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WASHINGTON – As the deadline to replenish federal funding for state highways and transportation looms, Congress is scrambling to find a short-term solution, and states are preparing to slam the breaks on new transportation projects.
The Highway Trust Fund that provides $35 billion a year, largely from a federal gas tax, for states to maintain highways, bridges and other transportation projects, is set to go broke by August. If that happens, it could cost Colorado 8,800 transportation-related jobs and stop projects across the state, according to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D- Colo., said it’s just common sense that the fund should not go broke.
“If we don’t make the investments in infrastructure, and our bridges fall down, and our roads wear out, they just become more expensive to fix later down the road,” Bennet said. “From a fiscal point of view, it makes no sense not to move forward.”
In the last few weeks, lawmakers have suggested fixes ranging from limiting U.S. Postal Service deliveries on Saturdays to bipartisan efforts to raise the federal gas tax to 12 cents over two years while adjusting for inflation.
On Thursday, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., sought to get the ball rolling with a bill in the Senate Finance Committee, that would allocate $9 billion over six months, to keep transportation projects moving. The committee meeting highlighted that each side will have to bend to get any short-term funding bill passed.
“To me, the prime terrain for the bipartisan compromise is that area that is in between the hot-button issues,” Wyden said.
Those hot-button issues are largely tax increases. Wyden agreed to a proposal to drop part of his bill that would have increased taxes on heavy vehicles like trucks, but several Republicans were wary of unnecessary spending.
While gridlocked Congress has a month to find a short-term solution, many states are already halting projects, while others are making plans in case that funding is allowed to run out.
In 2014, 40 percent of Colorado’s $1 billion transportation budget came from the federal government, according to Amy Ford, communications director for the Colorado Department of Transportation. If federal funding isn’t met, Colorado will continue funding for the projects currently underway, but it may have to stop plans for new projects, Ford said.
That means the $6.1 million continuous-flow interchange to address congestion in Durango at the U.S. Highway 550/160 intersection would continue, but a new project might not have funding.
Ford said after the state has accounted for resurfacing roads, maintaining bridges and emergencies. Colorado’s roads are more of an upkeep operation.
“When you strip maintenance costs, the amount of money we have to expand our system and add new lanes is really zero,” Ford said.
While some states are looking to increase state gas taxes to pay for infrastructure, in Colorado, the gas tax has not changed in 20 years, in part because of another bill that passed around that time. The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights requires taxpayers to vote their approval for any increase in taxes. According to Ford, the sentiment tends to be negative toward an increase in taxes.
“There is little appetite for a state gas-tax increase or one at the federal level, so we try to do as much as we can to stretch those dollars,” Ford said.
The Senate Finance Committee agreed to wait until after a weeklong recess to find common ground on Wyden’s plan, leaving just a few weeks when Congress returns to Washington to find funding.
“It’s crunch time for transportation,” Wyden said.
mbowerman@durangoherald.com. Mary Bowerman is a graduate student at American University in Washington, D.C., and an intern for The Durango Herald.
