Highways in limbo

Amid growing concerns about the national debt, conflicting priorities and overall D.C. gridlock, the nation's system of funding its surface transportation networks is in serious limbo. Every five to six years, Congress has provided the states with a roadmap of what it will fund. The last such bill was passed in 2005--remember the "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska?--and "expired" last September. Since then, it's been extended with short-term "fixes" that have become a political football.

Earlier this week, I joined economic development leaders from northwest Kentucky, southwestern Kentucky and southeastern Illinois for the first-ever tri-state D.C. fly-in. One of our priorities was Interstate 69, which will cut through the heart of our region. There's been significant progress in Indiana and Kentucky for I-69, but the next reauthorization bill holds the promise of major funding that the states can't afford on their own.

Problem is, no one we talked with in D.C. knows when a new bill will be passed. Too many other issues such as healthcare reform are dominating the landscape. Another issue is the very real concern that the highway bill has been funded in the past by the federal gas tax. With cars getting better mileage and hybrids and electric cars becoming more mainstream, there's less tax being paid. The federal gas tax has become unreliable to sustain the highway system, much less build badly-needed new bridges and roads.

Very uncharacteristically, the U.S. Chamber board has approved a ten-cent increase in the federal gas tax, which hasn't been increased in 17 years. Anyone who follows the U.S. Chamber knows the very aggressive pro-business group almost never advocates tax increases. That fact alone speaks to the seriousness of adequate funding for highways.