By Mary Scott Nabers
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas As the Sept. 30th Congressional deadline approaches for renewing the nations Surface Transportation Bill state officials from throughout Texas & across the country will have their eyes on Washington D.C. If new legislation is not passed before the deadline federal funding for highway construction and repair will be curtailed.
And the number of construction jobs at stake nationwide will pale in comparison to the 70000 airport construction workers who were temporarily out of work in a similar situation recently with the Federal Aviation Administration.
The two transportation bills under consideration in Congress are polar opposites.
- One would make federal funding cuts of $14.1 billion and would likely cost 490000 highway construction workers their jobs.
- The other would maintain current levels of spending for the next two years if the bill sponsor can find $12 billion in other cuts in the federal budget.
Facing a shrinking pool of federal and state dollars government entities already are exploring other avenues to fund infrastructure projects. They are taking advantage of an array of innovative financing options. Public-private partnerships (P3s) which have long been used and used successfully are becoming more popular.
Other options for paying for infrastructure projects are tolls user fees and other project-based revenue sources and finance tools.
The Office of Innovative Program Delivery of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) encourages the use of innovative strategies to deliver costly transportation projects.
USDOT recently approved a $418 million loan to help pay for the $1.2 billion President George Bush
Turnpike western extension in
Dallas County. The North Texas Tollway Authority has pledged to repay the loan through toll revenue.
Denver this year opened a transit line for $300 million less than originally projected thanks to a public-private partnership.
In
Ohio Gov. John Kasich is still calling for the leasing of the Ohio Turnpike as a way to make up part of the states ever-increasing loss of federal funding for transportation projects.
Officials in
New York State are looking at a possible public-private partnership to replace the more than 50-year-old Tappan Zee Bridge. It currently costs about $100 million per year to keep the bridge functioning. The estimated cost for replacement is between $9 and $16 billion. A public-private partnership seems to be the best route for getting the bridge replaced.
A report from
the Texas Transportation Institute notes that another option for revenue is conversion of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to high-occupancy toll roads (HOT) through public-private partnerships. According to the report more than a dozen states may convert HOV to HOT lanes and another 25 states are planning or have projects already under way with new toll roads utilizing public-private partnerships.
An infrastructure coalition that includes two former governors and the sitting mayor of a major American city says a $200 billion investment in the nations infrastructure over the next 10 years would create 5 million jobs. And as most politicians are saying today jobs are the key to the nations economic recovery.
The American Society of Civil Engineers in a report on the state of Americas infrastructure said if there is not a concerted effort to improve the countrys roads and bridges the country will lose $3.1 trillion in GDP growth in the upcoming nine years.
With federal state and local governments facing an uncertain economic future and trying to bridge multi-billion-dollar budget gaps all realize that infrastructure is a major economic driver and one of the leaders in job creation.
The reality is that in spite of deficits budget cuts and belt-tightening government officials cannot afford to
ignore infrastructure needs. The country faces an estimated $2.2 trillion in infrastructure repair and maintenance costs alone.
Innovative approaches to financing and managing transportation projects are increasingly attractive to
government entities.
MARY SCOTT NABERS is President & CEO of Strategic Partnerships Inc. a Texas-based firm specializing in public sector research and procurement coaching. Contact her at mnabers@spartnerships.com.
