Next president must improve infrastructure, say transportation leaders
A coalition of engineers estimates it would take an investment of $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years to bring U.S. infrastructure up to current use and volume standards. Is the next President up to this task?
By John D. Schulz, Contributing Editor -- Logistics Management, 11/1/2008
WASHINGTON — Whether it’s Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. John McCain sitting in the Oval Office on Jan. 20, transportation leaders agree that the next president will need to pay attention to a glaring crisis: The nation’s roads, bridges, airports, ports, intermodal links, and waterways have deteriorated to a point to where it’s threatening U.S. competitiveness.
“It’s no secret that we need our leaders in Washington to focus on improving the nation’s infrastructure,” said American Trucking Associations President and CEO Bill Graves.
And in one of the rare instances of truck/rail unanimity, Graves’ opposite number at the Association of American Railroads, Edward R. Hamberger, can do nothing but agree. “We hope that the next Congress and administration will recognize the importance of expanding the nation’s transportation infrastructure, including the capacity of the rail freight network,” said Hamberger. “Expansion of our transportation infrastructure should be one of the top domestic priorities.”
That’s for sure. Bridges are falling into rivers, and despite a surge in passenger and air cargo traffic, the nation hasn’t added a runway at a significant U.S. airport since Denver International Airport opened in 1995, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce—which is pushing for more infrastructure spending as well. A coalition of engineers estimates it would take an investment of $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years to bring U.S. infrastructure up to current use and volume standards. The Texas Transportation Institute has estimated that congestion costs the U.S. $168 billion annually, with 40 percent of that due to bottlenecks in our system.
“We can build a lot of roads for that amount of money,” said Pat Quinn, co-chairman of U.S. Xpress. “It’s not just for trucks, either. It has to be improvements in conduits to ports and rails—our entire transportation system.”
So as the nation prepares to elect its 44th president, transportation leaders are asking themselves, “Who would be better for my industry or my company, Barack Obama or John McCain?”
The difference between the two candidates on transportation and infrastructure is startling. On the Obama Web site, there is a detailed, four-page single-space plan on how President Obama would strengthen and revitalize the nation’s highways, roads, and bridges.
By contrast, the McCain site says nary a word about transportation. Even though there are plans on many issues, ranging from ethics reform to Second Amendment gun rights, the McCain site shows no detailed plan for transportation. A campaign spokeswoman emphasized, however, that Sen. McCain does believe that improving the country’s transportation links is vital to national security, but she did not provide specifics.
Sen. Obama is calling for the creation of a “National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank” to expand and enhance—but, importantly, not supplant—existing federal transportation investments. This independent entity would invest in most challenging transportation infrastructure needs. The infrastructure bank will receive an infusion of federal money—$60 billion over 10 years—to provide financing to transportation infrastructure projects across the nation. According to the Obama camp, these projects will create up to 2 million new direct and indirect jobs per year and stimulate approximately $35 billion per year in new economic activity.
There are also highly detailed plans on how an Obama administration would modernize the nation’s outdated air traffic control system, increase Amtrak funding, support development of high-speed rail, modernize infrastructure on the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers for barges as well as how to improve public transportation and transportation planning.
While it’s difficult to say how individual industries and their employees vote, in general, transportation executives tend to favor Republicans while their workers usually vote Democratic.
To be sure, transportation contributions tend to favor Republicans. According to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), contributions from the trucking industry (including Political Action Committees, businesses and individuals) were running 28 percent to Democrats and 72 percent to Republicans in this election cycle. That compares with trucking’s 15 percent Democratic contributions and 85 percent Republican four years ago.
By contrast, rail interests were nearly split—44 percent for Democrats and 56 percent for Republicans—in this cycle. Air interests were nearly exactly the same, according to the bipartisan CRP.
The Teamsters were listed as the 11th biggest donor in this election cycle, with 90 percent going to Democrats. UPS and FedEx were the 21st and 22nd largest contributors, with roughly one-third of their donations going to Democrats and the rest to Republicans.
Shortly before the election, the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL) called upon both candidates to describe what specific measures they would take as president to address the problems of the nation’s freight transportation system. NITL President Bruce Carlton said “few details” from the candidates have been heard during the course of the campaign.
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