Boston—As state Departments of Transportation across the country submit their infrastructure wish-lists to be included in the Economic Recover Act, public transportation advocates are worried that the bill will be full of highway expansions that run counter to the promise of a “green recovery.”
The Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG) and its counterpart organizations in other states released a study of the transportation projects put forward by nineteen states.
The 19-state study found that:
• Despite increasing transit ridership nationwide, on average the states would spend only seventeen percent of funds on public transit or intercity rail projects. Seven of the nineteen states would allocate 1 percent or less to transit or intercity rail, including four that would allocate nothing at all.
• In spite of hundreds of billions of dollars in backlogged maintenance and repair for crumbling infrastructure, more than half of transportation funds would flow to highway projects to build new or wider highways. A third of states would spend less than a quarter of road funds to protect and restore existing bridges and roads.
While the report only analyzed nineteen state requests because a majority of the wish-lists have not been made public, MASSPIRG sees a troubling development.
“Unfortunately the trend is toward highway expansions that will keep Americans addicted to oil and do little to address global warming from the transportation sector,” said MASSPIRG Advocate Eric Bourassa.
But Massachusetts looks the best compared to other state requests. According to the MASSPIRG report, the Executive Office of Transportation has presented a good balance of public transportation improvements, bike and pedestrian projects, money for ports and aviation, and road and highway maintenance.
“Governor Patrick and his state agencies have put forward the most comprehensive request, with more than half of the proposal dedicated to modes of transportation that encourage people to get out of their cars,” said Bourassa.
Massachusetts is also the only state requesting its entire road and highway funds for repair and maintenance, with no new roadways funded under the plan
But transit advocates nationally are concerned that the incoming Obama administration’s goal of using investments in infrastructure to modernize the economy and reduce oil consumption will be undermined if states spend transportation stimulus funds the way the majority of these nineteen states have proposed.
The MASSPIRG report also calls on every state department of transportation to disclose the project list they are submitting to Congress.
“Without a transparent and open process, the public may think of the stimulus bill as a waste of taxpayer money instead of an investment in critical infrastructure aimed at solving long-term problems like our nation’s oil dependence, global warming, and the looming recession,” said Bourassa.
The report calls on Congress, the Obama Administration, and state leaders to apply the following principles to the writing and implementation of the next federal economic recovery legislation: (1) Highways should receive no more funds than the combined total for public transit, intercity rail, and bicycle and pedestrian projects; (2) Any road funds should go first to maintenance and repair of structurally deficient bridges and roads, not new highways or lanes; (3) Public transportation funds should include support for operations so agencies can accommodate rising demand. (4) Surface Transportation Program highway funds should be distributed as under current law so that a portion of resources flow directly to metropolitan areas that know best about which local projects are needed; (5) All states, cities, and agencies should publicly disclose the stimulus lists they have submitted; (6) Direct recipients of stimulus funds should report on how money was spent and any transportation spending that it displaced.
Read the full report, entitled "Economic Stimulus or Simply More Misguided Spending?: How Outdated Transportation Wish Lists Sent by States to Congress Ignore Current Trends and Neglect Urgent National Priorities."
Economic-Stimulus-or-Simply-More-Misguided-Spending.pdf