Roads, bridges need long-term fix, not stopgaps

We’ve been down this road before: Facing a May 31 deadline to keep the Highway Trust Fund alive, Congress last weekend did no more than pass a twomonth extension. For the umpteenth time — rather than ensure long-term financing for the nation’s crumbling infrastructure — Washington once again kicked the can down the highway.

Now lawmakers have until July 31 before the transportation fund meets another Perils-of-Pauline cliffhanger. America deserves better than this. One in nine of the nation’s bridges is structurally deficient; 42 percent of our major urban highways are congested, costing the economy an estimated $101 billion in wasted time and fuel each year, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

But we’re unlikely to see much better. Congressional gridlock is never as apt a metaphor as when the subject is roads, bridges, tunnels, mass transit and rail.

The basic problem is that the Highway Trust Fund, which disburses about $50 billion a year to the states for roads and mass transit projects, gets most of its money from the federal gas tax. And Congress hasn’t increased that since 1993.

Inflation is working against the trust fund. And so is technology. Americans are driving more fuel-efficient cars, and therefore buying less gasoline.

The ASCE, a leading voice for improving the nation’s infrastructure, recommends raising the gas tax by at least 20 cents a gallon. The group says this would cost the average driver $187 a year — not much compared with hitting a pothole. The American Automobile Association, the American Trucking Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce agree the tax should be increased.

But raising the tax — any tax — is anathema to Republicans, who control both houses of Congress. Even some Democrats think it’s a political nonstarter. The Obama administration instead is pushing for a one-time 14 percent tax on profits held by corporations overseas. Lots of lawmakers seem to like this idea or something akin to it, but it’s not clear that the money would be guaranteed for infrastructure, or that it would be ongoing.

There is bipartisan agreement that a long-term fix is needed. These short-term extensions — 33 in recent years, according to U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx — are “like fixing our roads and bridges with Silly Putt y,” as Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, put it in a recent House debate.

And yet Congress can’t arrive at a solution. Some Republicans want to tie highway funding to an overall reform of the tax system, which sounds like a perfect way to make a problem as complicated as possible. Some want to leave infrastructure funding to the states, which is sort of happening by default as the federal fund teeters. Some want to use revenue from more drilling on federal lands — a truly terrible idea any way you look at it.

Meanwhile, that ribbon of a highway is approaching something like shreds. In 2013, the ASCE put out its latest quadrennial “Report Card for America’s Infrastructure.” It gave the nation a D-plus. Florida fared slightly better: C-minus. According to the civil engineering lobby group, our state has 79 “high hazard” dams and 259 “structurally deficient” bridges. Four percent of our major roads are in poor condition, costing the average motorist $181 a year.

Ideological opposition to raising taxes is driving us into this ditch. It’s past time to give the federal gas tax a boost. And longer term, we must start planning for the day when cars consume even less gasoline and run on such alternatives as electricit y.

When that happens, our roads and bridges will need a funding source that’s more reliable and more equitable than the fuel tax. (Why should gas-thrift y drivers pay less for decent highways than the gas-guzzling?) We can imagine a tax on the miles you drive, which could be tallied every year when you renew your license tags, or charted electronically as cars get smarter. Oregon has started a program in this direction.

But for now, the fuel tax must be renewed and brought up to inflation levels. There’s lots of work to do on our roads, bridges and rail systems, and Congress must ensure there’s money to do it.