It’s time to renew our nations infrastructure!
“Last week, President Obama stood before Congress and said “first-class jobs gravitate to first-class infrastructure.” Infrastructure’s relationship in building a greater economy could not have been made any clearer.
Our infrastructure is how we get our kids to school, how we come to work and how businesses move their products. Yet, despite this obvious connection, congressional inaction continues to hurt American families and businesses every day we fail to invest in our nation’s foundation.”
This inaction will facilitate the pending gloom of the expiration of the federal transportation bill and impede the insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund.
“The Highway Trust Fund spends more than $48 billion annually to repair and modernize roads, bridges and transit systems in every state across the country. This revenue comes from a motor fuels user fee that has not been raised since 1993. Simply, we are trying to fund a 2014 transportation system on 1993 dollars.”
You do not have to be an economist to understand that funding a current system on 1992 dollars is not feasible in any way, shape or form. The Highway Trust Fund is projected to expire at the end of the year, which will cause extreme financial cuts in all highway and transit programs (on the upward of 90%).
“This will throw many planned road and bridge projects into disarray. Infrastructure requires sustainable funding and long-term planning to be successful. You cannot plan and build a new bridge if you are unsure whether the funding will run out by the time you are halfway done.”
As you can see, unpredictable funding will halt not only current projects, but will hinder any progress in creating future plans. Unfortunately, this is only half the problem.
“Without this legislation, we will lose a huge opportunity to build on reforms that speed up project timetables and enhance performance measures that were successfully adopted in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act. While some cities and states are tackling deficient bridges and adding transit lines, we still face a growing backlog of projects due to years of underinvestment in infrastructure.”
How would you like your child to bring home a failing grade on his/her report card?
“Last spring, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released the 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, which awarded our nation’s infrastructure a GPA of D+.”
If that doesn’t hit home, how about these staggering facts…
“The truth is that American families and businesses are already paying for our inadequate infrastructure. The more time we sit in traffic, the more we spend on gas. The longer it takes a package to get across the country, the higher the price. The ASCE estimates that deficient, unreliable transportation infrastructure will cost the average American family more than $1,000 each year by 2020.”
Just image what you can buy (or save) with $1000 every year!
“Businesses will pay a price, too. Between now and 2020, we’ll spend an additional $430 billion for transportation and productivity will go down as we struggle to compete in a global economy.”
Currently, US productivity levels are at an all time low, despite the technological advancements in the recent years. We simple can’t afford to see decreases in productivity while competing with economies that are quickly surpassing the US.
“Will we choose to make a D+ worse by not addressing America’s $1.6 trillion infrastructure gap? Or, will Congress finally commit to the longer-term, sustainable funding mechanisms that our ailing roads, bridges and transit systems so desperately need?”
Please comment below; we are eager to hear your thoughts on this topic! We would like give a special thank you to Patrick Natale (Please follow @thehill on twitter!)
