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Trucking Fears Privatization Road to Ruin By Cliff Abbott It was an election year, and the front-running Republican presidential candidate sought to reassure a nation recovering from both war and economic recession. He spoke of infrastructure, its importance to security and commerce, and the economic impact that investment in infrastructure would bring to the nation. The nation’s infrastructure had been discussed for decades and Congress had passed a number of bills addressing the issue, but the debate always seemed to come down to how the work was to be funded. While the argument continued, important construction projects were delayed or cancelled altogether. The candidate was President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 into law on June 29 of that year, just months before being elected to a second term in the White House. While the act, popularly known as the “National Interstate and Defense Highways Act,” is generally accepted as the origin of the U.S. Interstate Highway system, Congress had addressed a national system of highways as early as 1916, with the passage of the Federal Aid Road Act. In addition to laying out a plan for more than 40,000 miles of limited-access roads, the 1956 act created the Highway Trust Fund, directing that proceeds from the then current three-cents-per-gallon gasoline tax go directly to the trust fund rather than into the general fund, as they had previously. More than six decades later, the fuel tax has grown to 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel fuel. Politicians are still talking about infrastructure, and still arguing over how to pay for it. President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to “make America great again” included a pledge to address the country’s deteriorating roads and bridges as part of a larger package to repair and expand the country’s transportation infrastructure. His opposition claimed that his proposals lacked detail and did not mesh with other campaign promises to cut taxes while increasing defense spending and building a wall to curb illegal immigration. In fact, Democrats in Congress attempted a preemptive strike with the release of their “Blueprint to Rebuild America’s Infrastructure” on January 23, the Monday following Trump’s January 20 inauguration. The plan called for $1 trillion in spending to be funded entirely by the government. Republicans and Trump, however, refused to take the bait, insisting that their own plan was forthcoming. While Trump hinted that privatization and tolling were two options in addition to increased fuel taxes to address infrastructure improvements, Democrats warned that the nation’s travelers would be at the mercy of big business. In a May 1 meeting with the Independent Community Bankers Association held in the Kennedy Garden at the White House, Trump said that he would explore the possibility of an increase in federal gasoline and diesel taxes. In a June 7 speech in Cincinnati, the president hinted that a portion of the necessary funding might come from reprioritization of some current spending. The following day, Trump’s team, including Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao and Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, met with state and local leaders at the White House to develop plans for infrastructure replacement. On June 9, Trump took to the podium again at the U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C., to discuss his plan. Citing his private-sector experience, Trump hit at “the painfully slow, costly and time-consuming process of getting permits and approvals to build.” Pointing to a tall stack of binders used for the demonstration, he spoke of an 18-mile Maryland road project that spent $29 million, or $24,000 per page, on an environmental report weighing 70 pounds. The president added that U.S. building projects should use “American iron, aluminum and steel,” noting that “It is time, at last, to put America first.” Trump’s plan, available on the whitehouse.gov website, contains these major goals: • Reduce the average permit time from 10 to two years • Unleash private sector capital and expertise to rebuild cities and states • Invest in rural infrastructure • Reimagine America’s approach to infrastructure with transformative projects, and • Create a workforce training initiative focused on skill-based apprenticeship education. As expected, Trump’s plan to “unleash private sector capital” was a cause for concern for many who fear privatization of bridges and highways will result in increased tolling. Just a month earlier, however, a bipartisan coalition of senators introduced the Building and Renewing Infrastructure for Development and Growth in Employment (BRIDGE) Act in the Senate. The Act, cosponsored by Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Chris Coons, D-Del.; Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; Lindsey Graham, R- S.C.; Dean Heller, R-Nev.; Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., would create a new infrastructure financing authority that helps state and local governments leverage private funds to build and maintain infrastructure. Regardless of the source of funding, however, a repayment system is needed. Proposed use of private funds is good news to the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, whose stated mission is to advance tollfinanced transportation. David Heller, the Truckload Carriers Association’s vice president of government affairs, however, isn’t a fan of the idea. “Trump obviously wants to get in some public-private partnerships, which traditionally are not the way to go,” he said, “because it generally leads to more tolling.” Heller thinks that other forms of revenue generation, such as dedicated user fees that would raise revenues from electric and other alternative-fuel vehicles, should be on the table for discussion. The fuel tax system, however, may provide a quicker revenue fix for infrastructure repairs, and the trucking industry is willing to help. “I mean,” Heller said, “we’re an industry that’s proposing to do our part. We say charge us more on our fuel tax. All the collection tools are there, the disbursement tools are there. The model’s already put in place.” New methods of user-generated revenue will undoubtedly be discussed, and experiments are in progress worldwide. “But at this point in time,” Heller said, “that fuel tax could be done quickly; it can be done accurately. “Is it going to foot the entire bill?” he asked. “No.” Willing to explore other funding possibilities for new construction, Heller is adamant that tolling isn’t an option in the current system. “Anything on existing capacity,” he said, “probably isn’t a conversation starter for us.” Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2017
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