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 ...

Somebody blinked: States making moves for transportation infrastructure funds

John Latta - Feb 19, 2013

As the inevitability of dwindling fuel tax revenues keeps butting heads with the inevitable need for more funding for transportation infrastructure, something has to give. States are now making moves instead of just talking about them, as this New York ...

Maryland governor looking for new transportation funding

Tina Grady Barbaccia - Feb 18, 2013

This from the Washington Post: Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley met with Senate Democrats on Tuesday as part of a continuing effort to craft a bill to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue for transportation projects, an aide said More ...

Uh oh, somebody’s out of touch on the gas tax

John Latta - Feb 14, 2013

If something is unpopular but beneficial to the American public, do you as a member of Congress (a) support it, or (b) check the polls because sometimes what's good for the country could get a person unelected. The U.S. Chamber of ...

Maryland Governor Looking for New Transportation Funding

John Latta - Feb 13, 2013

This from the Washington Post: Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley met with Senate Democrats on Tuesday as part of a continuing effort to craft a bill to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue for transportation projects, an aide said More ...

Reauthorization, deficit spending and flying pigs

John Latta - Feb 13, 2013

One less funding option for reauthorization. "Deficit spending is not the answer," Bill Shuster, a Pennsylvania Republican and chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said this week in Harrisburg, PA. It probably never was, but it has been used ...

The Roundabout Way to Safety and Saving

John Latta - Jan 22, 2013

Go around. For older drivers it seems roundabouts may be the optimal intersection design. Apparently for most age groups, surprisingly even for the impatient driver of any age. Less accidents, more traffic flow. This from a University of Maine study which also ...

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 ...

Whispering the T Word

John Latta - Dec 05, 2012

TAX! Nothing like shouting a three-letter word ending in X to get your attention. But no, we’re not talking income tax. The gas tax is back on a table in Washington. The 18.3 cents a gallon tax, un-indexed and unchanged in almost ...

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 ...