In mid-May, equity analysts with the Thompson Research Group (TRG) met with a dozen key legislators and contacts in Washington, D.C., to track the progress of transportation reauthorization. Even though SAFETEA-LU expires Sept. 30, 2009, and the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) is flashing its hazards and heading for the shoulder, TRG reported — to the dismay of infrastructurists nationwide — that Capitol Hill's priorities are the energy bill and healthcare reform, which could relegate reauthorization to the bench until after the mid-term elections in 2010.

"The Senate remains essentially apathetic regarding a highway bill due to debates of greater relative timing importance, and the feeling has been that the 2009 stimulus bill addressed the more pressing near-term highway needs," noted TRG in the report. The report also made clear that stimulus funds have been dispersed slowly, and any significant impact from the stimulus bill won't be felt until 2010.

The HTF's impending insolvency makes another bailout — upwards of $20 billion — a foregone conclusion by the end of the summer. TRG also noted that "the HTF is in even more dire straits than it appears given state DOT's historical precedent to hold off submitting reimbursement requests for High Priority Projects until the end of the transportation bill's authorization." But the HTF shortfall is merely one of many problems in the slow jog toward new funding.

The top half of oberstar’s $500 billion brainstorm, which leaked in early-may Courtesy of Thompson Research Group

Along with the overall timing of the bill's passage, a significant donnybrook will likely ignite around the donor/donee issue (see Exit Ramp, page 42). This is a stumbling block that Ron Utt, Ph.D., a research fellow with The Heritage Foundation, can speak volumes about.

First, Utt clarifies: "If you have stumbling blocks that means you have objectives, and in following the last authorizations, there were no clear objectives." Regarding the donor/donee issue, Utt explained that during the TEA-21 reauthorization, legislators had the luxury of a surplus, which was driven to zero to ameliorate the state-to-state inconsistencies found in the collection and disbursement of gas-tax cash. But this was a Band-Aid at best. "You didn't solve the problem; you just gave people more money without taking away from people that got too much," said Utt.

In the face of this contention and ambivalence, Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, continues to claw and chicken-scratch his way toward a fast, wholesale restructuring of federal surface transportation policy. The chairman said in June that he would not support a mere extension of SAFETEA-LU, and according to a June 5 New York Times report he would respond to the inaction by bringing "federally financed road work to a halt." Strong words, but Oberstar lacks the requisite backing to fuel his fast and furious approach.

"The once mighty highway lobby is pretty much a shell of its former self," said Utt, adding that the backers of alternate transit have the advantage of being beloved by the media and the Obama administration. The Transportation for America coalition — whose reauthorization platform is pinned at the corners by investment in alternate and public transportation; national transportation objectives; a program to restore and maintain bridges and roads; and the pursuit of new funding mechanisms — is such a group.

David Goldberg, communications director with Transportation for America, described the current highway bill as a collection of earmarks masquerading as considerate legislation, and argued that national objectives should be set before a funding number is even floated. Ideally, national objectives would be considered by the nation, but as Goldberg acknowledged, the passage of transportation policy has traditionally been a back-room exercise, and it can't compete with front-burner issues.

Whatever your political leaning, consider employing the same pragmatism you utilize on the job to add definition to the public discourse. As made clear by Congress, there's still time.