A new study of state Department of Transportation (DOT)
wish lists, recently submitted to Congress for funding under a new economic
recovery package, suggests that current project lists would undermine efforts to
repair and modernize our deteriorating infrastructure and reduce U.S.
dependence on oil.
The study also shows that President-elect Obama’s stated
intention to invest in a modernized infrastructure that will create jobs and
build a clean, smarter economy for the 21st century could be
undermined if state DOT’s spend transportation stimulus funds the way it has
been suggested in wish lists to Congress.
“It is wrongheaded, in an era when public transportation
is booming and bridges need repair, for state wish lists to be skewed toward
building new highways,” said Brian Imus, Director of the Illinois Public
Interest Research Group (Illinois PIRG).
Only 19 states have released to the public the project
lists they submitted to Congress. Illinois has not disclosed their
transportation wish lists for public scrutiny.
“American taxpayers will end up paying for this
stimulus. We deserve to know what’s in these wish lists to Congress,” stated
Imus.
The report documents why it is critically important how
stimulus infrastructure money is spent. Misguided transportation polices of the
past have contributed to many of America’s most pressing problems.
Each year the average American living in an urban area spends 38 hours – nearly
a full work week – stuck in traffic delays. Transportation has become the second
biggest expense for the average household – even more than health care and just
behind housing costs. Our transportation system is the chief source of the
nation's oil dependency. And vehicles are the biggest end-user source of global
warming pollution, contributing to a third of the nation's greenhouse gas
emissions.
“Fixing aging bridges and speeding up road maintenance
is a faster way to create jobs and stimulate the economy than building more
highway capacity,” stated Imus. “It makes no sense to build new roads that
increase our addiction to oil when you can create jobs, meet growing demand for
public transportation and reduce oil consumption by funding transit operations
and getting far-sighted transit projects off the drawing board and into action.”
The 19-state study examines available state Department
of Transportation wish lists sent to Congress as part of the development of the
next economic recovery package. The 19 state transportation lists for
“ready-to-go” projects indicate that:
·
Despite increasing transit ridership
nationwide, on average, the states would spend only seventeen percent of funds
on public transit or intercity rail projects. Seven of the sixteen states would
allocate 1 percent or less to transit or intercity rail, including four that
would allocate nothing at all.
·
In spite of hundreds of billions of dollars
in backlogged maintenance and repair for crumbling infrastructure, more than
half of transportation funds would flow to highway projects to build new or
wider highways. A third of states would spend less than a quarter of road funds
to protect and restore existing bridges and roads.
·
Most states have not disclosed their
transportation wish lists for public scrutiny, leaving most citizens in the dark
about how their tax dollars might be spent.
The report calls on Congress, the Obama Administration,
and state leaders to apply the following principles to the writing and
implementation of the next federal economic recovery legislation: (1) Highways should receive no more funds
than the combined total for public transit, intercity rail, and bicycle and
pedestrian projects; (2) Any road funds should go first to maintenance and
repair of structurally deficient bridges and roads, not new highways or lanes;
(3) Public transportation funds should include support for operations so
agencies can accommodate rising demand. (4) Surface Transportation Program
highway funds should be distributed as under current law so that a portion of
resources flow directly to metropolitan areas that know best about which local
projects are needed; (5) All states, cities, and agencies should publicly
disclose the stimulus lists they have submitted; (6) Direct recipients of
stimulus funds should report on how money was spent and any transportation
spending that it displaced.
