Civil engineers: crumbling roads stifling jobs, economy

The report, conducted by the Economic Development Research Group of Boston, showed that in 2010, deficiencies in America’s roads, bridges and transit systems cost American households and businesses more than $129 billion, including approximately $97 billion in vehicle operating costs, $32 billion in delays in travel time, $1.2 billion in safety costs and $590 million in environmental costs.

The Trucker News Services

7/27/2011

WASHINGTON — The nation’s deteriorating surface transportation infrastructure will cost the American economy more than 870,000 jobs and suppress the growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product by $3.1 trillion by 2020, according to a new report released Wednesday by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The report, conducted by the Economic Development Research Group of Boston, showed that in 2010, deficiencies in America’s roads, bridges and transit systems cost American households and businesses more than $129 billion, including approximately $97 billion in vehicle operating costs, $32 billion in delays in travel time, $1.2 billion in safety costs and $590 million in environmental costs.

If investments in surface transportation infrastructure are not made soon, those costs are expected to grow exponentially. Within 10 years, U.S. businesses would pay an added $430 billion in transportation costs, household incomes would fall by more than $7,000 and U.S. exports will fall by $28 billion.

Rep. Nick J. Rahall, D-W. Va., the ranking member on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, used the occasion of the report’s release to renew calls for Congress to craft a robust surface transportation that provides the investments necessary to tackle the well documented backlog of highway, bridge, and transit infrastructure needs.

“While Republicans may hope that if they simply say we are going to “do more with less” enough times it will magically make it so, Wednesday’s report provides the cold hard truth that America’s economic recovery and long-term competitiveness will suffer if we continue to under invest  in our future,” Rahall said. “The report paints a disturbing picture of how America’s small businesses and middle class family incomes will be affected by our nation’s deteriorating surface transportation systems. Slashing investments by one third, as Republicans have proposed to do, will make the economic impact on America’s middle class even worse than the grim predictions by the economists in this report.”

Failing to invest in roads, bridges and transit systems has a dramatic negative impact on America’s economy, according to Kathy J. Caldwell, P.E., F.ASCE, president of ASCE. "The link between a nation’s infrastructure and its economic competitiveness has always been understood,” she said. “But today, for the first time, we have data showing how much failing to invest in our surface transportation system can negatively impact job growth and family budgets. This report is a wake-up call for policymakers because it shows that investing in infrastructure contributes to creating jobs, while failing to do so hurts main street America."

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ADVERTISEMENT

THE RECENT INCREASE IN FREIGHT VOLUME MEANS NEW JOB OPPORTUNITIES ON GOTRUCKERS.COM. CLICK FOR MORE DETAILS.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The report shows that failing infrastructure will drive the cost of doing business up by adding $430 billion to transportation costs in the next decade. It will cost firms more to ship goods, and the raw materials they buy will cost more due to increased transportation costs. 

Productivity across the business sector will also tumble, the report said.

Increased costs will cause businesses to under perform by $240 billion over the next decade, which will drive the prices of goods up.  As a result, U.S. exports will fall by $28 billion, including 79 of 93 tradable commodities.  Ten sectors of the U.S. economy account for more than half of this unprecedented loss in export value – among them key technology sectors like machinery, medical devices, communications equipment, which produces much of this country’s innovations.

The Trucker staff may be contacted to comment at editor@thetrucker.com.

Find more news and analysis from The Trucker, and share your thoughts, on Facebook.