Page 32 - ATR 1 2013

Crumbling Underfoot

Governments struggle to repair roads upon which trucking depends

by Kelly Cargill Crow the nation are now deficient. The report for the privilege of using the highways
Managing Editor categorically states that the deteriora- upon which the trucking industry and
tion of the nation’s infrastructure the U.S. economy depend.
One of the biggest crises facing this weakens the economy, jeopardizes pub- Perhaps not surprisingly, when
nation lies directly under our feet—liter- lic safety, threatens the quality of life given the choice to shoulder the burden
ally. and harms the U.S. economy. and fix the problem or let the problem
According to data from the U.S. The stark reality is that no white continue, the electorate can be much
Department of Transportation, actual knight will ride in to save us. Citizens bolder than the people they elect to
funding for the federal highway pro- and the business community must represent them. Consider that last
gram in fiscal year 2013 under the cur- make the repairs necessary by agree- November, Arkansas voters surprised
rent transportation legislation, called ing to pony up more money. That is no pundits when they overwhelmingly
MAP-21, will be $40.3 billion or about small feat. And the political climate in voted to pass a constitutional amend-
$27 billion less than the federal share Washington, D.C. doesn’t lend itself to ment which implements a 10-year half-
needed to maintain current conditions. tax increases. percent sales tax increase to fund an
The American Society of Civil So, increasingly, state governments upgrade of the state’s highway system.
Engineers “2013 Report Card for are coming up with solutions – from In an increasingly conservative, anti-big
America’s Infrastructure” projected eliminating gas taxes in favor of sales government political climate, voters in
an investment gap of $846 billion in tax increases, to toll roads, to turning Arkansas chose to place a tax on them-
surface transportation over the next 17 the business of infrastructure over to selves to fix a problem.
years. More than 70,000 bridges across private investors who will charge us

32 arKanSaS truCKing report | issue 1 2013