Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Federal Transportation Funds Running Short? Try Local Innovation.

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by

James A. Bacon
in , , ,

Innovative_DOT

There are two ways to respond to the shrinking federal budget for transportation projects: You can whine and mewl and curse the injustice of things, or you can look for other ways to cope with the country’s transportation challenges. Smart Growth America (SGA) has chosen the latter course, publishing “The Innovative DOT: a handbook of policy and practice,” which systematically explores alternatives to the old tax-and-build paradigm. This handbook covers ways to allocate existing revenues more efficiently, enact pricing strategies, adopt system efficiencies and integrate transportation and land use — the very things that states and localities should have been doing all along.

As SGA asks, “Could state DOTs provide better service for less money?” To pose the question is to answer it. “States and their departments of transportation (DOTs),” states the handbook, “are reevaluating and retooling traditional practices to ensure that those practices continue to provide users with a robust, economically beneficial transportation network.”

Insofar as necessity is the mother of invention, the impending contraction of federal transportation funds actually may prove to be a good thing. The Handbook doesn’t recommend which strategies to pursue. But it does lay out the array options available to state and local policy makers, and provides case studies of how different states, regions and communities made them happen. As SGA makes clear, every state is different. Not every option is suitable for all 50 states. But state officials can learn from what others are doing.

There is too much densely packed material to summarize in a single blog post. For details, I refer you to the handbook itself. However, there is such a treasure trove of information that, as time permits, I will explore several handbook themes in future posts with an eye toward defining policy options appropriate for Virginia.

(Full disclosure: Smart Growth America sponsors the Bacon’s Rebellion blog.)

— JAB

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6 responses to “Federal Transportation Funds Running Short? Try Local Innovation.”

  1. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    Here’s what I’d like to see some analysis on : How the urban beltway changed the way the country develops – and works and why we’re won’t be going back.

    I think most of us – probably including the Smart Growth folks accept the existence of the beltways as a permanent part of the landscape – but don’t
    accept the role they have and are playing with regard to “smart” growth”.

    and I’d be curious to hear from the Smart Growth folks what their view of beltways are.

    I believe they have fundamentally changed the way the country develops land.

    Urban areas are the job foundries of the country now but modern jobs are no longer one company careers.. but that doesn’t matter – if you live in an urban area with a beltway.

    you no longer need to live – physically close to your job… you need to live “near” it – in time… and beltways have changed that game …

    we are moving on… beltways are as much a permanent part of the landscape as anything is .. and gas tax money is going to be used to maintain and operate beltways .. and not be diverted to other things…

    Right now, if not mistaken – we spend about 60 billion at the Federal level on transportation infrastructure and operations, maintenance but the 17 cent gas tax generates only about 30 billion… and it has the same fatal flaw that the Va gas tax had… it’s sustainability as a robust revenue source is seriously degrade with not much sentiment in Congress to do much about it.

    “innovation” is an interesting phrase in the context of some in Congress who want to balance transportation revenues but cutting transit… not roads.

    but I might be bloviating ahead of myself here and perhaps wait for JimB to get into some specifics…

    I support transit – but not the kind we have now… it has to change… and we need to let non-govt innovations challenge it and force it to competitively innovate itself or let the private sector take it over..

    There’s are some interesting things going on with non-transit transportation now:

    1. – tax revenues from general sales tax not gasoline taxes
    2. – the building of – subsidized toll roads… i.e. the road cannot operate
    stand-alone on tolls alone.. so the state wants to subsidize the gap.

    why can’ transit be perceived in the same way?

  2. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    Let’s see – government in the United States consumes more GDP than ever before. However, there are decreasing funds for transportation.

    Time to “throw the bums out”.

  3. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    re: ” decreasing funds”…

    well the Fed Gas tax is 18.4 cents (I have been in error saying 17 cents)

    “The federal gas tax — 18.4 cents a gallon for gasoline, 24.4 cents for diesel — is growing anemic because of more fuel-efficient vehicles, Americans driving fewer miles and the growth of electric and alternative-fuel vehicles.

    “It no longer works as our primary source,” says Jim Burnley, a Washington, D.C., transportation attorney who was Transportation secretary for President Reagan. “We’re going to have to figure out, as a country, other mechanisms.”

    Burnley says transportation bills now being debated in Congress — a five-year, $253 billion version in the House of Representatives, a two-year, $109 billion version in the Senate — likely will be among the last to rely primarily on the gas tax.

    Each 1-cent increase in the federal gas tax generates about $1.8 billion in revenue, says Joseph Giglio, a professor at Northeastern University who has written extensively about transportation financing.

    Grover Norquist, a prominent tax foe and president of Americans for Tax Reform, says the federal gas tax should be reduced “to near zero” and the states should determine how to build and repair roads and bridges within their borders, even interstate highways.

    “If a state wants to widen or repair or build a bridge, how in the world is that a federal responsibility?” he says. “Within 10 years, there won’t be a federal gas tax. There’ll be 50 state gas taxes paying for highways at the state level.”

    Proposed alternatives:

    •Taxing miles driven. What if drivers were taxed not on how much gasoline or diesel they purchased but on how many miles they drove?

    Many transportation experts see a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax as the likeliest alternative or complement to the gas tax.

    A VMT tax most likely would use GPS devices to track how much and where vehicles drove, potentially raising privacy concerns.

    However, it’s difficult to gauge the political viability of a VMT tax: The Obama administration and Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, have been nearly as loath to support it as they are to increasing the gas tax.

    A federal VMT tax is “highly unrealistic,” says Joshua Schank, president of the Eno Center for Transportation, a non-partisan think tank in Washington, D.C. But he says such taxes are likely at the state level in coming years.

    Norquist also says a VMT tax is more workable by states.
    •State and local governments paying more costs. As the economy improves, the future transportation funding mix likely will include a bigger contribution from local entities, Goldberg says.

    •More tolls. While it’s often controversial, more communities are turning to tolling. Few experts expect tolling to become the sole method to finance roads and transit, but many see it playing a larger role.

    “I can see tolls supplementing the gas tax,” Finn says.
    Expanded tolling has many detractors.

    “I think tolling is a cop-out,” says Greg Cohen, who heads the Highway Users Alliance, a non-profit coalition of highway supporters, AAA auto clubs, bus companies, farm bureaus and shopping centers. “Part of what makes America work is we have an interstate system and it’s a toll-free system that really brings our country together.”

    •Tying the gas tax to inflation. Cohen says the federal gas tax would be more effective if it increased at the rate of inflation.
    He acknowledges that’s a long shot. “It would be viewed initially as a tax increase,” he says. “Right now, no one wants to do that.”

    •Using general tax revenue instead of a gas tax. Schank says the USA could follow the lead of Germany and other industrialized nations that do this. “We’re already moving in that direction,” he says, noting that Congress has tapped general revenue to cover shortfalls from the gas tax.
    •A sales tax dedicated to transportation. Finn says that’s unlikely in the current anti-tax climate.”

    http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-02-07/gas-tax-not-enough-to-fund-roads/53228510/1

    The above excerpts demonstrate the fundamental disagreements at the Congressional level for any kind of an agreement especially with regard to higher taxes…

    but people also hate tolls…

    and I continue to hold the opinion that GPS is not going to be accepted and I’m also curious as to why the view is that it would have a better chance at a state level than Federal … people are simply not going to allow any govt, Federal or State to mandate the placement of a govt device in a car.

    so .. it’s not really a problem of throw the bums out – it’s a problem of people who don’t have a favorite way of paying more .. they just don’t want to pay more – period…

    this is one of those things that befuddles me about people.

    they see the problem – but they are opposed to any solutions that require them to pay more…

    but they want their roads and they don’t want tolls..

    If you are a politician – how do you deal with this almost schitzo public attitude?

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