We are all in agreement that the infrastructure needs to be taken care of, and expanded, but using existing taxes more efficiently may be a better answer than raising taxes on an already over tax-burdened public; whose taste for paying for bridges to nowhere is getting rather dry.
Editorial: U.S. should have decent roads, bridges, ports
Wealthiest nation needs to regain its edge with an investment in safe infrastructure
Published 12:00 am PDT Tuesday, September 4, 2007
The United States, the wealthiest country in the world, can still afford to have something it used to have: the world's best transportation infrastructure.
Clearly, the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minnesota points to much larger problems with the nation's roads and bridges. They are aging. They are carrying much more traffic and weight than they were designed for. But elected leaders have been unwilling to raise new funds to invest in repairs and innovative transportation initiatives.
The question is whether Americans and their elected leaders will do anything about it.
Rep. Jim Oberstar, the Minnesota Democrat who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has at least offered a first step of a plan -- with bridges at the top of the list.
To meet the immediate crisis of repairing, rehabilitating and replacing the 6,175 National Highway System bridges rated as "structurally deficient," he has proposed establishing a trust fund dedicated to bridge projects. Safety priorities would determine allocations; no congressional or presidential earmarks (otherwise known as "pork") would be allowed.
To raise money for the trust fund, Oberstar has suggested reviving earlier proposals for a 5-cent increase in the 18.4 cents-a-gallon federal gasoline tax, which hasn't changed since 1993. Though the proposal had bipartisan support, President Bush rejected it in 2005.
