Let’s start ramping up reauthorization pressure

John Latta - May 02, 2013

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has, helpfully, stated the obvious. The CBO is essentially confirming for us that when reauthorization rolls about next September, MAP-21’s replacement, facing a nearly bankrupt Highway Trust Fund, will either have to dive into the General ...

The fuel tax heist: Robbing Peter Highway to pay Paul Non-Highway

John Latta - Apr 04, 2013

Here comes another one. A state politician – this time it’s Oregon Democratic Representative Jules Bailey – who sees money raised by fuel taxes as a sort of cookie jar he can raid to buy stuff he likes. But the jar the ...

Waiting for DiMaggio

John Latta - Apr 03, 2013

Is the automobile over? Scary thought if fuel taxes continue to be the single biggest contributor to our transportation infrastructure funding structure. And they’re not my words; it’s a headline from Motor Trend magazine last fall. I’m resurrecting this oldie here as ...

Legislators look to expanded drilling for transportation funding

Amanda Bayhi - Mar 27, 2013

Since a gas tax seems to be an unlikely source of transportation funding, some legislators are looking to oil. In fact, Speaker John Boehner has called revenues for infrastructure improvements via oil and gas drilling expansions a “natural link,” according to ...

Transportation funding talks remain stagnant

Amanda Bayhi - Mar 25, 2013

The debate over transportation funding continues as MAP-21’s expiration date—September 2014—inches closer and closer. Congressional discussions about how to increase funding are seemingly going nowhere, Politico reported. While transportation funding, particularly the Highway Trust Fund, continues to decrease, ideas about an increase ...

Elvis and the Highway Trust Fund

John Latta - Mar 25, 2013

Let's say Elvis was still around somewhere. Let's say his plot to flee the spotlight and disappear into a quiet life far from the madding crowd was still working. And let's say that he took some of his old Cadillacs ...

Hey Congressman, watch this ARTBA video

John Latta - Mar 12, 2013

The American Roads and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) has released a new video. The message is old. That's kind of the point. The message has been the same for years now. Fix the Highway Trust Fund. So the message is ...

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 ...

Fifty-state ‘Vehicle Miles Traveled’ tax/fee/charge study proposed

John Latta - Dec 17, 2012

Will your vehicle one day feel like a taxi cab? Oregon Democrat representative Earl Blumenauer has introduced legislation that would fund a 50-state Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) pilot program to examine a new source of highway funding. The legislation calls on the ...

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