1. People don't like cars anymore - A thread of this argument is in all of the issues below. We built the interstate system at a time when cars were sexy and something to aspire to. Cities were scary and highways let us escape to large cheap homes. That was the 1950/60's. People then realized that we were tearing down great places. The 1970's brought the EPA, clean air, and clean water. Highways when from a way to escape polluted cities to the source of pollution.
2. Earmarks - Republicans banned them, but we still need to have a process for picking projects to build. Congress was afraid to let the President (or well informed Agency staff) make the decisions on what get built, so instead they are trying to craft a way to make earmarks without calling them that.
“I have to make sure that I explain to my conference that if you do it in a new way—as opposed to the way we used to do it—we will cede our power to the executive branch,” Shuster said at a March speech at the National Waterways Conference. link
My Take: The Secretary of Transportation is more qualified than Congress to determine project priority, but if Congress wants to keep it out of the President's hands, let Governors decide. I guess, in a way this is what is already happening and also similar to the Republican proposal to divest back to states. The result will be tolls on every interstate. I have no issue with this. Most interstate congestion is local traffic, let local leaders solve it. USDOT can still set safety standards and give extra help to the soon to be created National Freight Network.
Or we could just bring earmarks back:
A political slogan symbolizing Washington’s wasteful spending was born, and earmarks began their demise. Lost in this debate was the fact that earmarks made up a minuscule fraction of the federal budget, less than one-half of 1 percent.
3. A long term transportation bill - MAP-21, the current transportation bill expires after just 2 years and was the first "long term" bill since 2005. IS-TEA was a six year bill. These long term bills are needed to builds long term infrastructure. Congress is playing a game of wait and maybe-we-will-be- in-power for the next bill. This make it difficult for both government and P3's to know what to plan for.
4. The gas tax - Ugh. As I have previously stated on this blog, I am not a fan of the gas tax. It encourages road construction while ignoring the impact on the community. (a.k.a. property values) A better system would capture the value that transportation bring to a property and collect it to pay for roads. This is how transit systems and road were built for most of U.S. history. Land speculators built them to improve their property values.
5. Transit - Transit is getting better. Cities around the country are building rail and BRT lines. Smartphones have taken the mystery out of transit. Technology is reducing bus bunching and giving transit agencies better ways to measure ridership. This means better routes with more informed riders. Better transit means that people that don't like cars can avoid them. The leads to lower VMT.
6. Lower VMT + Other bridges = No P3 - Since the Feds are not handing out checks anymore, P3s are all the rage. Every proposal to build an extra bridge includes a P3 to finance it. This works by giving all the tolls for X number of years to an investor who agrees to front the bridge construction cost. The issue is that investors hate risk and there is a big risk on the extra BSB. VMT is declining and no one can predict where it will go next. Most toll projects have few alternatives routes. This project will have at least 5 other bridges that people can use. If it were the only bridge to an island, investors would have confidence that people will use it. Lots of choices equals lots of uncertainty. Number of trips on I-75/71 will defiantly go down in the short term as people shop closer to home and use 471. In the long term, VMT may go up or down. Are we at peak car? Ever investment dollar in OTR is a bet against cars ruling the future.
7. Tea Party - They do not want to pay for anything. Ever. In any way. Unless it is guns.
8. Disbelief that driving is subsidized - This makes it hard to believe that the gas tax does not make a pool of money that can be used. People do not know how roads are funded.
I could keep going - but have dinner plans. Stay tuned for more.
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