This past week, branded as Infrastructure Week by the White House, was as much about rebuilding U.S. transportation systems as it was about finding ways to expand and improve them. The American Public Transportation Association, for example, released a new report that highlighted the dramatic need to reinvest in rail systems.
“Our failure as a nation to address America’s public-transit modernization needs has wide-ranging negative effects because lost time in travel makes a region’s economy less productive,” said Paul Skoutelas, APTA president and CEO. “Congress has an opportunity in the current fiscal year 2019 appropriations process to help address the nation’s aging public-transit infrastructure.”
Modernization deficiencies in the nation’s public-transit infrastructure result in a decrease of $180 billion in GNP. This includes a loss of $109 billion in household income over six years and 162,000 jobs over the same timeframe. The authors of the study note that failure to modernize the nation’s aging public transit infrastructure adds time and delays to commutes. This, in turn, slows down workers’ economic output, which directly affects business sales in a regional economy.
In addition, the quality of businesses that locate in an area is tied to the efficiency of a transportation system, and this directly impacts workers’ earning potential. For example, officials at Amazon.com Inc. are searching for a second headquarters in North America. With the addition of this new $5 billion facility, Amazon will generate 50,000 high-paying jobs with yearly salaries of $100,000 or more. Amazon’s project summary describes the importance of an efficient transportation system as a part of its ideal location requirements. Specifically, the company notes “optimal access to mass transit — direct access to rail, train, subway/metro and bus routes.”
“We thank Congress for their recent bipartisan effort in passing its fiscal year 2018 budget and the president for signing it. This budget included significant increases in federal investment in public transit,” said Skoutelas. “While this is a positive step forward in helping to address the nation’s aging public-transit infrastructure, this momentum must be maintained by providing similar funding levels for 2019.”
Skoutelas added, “We are also calling on the Administration and Congress to address the urgency of the Highway Trust Fund solvency, which expires in just over two years. This will provide predictable, multi-year funding to not only address America’s deteriorating infrastructure, but provide for continued investment to help grow the nation’s economy.”
America’s aging public-transit infrastructure is in grave need of investment. In its latest report card, the American Society of Civil Engineers graded the nation’s public transportation infrastructure a D minus. That is the lowest grade ASCE gave to any category of U.S. infrastructure.
To read the full report go to www.apta.com/modernization.
