already having negative consequences on the economy. We must reverse this trend. It’s not too late to act, please contact your member of Congress and let him or her know you oppose this plan. Send an instant message here.
