The surface transportation industry is in a tough spot. On the one hand, you have both democrats and republicans talking about the importance of fixing our infrastructure and creating a broad funding plan to do just that. On the other hand, we have a very small window for this type of legislation to gain any traction with an election year just around the corner.
Many transportation advocates know that if an infrastructure package is not ready by August, lawmakers may miss their window of opportunity this year and who knows when we’ll see a chance like this again.
“We’re in discussions right now with the hope of marking up a bill prior to August recess,” Andrew Wishnia, senior policy advisor with the Environment and Public Works Committee says. “This is of course contingent on bigger conversations relative to funding, but we have a tremendous opportunity to plush up the Highway Trust Fund right now.”
But Wishnia says it’s absolutely critical for contractors to speak with your members of Congress about the urgency of reauthorizing the highway bill. This is why, as an advocate for our industry, asphalt professionals should plan to attend the Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) Fly-In next month in Washington D.C.
The TCC Fly-In is an annual event that brings together contractors, the planning and design community, safety professionals, materials and manufacturing industries and their employees to advocate for transportation funding. Over the years, the TCC and its member organizations have conducted a multi-faceted advocacy campaign aimed at boosting investment in surface transportation infrastructure and achieving policy reforms to improve the efficiency of the federal-aid programs and the TCC Fly-In is a big part of that.
If you’re serious about helping our industry achieve the funding it needs to be successful, consider attending the TCC Fly-In May 14th-15th in Washington D.C. Asphalt Contractor Magazine will be covering the event from D.C. and expect to report back hopeful news from Washington.
Here, we’re even going to provide you with some talking points to bring to your representatives when you see them on Capitol Hill next month.
The Need is Now
If the United States were to go out and attempt to complete all the work needed to improve our roadways, it would cost $972 billion and that number is just going to keep going up.
“It’s much easier to keep something good longer than to let it deteriorate,” Wishnia says. “Once out roads are past the point of repair, the cost to fix them will be four to five times higher.”
This is why lawmakers need to focus on a bill that repairs our existing infrastructure first instead of letting states complete triage repairs when systems fail. What’s more, is the cost Americans are paying for the inaction on infrastructure each year.
Just the Facts*:
- Road/highway rehabilitation need: $420 billion
- Bridge repair/replacement need: $123 billion
- Americans lose $131 billion annually driving on rough roads – half of that is due to vehicle depreciation costs because the roads we drive on cause cars to wear prematurely. The cost per American? $616
- They typical commuter in the United States spends 42 hours stuck in traffic every year
- That congestion costs $176 billion annually in lost time, wasted fuel and more
Declining Safety
Road fatalities are up 14% from 2014 to 2018 and roadway design improvements and safety upgrades can help.
“37,000+ deaths a year on our roadways is a global embarrassment,” Wishnia says. “We need to better leverage technology and innovation to improve road safety. That requires a new mindset. That’s what we’re endeavoring to accomplish with any transportation bill.”
Just the Facts:
- Cars, trucks and school buses cross 235,000 compromised bridges 178 million times a day
- The cost of not having adequate roadway safety features costs $102 billion annually in traffic and accident costs
- Cost to implement needed improvements to roadway safety: $146 billion
- If safety features were made to our roadways, AAA says we could save 3,185 lives each year and prevent over 17,500 accident incidents
Future Needs Rising
The United States currently has 327 million people living in it. Over the next 20 years, TRIP says we will add 60 million more people to our country. We need upgraded infrastructure to accommodate more people, and we're going to need a lot more workers to do it.
Just the Facts:
- Vehicle miles traveled reached all-time high in 2018, 8% above 2013 rates. Long term investment needs are being based on a 1% growth of vehicles driving each year. We need upgraded infrastructure to accommodate more traffic
- The value of freight shipments is expected to increase 104% by 2045 – 91% for truck freight. The Amazon effect will have a huge impact on road conditions. We need to fix our roadways to accommodate heavier and more trucking activity
- The US will require 3 million additional workers to build our infrastructure in the next decade, meaning we need to get training tomorrow's workforce today
Learn more about the TCC Fly-In and register: http://www.transportationconstructioncoalition.org/tcc-fly-in/
*Data provided by Rocky Moretti with TRIP, a private nonprofit organization that researches, evaluates and distributes economic and technical data on surface transportation issues.