Let’s Mess with Taxes

John Latta - Apr 09, 2013

Something had to give. People want better roads and less congestion. So politicians promise to deliver. But people don’t want to pay more for their better roads. So politicians promise to deliver them at no extra cost. Result: stalemate, with deteriorating ...

Highway Trust Fund $365.5 billion in debt by 2036 – AED report

John Latta - Feb 22, 2013

Highway Trust Fund (HTF) shortfall will be in the coming decades. The report, conducted for the Associated Equipment Distributors (AED) by William and Mary University's Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy, forecasts that over the next 23 years the Highway Trust ...

The John Delaney and Bill Clinton Plan for transportation infrastructure

John Latta - Feb 22, 2013

We've heard for years now that the private sector has money that is just waiting to be invested in our future transportation infrastructure. And it's still waiting. Now comes a hugely-successful private sector businessman turned Congressman with an idea. Some of ...

Domino 1.

John Latta - Jan 15, 2013

There is a sense of inevitability about this. It's not a real surprise, and the next falling domino probably won't be either.Tennessee will stop work on its portion of I-69 because the state can't afford the cost. Writing a guest column ...

Pushing the toll option

John Latta - Jan 10, 2013

The International Bridge Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) is launching what it calls an "aggressive" campaign to show us the benefits of tolling AND suggesting more of it. With highway infrastructure in such abysmal shape, tolling has to be on ...

Outlook 2013

Better Roads Staff - Jan 10, 2013

Funds, Funds, Funds • Agencies intend to take advantage of MAP-21 reforms and also look to more private financing options. • Contractors say infrastructure damage will keep getting worse as funding remains inadequate. By John Latta, Editor-in-Chief jlatta@randallreilly.com At a time when economists and other ...

Chicago’s private road future

John Latta - Jan 07, 2013

What we need is a matchmaker. Is Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel the man for the job? Getting private investment money into a serious relationship with roads is a very frustrating process. So much so that it hasn't really happened yet to ...

The Good, The Bad and The Sierra Club

John Latta - Dec 12, 2012

Think of it as a “naughty” and “nice” list for transportation projects. The Sierra Club has named America’s “50 Best and Worst Transportation Projects” The projects in the club’s report serve, it says, as examples of the “best” and “worst” in transportation ...

Big Bang Theory for Highway Grants

John Latta - Nov 27, 2012

Give a state a fish… no wait. Teach a state to fish. Consider this: for every dollar in federal highway grants received by a state, that state’s GSP (gross state product) rises by at least two dollars. That’s in good ...

So, how are you guys splitting the tab?

John Latta - Nov 06, 2012

It's not as if everyone sat around the table looking the other way when the waiter came with the bill. We know the size of the bill to fund what we must do for our transportation infrastructure and we know Johnny ...

It’s Still Raining Obvious, Congressman.

John Latta - Oct 12, 2012

FLASHBACK -- Here's a paper from 2003. I stumbled on it and deja vu! It's simple title is A Dozen Reasons for Raising Gasoline Taxes. Reading it is weird: the 12 arguments are not old. All the way through the winding ...

It’s time to learn from your mistakes, Congress

Tina Grady Barbaccia - Sep 14, 2012

Learn From Your Mistakes The House passed a six-month continuing resolution, H.J.Res. 117, on last night to fund the government until early 2013, according to a Sept. 14 report in the Association of American Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Journal. However, this ...

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