Our nation has allowed its transportation system to fall so far into disrepair that it is no longer a celebrated asset. It is a national liability. In 2010, a bipartisan panel of experts co-chaired by former U.S. Secretaries of Transportation, Norman Mineta and Samuel Skinner, issued a report stating the United States needs to invest an additional $134 billion to $262 billion per year through 2035 to maintain and improve the system.

The cumulative total is in the trillions of dollars. How much longer before the amount becomes so high, we throw up our hands and declare the system’s condition irreversible?

Time's up. We can no longer afford to under invest in our transportation infrastructure.

Yet, even as our roads and bridges deteriorate around us, our political leaders are pledging not to raise taxes. Such sweeping promises spell disaster for our nation’s infrastructure and our economic future.

Our transportation system isn't free. Users are supposed to pay for its costs, but we have fallen woefully behind. The federal gas tax, the primary revenue source for highways, bridges and a portion of transit, hasn’t seen an increase since 1993. At 18.4 cents, the current tax has eroded in value to less than 12 cents today, and it can’t keep up with growing demand, which means we aren’t keeping up with our global competitors.

U.S. investment in transportation infrastructure falls far behind that of China, Brazil, Russia and European nations. According to the bipartisan panel's report, Well Within Reach: America’s New Transportation Agency, failure to adequately maintain and invest in our transportation systems means not only gridlocked roads and deteriorating bridges in the near term, but a steady erosion of the social and economic foundations for American prosperity in the long run.

China spends 9 percent of its gross domestic product on infrastructure. Europe and India invest 5 percent. In the United States, we spend less than 3 percent of our GDP on infrastructure when transportation is estimated to be as much as 18 percent of the economy. Does that make sense to anyone?

Our grandparents and great grandparents built a transportation system that was the envy of the world and bequeathed it to us. Their visionary transportation network is how we became an economic superpower. What are we doing to ensure the next generation will have the same advantage? Nothing. America has squandered its rich inheritance. We will be the first generation in U.S. history to leave our children a transportation infrastructure that is in worse condition than the one we inherited:

• Approximately 61,000 miles (37 percent) of all lane miles on the National Highway System are in poor or fair condition. Poor roads cost the average motorist $402 annually in vehicle operating expenses.

• More than 152,000 bridges — one in every four — are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.

• The nation's largest public transit agencies face an $80-billion maintenance backlog.

• Demand for freight rail is expected to double by 2035. The Association of American Railroads estimates that an investment of $148 billion is needed to keep pace with economic growth and to ensure it can carry the volume of freight forecasted by then.

• The aviation industry needs $15 billion to $22 billion over the next 15 years to pay for the NextGen air traffic control system. Otherwise, our children will be monitoring and directing 21st century air traffic with 1950's technology.

• According to a study done by the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University, "Congestion has caused Americans to travel 4.8 billion hours more and to purchase an extra 3.9 billion gallons of fuel for a congestion cost of $115 billion."

• Delays caused by highway bottlenecks cost freight trucks alone more than $8 billion a year.

• Our ports need to accommodate a doubling of cargo volumes by 2020, with some ports facing a tripling or quadrupling of container volumes.

It's ironic. As a nation, we have a voracious appetite for reality TV, but when faced with the reality of our own economic mortality, we choose to ignore it. America is not an immortal republic. We have kryptonite–like vulnerabilities, and one of them is our failing transportation infrastructure.

According to AASHTO's projections for 2012, "Issues on the table will include raising the state portion of the gas tax; automatically adjusting the existing rate for inflation; expanded use of tolling and state infrastructure banks. At the federal level, TRIP Bonds and ways to generate more public-private partnerships could be considered. Studies on new user-fee mechanisms are also expected."

This generation inherited a quality of life better than any on earth. It is time we paid for the true cost of the transportation infrastructure we’re using — something we haven't been asked to do in a long, long time.

Pete Rahn is the national transportation practice leader of HNTB Corporation, an employee-owned infrastructure firm, serving federal, state, municipal, military and private clients.

HNTB expert contact information:
 

Pete Rahn
Leader National Transportation Practice
HNTB Corporation
(816) 527-2034
Email: prahn@hntb.com

Time's up!