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5A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2015 States seek options for highway, bridge funding Oregon has plans but not enough money for KLJKZD\SURMHFWV By JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press AP Photo/Molly Riley A banner hangs on an overpass on Interstate 395 advertising the new I-95 Express Lanes in Alexandria, Va., in December As legislatures convene across the country, lawmakers and governors are grasping for ways to address an aging network of roads, highways and bridges during an era in which federal money for such projects has remained stagnant or declined. In Virginia, the new I-95 express lanes were funded in part by private investors who have a long-term contract to collect tolls. The AP and Associated Press Media Editors are beginning a yearlong collaborative proj- ect about infrastructure needs throughout the country The ¿rst of these stories focuses on the declining level of federal fund- ing for highway and bridge proj- ects. Governors and legislatures around the country are scram- bling for alternatives as the fed- eral share fails to keep pace with current and anticipated needs. By DAVID A. LIEB The Associated Press J EFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Frustrated over stagnant or declining federal highway fund- LQJ VWDWH RI¿FLDOV DUH DFFHOHU- ating their drive for new taxes, tolls and fees to repair an aging road system whose historical reliance on fuel taxes no longer is providing enough money to cover its costs. Figures compiled by The Associated Press show the total amount of money available to states from the Federal High- way Trust Fund has declined SHUFHQWGXULQJWKH¿YH\HDU period ending in 2013, the latest year for which numbers were available. During that span, the DPRXQW RI LQÀDWLRQDGMXVWHG federal highway money dropped in all but two states. The shortfall has led to rougher roads requiring more frequent, short-term repairs, sus- SHFWEULGJHVDQGMDPPHGFRP- muter routes that simply have more vehicle than the roads were designed to carry. In response, states are de- YLVLQJ ZD\V WR ¿OO WKH JDS Transportation funding increas- es could be on the agenda in as many as one-third of the state legislatures this year. That comes after roughly one-fourth of the states increased transpor- tation taxes or fees during the past two years. The state proposals stand in stark contrast to the inaction in Congress, where a temporary funding patch is scheduled to expire in May and lawmakers have been at odds over a long- term highway plan. “You’re seeing states all across the country that are look- ing to do something, because they realize you can’t count on the federal government,” said Missouri state Rep. Dave Hin- son, a Republican who supports the idea of raising the state sales AP Photo/Elaine Thompson Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, at podium, with Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson and construction workers, speaks from the construction site of a new floating bridge on Lake Washington in Medina, Wash., Dec. 16. tax for road improvements. The annual amount available to states from the Federal High- way Trust Fund has hovered around $40 billion since 2007. Even though total state and fed- eral road funding exceeded the JHQHUDO UDWH RI LQÀDWLRQ RYHU the past decade, the pace has ta- pered off in recent years as the amount coming from the federal government declined. Roads, highways and their bridges form the basic frame- work of everyday life in Amer- ica. They provide the crucial un- derpinning of daily commutes, the trucking industry’s transfer of food, computers and other goods from seaports to subur- ban strip malls, and summertime trips to beach towns and moun- tain getaways. They also are generally an afterthought until they no longer are up to the task. Governors, lawmakers, local HOHFWHG RI¿FLDOV DQG HQJLQHHUV across the country say that is where the country has arrived, with a decades-old highway infrastructure that is not receiv- ing enough money to match its needs. “A lot of those facilities are in need of really massive rehab, GRANTS PASS — Or- HJRQKDVDSODQIRUUHWUR¿W- ting the hundreds of bridg- es that are likely to fail in D PDMRU HDUWKTXDNH RU DUH getting too old to support heavy trucks. ,W MXVW GRHVQ¶W KDYH D way to pay for it all, and SURVSHFWV IRU ¿QGLQJ D solution are dim. The federal gas tax hasn’t been raised in 21 years, and Oregon’s share has been declining for years. The state gas tax, a PDMRU IXQGLQJ VRXUFH IRU transportation infrastruc- WXUH SURMHFWV KDVQ¶W JHQ- erated enough to repair the state’s roads and bridges as cars have gotten better mileage or quit using gas at all, and a new system of charging motorists by the mile rather than the gallon is still in the experimental stage. Leaders in the Oregon Legislature agree some- thing must be done, but there is strong disagree- ment over how. The result has been that while per capita state and federal highway funding in Oregon was up 16 per- cent from 2003-2008, it dropped 11 percent from 2008-2013, according to ¿JXUHV UHYLHZHG E\ 7KH Associated Press. “We’re looking at a pretty big cliff” with no se- rious discussions in sight, Oregon Rep. Peter De- Fazio, top Democrat on the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Com- mittee, said of the funding picture. Earthquakes were not FRQVLGHUHG D PDMRU WKUHDW in Oregon until the 1980s, and bridges built before that weren’t designed to withstand them. Scientists think the region is due for DPDVVLYHTXDNHDQGRI¿- cials want to make safety improvements to get ready. “Areas of the state will be cut off for years by highway,” said Oregon Department of Transporta- tion Assistant Director for Communications Travis Brouwer. “You’ll be rely- ing on helicopters.” The Oregon Highways Seismic Plus Report is- sued last October calls for replacing 138 bridges, DQG UHWUR¿WWLQJ RYHU the next 50 years in four phases at an overall cost of $5 billion. Phase one fo- cuses on U.S. Highway 97 on the east side of the Cas- cades, Interstate 5 through the Willamette Valley, and two routes connecting them. Even without the threat of earthquake, 900 of Or- egon’s 2,700 bridges need ¿[LQJLQWKHQH[W\HDUV EXW WKH SURMHFWHG FRVW LV $230 million a year, nearly ¿YH WLPHV WKH PLOOLRQ available, Brouwer added. Without more money, by 2035 about 350 will have weight restrictions. Paying for road work the usual way, through increases in the gas tax and DMV fees, has raised VWURQJREMHFWLRQVIURP5H- publicans, unless Demo- crats drop plans for legisla- tion to combat greenhouse gases with a low-carbon fuel standard, which has passed the Senate. That low-carbon fuel standard is likely to raise gas SULFHVPDNLQJLWYHU\GLI¿- cult to ask Oregonians to pay even more to raise mon- H\WR¿[URDGVDQGEULGJHV said Rep. Cliff Bentz, an Ontario Republican. Meanwhile, another pi- lot program to demonstrate the workability of a pay- by-the-mile tax applying to high-mileage vehicles that don’t pay their share via the gas tax kicks off July 1, with 5,000 volunteers. An earlier attempt based on GPS trackers was scrapped over privacy complaints. AP Photo/Mark Duncan Traffic rolls on the Ohio Turnpike in Strongsville, Ohio, in September 2011. Entering into public-private partnerships, selling advertising sponsorships at highway rest areas and collecting additional fees for distracted driving are among the creative ways Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s admin- istration is working to boost transportation revenue amid lagging federal outlays. ‘You’re seeing states all across the country that are looking to do something, because they realize you can’t count on the federal government.’ — Missouri state Rep. Dave Hinson a Republican who supports the idea of raising the state sales tax for road improvements almost reconstruction from the ground up,” said Jim Tyman, director of policy of at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation 2I¿FLDOV The association estimates AP Photo/Elaine Thompson Work continues on the new Highway 520 floating bridge across Lake Washington as traffic moves along the adjacent, existing four-lane bridge between Medina, Wash., and Seattle, in the distance, Dec. 16. Washington has imposed fees on owners of electric vehicles, and Gov. Jay Inslee recently proposed a carbon-emissions tax on the state’s largest polluters that would help finance transportation projects. He describes it as “transportation pollution paying for transportation solutions.” that annual road and bridge spending by all levels of govern- ment is falling $32 billion short of what is needed. About 20 percent of the nation’s 900,000 miles of in- WHUVWDWHV DQG PDMRU URDGV DUH in need of resurfacing or re- construction, and a quarter of its 600,000 bridges are rated as VWUXFWXUDOO\ GH¿FLHQW RU IXQF- tionally obsolete, according to federal data analyzed by the American Road & Transporta- tion Builders Association. 7KH ÀDW IHGHUDO IXQGLQJ LV having an impact because states rely on federal dollars for an av- erage of about half their capital expenses for roads and bridges, according to the association. The rest is covered with state money, which comes predomi- nantly from fuel taxes. Gasoline tax revenue has grown little since 2007, as vehi- cles have become more fuel-ef- ¿FLHQW DQG SHRSOH FXW EDFN RQ driving. To compensate, lawmakers in Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wyoming passed gasoline tax in- creases during the past two years. But about half the states have AP Photo/The Medford Mail Tribune/Jamie Lusch, File This viaduct carries Interstate 5 traffic for more than a half mile over Bear Creek and city streets in Med- ford. The Oregon Department of Transportation has hired an engineering firm to consider how to fix the aging structure to withstand a major earthquake. Oregon has a plan for retrofitting the hundreds of bridges that are likely to fail in a major earthquake, or are getting too old to support heavy trucks. But current funding sources fall far short of what is needed. not raised their gasoline taxes in at least a decade, and the feder- al gas tax has remained at 18.4 cents a gallon since 1993. In Congress, Republican leaders have said there aren’t enough votes to pass a gas tax hike. Many states are now consid- ering alternatives. Virginia recently scrapped its per-gallon gasoline tax in favor of a new tax on the wholesale price of gas and a higher tax on other retail sales. The state also has turned to public-private part- nerships, including a new $925 PLOOLRQ H[SUHVVODQH SURMHFW RQ ,QWHUVWDWH WKDW ZDV ¿QDQFHG partly by private investors who have a long-term contract to col- lect tolls. Lawmakers in Minnesota, Utah and Missouri also are ex- pected to consider proposals this year that could levy a sales tax on fuel, allowing the states to reap more money when the price of gasoline rises. And Michigan voters will decide in May on a 1 percent general sales tax for transportation. Fractured Framework is a national reporting project be- tween The Associated Press and APME, the Associated Press Media Editors association.
