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1 1 (September 2015)

handle is hein.amenin/aeiaadf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: September 2015 America's Transportation Challenges: Proposals for Reform By R. Richard Geddes Politicians and civil engineers alike often refer toAmericas immense surface transportation system as our nation's crumbling infrastructure. Major segments of the system are in need of renovation, and its problems are exacer- bated by deferred maintenance and unstable, inadequate revenue sources. New approaches tofunding,financing, operating, and maintaining the US transportation system are necessary. Policymakers should adhere to three main principles: infrastructure should be paidfor by those who use it, ideally through user fees; public-private partner- ships should be used to streamline financing, operations, and maintenance; and public policy should complement emerging transportation technologies, especially those related to vehicle autonomy. merica's surface transportation system is com- osed of a vast array of interstate highways, state roads, local streets, bridges, overpasses, and tun- nels. The 46,876 miles of interstate highways in the United States contain 55,512 bridges and 82 tunnels, and the National Highway System includes an addi- tional 117,000 miles of major roads (US Department of Transportation, Eisenhower). The overall road system covers more than 4 million miles of state roads and millions of miles of local streets. Those facili- ties together constitute a crucial public asset-vitally important for the movement of both people and goods-valued at almost $3 trillion in 2009 dollars (US Department of Commerce). Americans traveled almost 3 trillion miles on US roads in 2011, which was nearly double the amount traveled in 1980 (US Department of Transportation, New FHWA Report). They also spend almost 175 billion hours in transit each year, valued at some $760 billion in 2007 dollars (Winston 2013). Unfortunately, America's transportation system is dogged by an array of problems that hinder its performance. Traffic congestion is a mounting concern, particularly in urban areas. In 2014, congestion wasted 6.9 billion hours of motorists' travel time and almost 3.1 billion gallons of fuel (Schrank, Eisele, Lomax, and Bak 2014). Moreover, congestion's overall social costs are growing rapidly over time. The congestion invoice in the United States for added fuel and time costs grew from $42 billion in 1982 to about $160 billion in 2014 (in 20 14 dollars)-almost a three-fold increase-An the 471 urban areas studied by the Texas Transportation Institute (Schrank, Eisele, Lomax, and Bak 2014). Furthermore, the revenue sources available to operate, maintain, and-where necessary-expand the road network are often unstable and inadequate. Large seg- ments of the system are well past their original design lives and in need of major renovation. Deferred main- tenance of roads, bridges, and tunnels in the United States is endemic and growing, and its long-term social costs are high. New approaches to funding, financing, operating, and maintaining the US transportation system are necessary. Policies that were crucial to the construction of a new, far-flung transportation network are inadequate for the maintenance and improvement AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE

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