The highway portion of the stimulus package should address traffic bottlenecks first

Published 6 November 2009

Last year Americans wasted $87 billion in the form of 2.8 billion gallons of fuel and 4.2 billion hours because of traffic congestion. This cost will only go up as the economy rebounds and freight traffic increases

The U.S. government has allotted more than $20 billion of the $26.6 billion available for highway, road, and bridge projects as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. These funds have prompted a short-term focus on infrastructure projects, but the funding represents just 3.3 percent of the total $787 billion stimulus package enacted by the White House in February. Brandon Borgna writes that this small amount will do little to address the dire need for expansion and repair of our National Highway System (NHS).

The United States needs a much larger, long-term investment in highway infrastructure, he argues. By 2020, economists expect more than a 26 percent increase in overall freight tonnage. The U.S. ability efficiently to move this freight will have a tremendous effect on the U.S. economy. Inefficiencies currently plague the U.S. transportation system. Last year alone, Americans wasted $87 billion in the form of 2.8 billion gallons of fuel and 4.2 billion hours because of traffic congestion. This cost will only go up as the economy rebounds and freight traffic increases.

Borgna says that implementing a national approach that first addresses the U.S. worst traffic bottlenecks, as listed by the Federal Highway Administration, will improve the flow of freight and have the greatest benefit for taxpayers. As proposed in the House Surface Transportation Authorization Act, a national strategic plan that defines the federal role in meeting transportation needs will improve delivery of infrastructure projects by primarily investing in those of national importance. Also, federal government should tie infrastructure investment to system performance by requiring recipients of federal funds to meet performance standards related to safety, infrastructure condition, congestion reduction, and emissions.

Meeting the transportation challenges of the twenty-first century is critical to the long-term prosperity of the United States. As our population and economy grows, a national transportation policy that focuses on efficiency, safety, congestion reduction, and the improvement of freight movement around our nation’s worst bottlenecks will facilitate economic growth and help our industries compete in the global economy.