Mineta: Transportation is critical to any economic recovery

Recent declines in productivity can be traced to growing congestion in the transportation system, former Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said, noting that only 15 out of 100 federal highway dollars goes to new construction, with the balance used to try just to maintain what has been built over the last 50 years. And that 15 percent doesn’t pay for nearly what it used to. (AP file photo)

By KEVIN JONES
The Trucker Staff

9/30/2008

WASHINGTON — To rebuild the American economy, the next president needs to understand the importance of building highways, former Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta says.

“The whole basis for economic development is the transportation program,” Mineta said. “Our productivity increase in the post-World War II period has been tremendous, because even a manufacturer in Small Town, USA, is able to get their product to an international marketplace, and to major markets in the U.S. as well. That all came about with the expansion of the highway system.”

Now vice chairman with international communications consulting firm Hill & Knowlton, Mineta spoke with The Trucker from his Washington, D.C., office just hours after the House of Representatives on Monday rejected a $700 billion plan to shore up the country’s financial system.

A long-time Democratic congressman and Commerce Secretary under Bill Clinton before being tapped by George W. Bush to head the DOT, Mineta compared the political difficulty encountered by the bailout bill to a lack of understanding about the importance of investing in highways and bridges.

“To me, it’s not just saving individual banks, it’s really preserving and infusing capital into the whole economic system,” Mineta said. “There’s still not a recognition by people, and therefore by their representatives, about the importance of transportation in terms of economic development. We really have to make these investments in our underlying infrastructure in order to get the benefits of a robust economic system and marketplace.”

Recent declines in productivity can be traced to growing congestion in the transportation system, Mineta said, noting that only 15 out of 100 federal highway dollars goes to new construction, with the balance used to try just to maintain what has been built over the last 50 years. And that 15 percent doesn’t pay nearly for what it used to, he added.

Complicating the funding issue, fuel taxes have remained the same for 15 years.

“So we’re getting shortchanged all the way around,” he said. “When you see the massive infusion of capital that China and India and other countries are making in their infrastructure, we can’t afford to do any less.

“People can talk about strengthening the economic marketplace, but that has to be dependent on a very strong transportation infrastructure. To me, that part is still being neglected.”

The U.S. can’t afford to do less, but how can the nation afford to do more?

“There’s no question that trying to get an increase in the gas tax is near impossible,” Mineta said. “I tried doing that when we came with the SAFETEA reauthorization proposal — and the President said he didn’t want a tax increase.”

The states likewise have had a hard time increasing their fuel taxes, he pointed out.

“But I’m not sure that a gasoline tax is a sustainable source of revenue,” he said, noting increasing vehicle fuel efficiency — and even cars designed to run on alternative fuels. “It won’t be very long before we have less and less cars running on gasoline.”

Alternative funding in the coming era of alternatively powered vehicles, he suggested, will also be based on new technologies. He cited the Intelligent Vehicle Initiative (IVI), a multi-agency research and development effort launched by the DOT about ten years ago.

In addition to safety and efficiency improvements, Mineta anticipates cars using transponders to track road miles, with fees based on the distance traveled.

And “because congestion is such a big issue,” Mineta said truck-only toll lanes will have to be considered. Such a dedicated roadway, he added, could then permit larger and longer rigs — which would mean fewer trucks for the same amount of freight.

“We’ve got to do things that are vastly different,” he said, suggesting a competitive call for new ideas. “We can’t just continue doing more of the same.”

Asked about a new administration’s role in the upcoming transportation funding authorization process, Mineta said a new 6-year program needs to be in place by Sept. 30 next year when the current program expires. The current authorization came in late, with Congress in 2003 passing a series of extensions prior to agreeing to SAFETEA-LU in 2005.

The delay meant states couldn’t be assured of funding, so construction jobs were lost when highway projects were put on hold.

“It had a big impact,” Mineta said. “I hope the process will go forward so that we get a timely bill prior to the expiration of the present law.”