Posted on 11/19/2016 11:54:49 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
President-elect Donald Trump said throughout his campaign for the White House that he wants major investments in U.S. infrastructure, calling for $1 trillion on infrastructure projects during his presidency.
He reiterated the point in his victory speech last Wednesday. “We’re going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals,” Mr. Trump said. “We’re going to rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none.”
However, major infrastructure bills are challenging pieces of legislation to pass, especially since Congress changed little in the election, says Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. “Pretty much all the same players are still there,” he says.
Like all spending bills, the challenge is finding funding, says analyst Jonathan Starks, COO of FTR. “Lots of candidates have called for good investment in infrastructure, but the trouble is coming up with mechanisms to pay for it,” he said. “So far we haven’t come up with that plan.”
Trump says he would incentivize private businesses to invest in infrastructure projects by offering them tax incentives. Such privatization of U.S. roads could lead to more tolls, Spencer says.
“The closest Trump came to suggesting how things might be paid for is through privatizing. That sounds good to the financial community but it generally doesn’t play out that well on Main Street — it simply means more tolls,” he said. OOIDA is “open to sustainable funding that’s fair to highway users. The tried and true mechanism of paying for roads and bridges is through fuel taxes. If that’s ruled out, the dilemma gets bigger and harder to resolve.”
The American Trucking Associations said last Wednesday it intends to work with Trump to help make an infrastructure bill a reality. “During the campaign, he highlighted the need to create jobs, and recognized that improving our nation’s infrastructure is critical to strengthening the economy,” ATA President Chris Spear said in a statement. “As the industry that moves nearly 70 percent of our nation’s freight and is a key economic driver, we look forward to working with President-elect Trump on a host of issues, including long-term, sustainable infrastructure funding.”
Lane Kidd, head of the carrier coalition the Trucking Alliance, says Congress could act as early as next year on a major infrastructure funding bill. Kidd also says the funding source is unclear, yet paramount to such legislation. “The big question is how will it be paid for? I think Trump at one point hinted at bonds being one avenue. Bonds have proven to be an effective way to finance infrastructure by borrowing against future fuel tax revenue,” he says. “It will be interesting to see what would be supported by trucking companies. We always want better roads, until we look around and see who’s going to pay for them.”
Readers continue to react to regulation-related campaign promises
Part of Trump’s appeal to truckers was no doubt his campaign message channeling the notion that regulations had piled on industries across the spectrum, hampering economic productivity. What in the way of trucking regulations should be under the eye of a Trump presidency? Readers responded to a call for viewpoint on their message to the President-elect as the transition to his administration began. Catch a grab-bag of those responses in the podcast at the top of the mailbag playlist above and via the player below.
For Overdrive readers, the top areas of concern voiced in messages to the podcast line — 530-408-6423 — mirrored those at the top of the top-issues polling conducted here in recent weeks. Readers called for increased attention to and revision or repeal of, variously, the electronic-logging-device mandate, the proposed speed limiter mandate, the inflexibility of the 14-hour rule and 30-minute break in the hours of service and more. —Todd Dills contributed to this report.
We pay enough taxes. We do not need toll roads.
I guess if he cuts income taxes, and other things, we gotta afford bridge and road repairs some how. I just hope he makes those people who make decisions on who does the work, get good deals for the work.
There probably is some money already allocated in various and sundry pet projects that never happened, i.e. roads, bridges, etc.
Or Congress could work on finding that $6 billion Hillary “misplaced “ at State and we can use that.
Trump’s a builder. If anyone can make this work, it’s Trump.
There usually is a surprising amount of money sitting around allocated for projects that don’t get done. Tap that first.
I don’t like the necessity of the government paying for roads and stuff, but to be honest it IS kind of important.
As long as the money allocated actually goes TO roads instead of into some lobbyist’s bank account.
reason.org’s Robert Poole wrote (2014 but I don’t think the situation improved much since then)
The Interstate highway system is wearing out. Over the next two decades, nearly all of its 47,000 miles will have to be rebuilt, to make it serviceable for another 50+ years. In addition, several hundred major interchanges are horrible bottlenecks and need to be replaced with more modern designs, and some corridors need additional lanes to cope with growth, especially in truck travel. A major Reason study last year estimated the cost of Interstate reconstruction and modernization at $1 trillion.
http://reason.org/news/show/value-added-tolling
I like that.
There is more than one way to privatize infrastructure projects. It does not need to entail tolls.
1) Get bids on a highway project.
2) Offer tax credits in the amount of that lowest bid to any business that wants it. Any business, from Apple or Google to ADM to Koch Industries.
3) Let that company hire their own contractor to do the work. Pay them the tax credit amount agreed upon completion of the project, regardless of what it actually cost the company to complete it.
4) No tolls. The highway is returned to service and free public access.
This would completely bypass all the labor laws that contractors working directly for government agencies have to comply with. It would give the company every incentive to get it done as quickly as possible so they can get their tax credit, so everything would get done faster. The company would have every incentive to get it done for the lowest cost, while still passing inspection, because if they can do it for less than the amount of the lowest government contractor’s bid, that is all profit.
Those roads and bridges aren’t goimg to fix themselves.
When the interstate highway system was built, even taking into account increased demand, couldn’t have predicted the volume of traffic that it has to endure today.
Most of the interstate system is near its end of life, and needs to be rebuilt and upgraded.
Trump is a builder, and knows how to make this happen, on budget, and on time. So when he talks about infrastructure, people need to listen.
The only roads built in Texas these days seem to be Toll Roads.
“We pay enough taxes. We do not need toll roads.”
We have several toll roads here in Texas and I’m happy with the Texas Model which is low rates and non-toll alternatives. its a user based tax or expense. But, the way I see it that’s where the cost should be, on the user.
“We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals,â...”
You cant fix the inner cities without fixing the people who live there.
I have no problem at all with tolls and privatization to pay for highways. User fees are generally a good way to go.
There were a few articles on this before the election. It was a TOUGH CALL, Tol, but for me, preventing the country from becoming a one-party dictatorship and descending into Third World status slightly outweighed paying more tolls to drive...but not by much.
Absolutely NO to tolls.
You don’t build a road on the taxpayers dime then charge the taxpayers again for it pretty much in perpetuity.
I understand some swaths of the country have tolls for everything; its not a huge deal. We have danged few tolls aroun heah and we seem to get along just fine.
I’d go along with tolls. As long as the federal gax tax is repealed.
Tolls should be banned anyway. The money goes to anything but the roads, bridges or tunnels.
Some toll roads are excellent deals for convenience and having surfaces that don't beat up your car. Why do so many sound like Dems in their complaints about how they may end up paying a toll somewhere down the road when the majority won't likely see any change except for better infrastructure?????
So little to celebrate and so many "concerns" is a pathetic attitude - especially in these times and circumstances.
“We do not need toll roads.”
Local and state governments love them some toll roads.
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