Financing The Country’s Crumbling Transport Infrastructure

With the recent reports from Ray LaHood (former United States Secretary of Transportation) that our public transport infrastructure being in serious disarray and the recent drop (however temporary) in oil prices, politicians on capitol hill are now talking of taking advantage of the lower prices at the pump and increasing consumer level federal taxes per gallon to help pay for the re-construction of the roads and bridges.

While this in itself will be an excellent topic for debate, the real question is whether these potentially sub-$2.00 per gallon rates are long term or simply the result of a price war among international oil states and North America’s dramatic increase in production through drilling and fracking?

Assuming that this pricing battle will remain over the next 12 months (or longer) and that these Canadian and North Dakota shale operations can survive the lower revenue returns during that timeframe, would it make sense to get ahead of this refurbishment plan and try to inject recognition of the needs for the new forms of public and personal transportation?

Should we as an industry be discussing updating roads that embrace next generation technology with smart grid communications and renewable energy powered lighting? What about LEV and NEV lanes with dedicated traffic controls? How about new forms of light rail urban transport?

As we watch Europe and Asia embrace EV infrastructure with public/private fast charging stations, an increase in fuel cell development and hydrogen distribution, should the country start the dialog of inclusive engineering that would outfit us for the next 100 years?

What are your thoughts and how would you go about presenting a cohesive plan to the federal and individual state governments?

#taxes #planning #roads