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Issue 0810 August 5, 2010  Visit the TDA Wisconsin Archives  Printer-friendly newsletter |
Spotlight Finding Forward Update As of this week, 38 counties have passed a resolution to include an advisory referendum question on a fall election ballot. Voters in these counties will be asked: Should the Wisconsin Constitution be amended to prohibit any further transfers or lapses from the segregated transportation fund? The advisory referendum will appear on the ballot in the following counties:
Racine County is the only county with the transportation referendum question on the primary ballot September 14th. All other counties will have the advisory question on the general election ballot November 2nd. Many more counties will take up the issue in the next couple weeks. The following thirteen counties are scheduled to vote on the advisory referendum in August:
Please contact the county boards and let them know that you support giving the citizens in these counties a voice on this important issue. There will not be another chance for these counties to pass a resolution to include the transportation user-fee question on the November ballot. Follow the Finding Forward’s progress at www.FindingForwardWisconsin.org. And if you have a Facebook account, show your support by joining the growing group of people who “like” Finding Forward.
News ARTBA Urges Action on Surface Reauthorization In a letter to President Obama, Peter Ruane, President and CEO of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), urged President Obama to make a six-year surface transportation reauthorization bill a post-election priority. “Failure to do so will increase the likelihood of a serious transportation construction market crash in 2011-2012 that will increase unemployment and negatively impact the nation’s economic recovery, international competitiveness, public health and energy use for years to come,” Ruane warned. Ruane credited American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds with keeping the transportation construction industry afloat during the recession. However, highway and street construction employment has declined despite ARRA funding, with 22 percent fewer Americans employed in this capacity during the first five months of 2010 than were during the same period in 2008. Without the certainty of a multi-year federal surface transportation reauthorization, states typically postpone job-creating transportation projects contributing to what Ruane calls a “perfect storm” that could undermine the U.S. transportation construction sector, which accounts for almost 3 percent of the nation’s economic activity. Ruane expressed the frustrations of many in the industry when he stated, “Mr. President, simply extending the current programs again for a year or more and either cutting federal investment to the level sustainable by the current revenue stream to the Highway Trust Fund – or continuing down the dangerous path of deficit spending to prop up the highway and transit investment programs – are not acceptable alternatives.”
Reason Foundation Proposal to Shift Focus of Transportation Funding An additional $10 billion would be available for crucial highway improvements if the federal government simply narrowed the focus of the programs funded by the federal gas tax according to a recently released report from the Reason Foundation. "Sooner or later Congress is going to have to deal with the highway bill and the major shortfall in highway investment," said Robert Poole, principal author of the report and director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. "It is time to rethink and refocus the federal transportation role more on core federal purposes and less on peripheral concerns. Congress could dramatically increase funding to reduce the large backlog of cost-effective highway projects by shifting non-highway programs either to states or to general revenues. This would restore the users-pay/users-benefit principle of the Highway Trust Fund by focusing on rebuilding and modernizing the Interstate system. This Interstate 2.0 approach would increase federal investment in the nation's most important arteries by nearly $10 billion a year without raising taxes." The report, Restoring the Trust in the Highway Trust Fund, points to the use of fuel taxes for non-highway uses as one of the reasons the fuel tax has become “just another tax” to many, leading to the increasing preference for tolls (as opposed to fuel tax increases) in public polls. “The typical voter, who is a motorist, knows that if she supports a tax increase (fuel tax, sales tax, etc.) dedicated to transportation, she will definitely pay more – but she doubts that her own transportation problems will be eased. On the other hand, by supporting toll funding, she has reasonable confidence that she will only pay more if a toll project built in her region is both convenient for her to use and a good value for the amount of toll charged. She is free to use that toll road or not.” The Reason Foundation proposal aims to reduce federal mandates and give states more control over their transportation spending. The plan also proposes to give states incentives to reduce waste and administrative costs; prioritize projects that will produce the largest benefits; embrace public-private partnerships; and utilize technology, tolling, and congestion pricing.
Senate Bill to Create National Freight Plan A bill recently introduced in the Senate would require the development of a national multimodal freight transportation plan – one that targets federal investment toward freight-specific transportation projects. The legislation aims to reduce congestion and delays, increase the timely delivery of goods and services, reduce freight-related transportation fatalities, and make freight transportation more efficient and better for the environment. “We are long overdue in establishing a national freight transportation policy that will meet the economic and mobility demands of the 21st Century,” said Senator Lautenberg (D-New Jersey), who chairs the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security and is one of the bill’s sponsors. The FREIGHT Act of 2010 (S. 3629) would establish America’s first comprehensive national freight transportation policy and create a new Office of Freight Planning and Development within the Department of Transportation. This office would coordinate efforts to improve the efficiency and operation of all modes of the national freight transportation system. The bill would also create a new competitive grant program for freight-specific infrastructure projects, such as port infrastructure improvements, freight rail capacity expansion projects, and highway projects that improve access to freight facilities. A companion bill (H.R. 5976) has also been introduced in the House. Transportation experts have long called for a national freight policy. However, can a national freight policy really advance while the reauthorization of surface transportation programs is stalled? See The National Journal blog: Will FREIGHT Act Deliver?.
USDOT 2011 Spending Bills Working through Congress Over the last several weeks, Congress has made progress on setting 2011 transportation spending levels. The House passed its version of a transportation appropriations bill, while the Senate version cleared the Appropriations Committee. The largest discrepancy between the two bills is in the amount of federal-aid highway obligation limitation. The House bill provides $45.2 billion and the Senate bill $41.8 billion. The table below includes highlights of the president’s request versus the House and Senate bills.
Once the Senate passes its bill, the two bills will still need to be reconciled by a conference committee and the conference report cleared by Congress before the final bill is forwarded to the president for his signature. Fiscal year 2011 begins on October 1, 2010.
Aviation Programs Extended Again President Obama signed another short-term extension of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization, extending FAA operations and programs through September 30th. The bill, H.R. 5900, allows the FAA to continue to collect fuel and ticket taxes to fund the Airport and Airway Trust Fund and to make expenditures from the fund. This is the 15th extension since the FAA authorization expired on September 30, 2007. The bill also includes aviation safety provisions focusing on improving pilot training and safety. These provisions were drafted in response to the crash of a Colgan Air flight in 2009 near Buffalo, New York, in which 50 people died. The House and Senate have each passed new authorization bills and are still working to reconcile the differences. Negotiations to date have been conducted informally, mostly at the staff level.
Interesting News Coverage USA Today: August 5, 2010 – “Programs hope to reverse skid in car pooling”
Transportation in the News Wisconsin – An intensive patching project of the Hoan Bridge roadway will begin in October and postpone the need to replace the deteriorating deck. The work will cost between $12 million and $17 million and be completed in 2011. The state will also spend $650,000 on an engineering inspection. Results of the inspection will help guide decisions on the future of the Hoan Bridge, which opened in 1977. In response to falling concrete from the underside of the bridge deck, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has engaged a contractor to start installing plastic netting on the underside of the Hoan Bridge. This project will force lane closures that are expected to slow traffic over the 2.5-mile span through October. Transit Assessment Study – A Federal Transit Administration (FTA) study estimates the cost of bringing the nation’s rail and bus transit systems into a state of good repair at $77.7 billion. In addition, a yearly average of $14.4 billion would be required to maintain the systems. FTA’s National State of Good Repair Assessment Study, requested by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood as a follow-up to the 2009 Rail Modernization Study report to Congress, provides a comprehensive analysis of the costs required to bring the nation’s rail and bus transit systems into good operating order. The 2010 study is based on data provided by 36 additional rail and bus operators in both rural and urban areas. While most of the $77.7 billion backlog can be attributed to rail, more than 40 percent of the nation’s buses are also in poor to marginal condition. Ohio – U.S. Secretary Ray LaHood is downplaying threats by Ohio Republicans, including gubernatorial candidate John Kasich, to stop a high-speed rail project if they take over the state government in the November election. Republicans oppose the rail plan to connect Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati saying the trains will be too slow and too costly to operate. “The reason that Ohio is connected to an interstate system that runs all over America… is because it is a national plan. Ohio will be connected (to rail),” said LaHood. Similar to comments made in Wisconsin, LaHood went on to say elections come and go and that he expected to see Ohio included in the national rail network as it is built over the next 25 years. Washington – The state of Washington has launched the nation’s first “electric highway.” Interstate 5 is now equipped with a network of charging stations for electric and hybrid vehicles along the 276 miles of interstate between Oregon and Canada. “I-5, one of our busiest highways and the backbone of Western Washington’s economy, is a natural place to showcase transportation electrification,” said Paula Hammond, Washington state secretary of transportation. The charging stations are part of a $230 million project, which is designed to deploy 4,500 electric vehicles and 15,000 charging stations throughout Washington state, Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee and the District of Columbia. Funding was provided by the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act and partnerships with private companies.
Association Notes Joseph G. Fabick, October 9, 1927 – July 22, 2010 
Joseph G. Fabick died at his home in Elm Grove, Wisconsin on July 22, 2010 at the age of 82. Joe was the founder of FABCO Equipment Inc., the Caterpillar® dealer for Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. He served as president and chief executive officer of the company from its inception in 1982 until his retirement in 2002 when principal ownership of the business was acquired by his son Jeré C.Fabick. A native of Missouri, Joe grew up on and around Caterpillar machines. His father was a tractor dealer in St. Louis which later evolved to become among the first Caterpillar dealerships in the world when the Caterpillar Tractor Company began operation in 1925. As a teenager, Joe spent summers as a dozer and scraper operator and then upon graduating from Campion Preparatory High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, he joined the family dealership full-time. Years later while working full-time and raising a family, Joe attended classes at Saint Louis University and went on to earn his college degree. Joe continued with Fabick CAT in St. Louis for 38 years before leaving his position as president of that company to pursue new opportunities for his family with a dealership of his own. In May of 1982, Caterpillar Inc. awarded Joe the Cat dealer territory for Wisconsin and Upper Michigan beginning a new chapter in his illustrious life. In addition to Joe’s role as a business leader, he was an active pilot since 1946. He had a highly respected background in aviation including management of the Fabick Companies’ corporate aircraft subsidiary in the late 1940’s. Joe flew many different types of aircraft and, in 1948, at the age of 21, was identified as the youngest licensed helicopter pilot in the world. Over the years Joe took an interest in countless humanitarian and community causes and was recognized with many awards. He always considered one of his greatest accomplishments to be the key role he played in establishment of Wings of Hope in 1962. Along with a group of three other St. Louis businessmen, Joe created this non-profit organization to bring life-saving air transportation to isolated parts of the world. He went on to serve as the foundation’s president for 27 years. Wings of Hope currently helps connect impoverished populations with health care in 41 countries. Joe left behind a legacy that will continue to positively impact lives around the globe for many years to come.
Calendar of Events Wisconsin Concrete Pavement Association Summer Golf Outings - August 26 in northeast Wisconsin. Click here for more information. 14th Annual Civil & Environmental Engineering Golf Outing - September 16th at the Oaks Golf Course in Cottage Grove. Click here for more information. If you know of an upcoming event that would be of interest to TDA members, please forward information to the TDA office, general@tdawisconsin.org.
Save these Dates
Visit the events page on the TDA website, www.tdawisconsin.org, for event details and any future changes in the schedule.
Save on AAA Membership, Auto & Home Insurance Visit the AAA website for a listing of membership benefits. You'll also be eligible for high-quality auto and home insurance coverage through AAA at a discounted TDA group rate too. Keep in mind, even if you already have AAA membership or insurance through AAA, you can save even more under this group plan. Enrollment is convenient through a statewide network of AAA offices. Go to www.aaa.com or call 1-800-236-1300 to find an office near you. To receive your AAA discount provide your AAA group number TRN003. Join today and take advantage of the great benefits and savings.
TDA Wisconsin 10 East Doty Street #201 Madison, WI 53703 (608) 256-7044 publications@tdawisconsin.org ©2010 ESE Magazine is a product and service of wisnet.com, LLC |
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