The Commission has evaluated a wide range of options that could begin to close what has become an unacceptable and unsustainable investment deficit in our nation's surface transportation infrastructure. The Commission assessed each option's ability to raise significantly more resources at the federal level and to support the ability of state and local governments to do the same. In offering Congress the results of this analytical and deliberative process, the Commission recognizes that there are no easy solutions. Looking to the future, the Commission endorses the growing consensus that transitioning to a funding approach based more directly on use of the transportation system is the right foundation.
In the twentieth century, surface transportation was largely about steel and concrete: extending and expanding the physical network of roads, bridges, and rail systems and the cars, buses, and trucks that operated on it. The goal was to raise the money needed, from whatever sources, to build a robust enough system to meet the nation's mobility needs. | Looking to the future, the Commission endorses the growing consensus that transitioning to a funding approach based more directly on use of the transportation system, including mileage-based user fees, is the right foundation. |
In the twenty-first century, steel and concrete will of course continue to be the foundation of our surface transportation infrastructure, and raising the resources needed to support that system will still be important. New capabilities of the system, however, will need to be not just big but also "smart." We are now able to use technological advances to significantly improve how people pay for their use of the transportation system. Importantly, doing so will enable the delivery of a host of other benefits, including real-time information to vehicle drivers to help reduce congestion, improve safety, and reduce emissions, to transit operators to improve the convenience and reliability of public transit, and to system managers to better monitor and manage the system and improve the allocation of transportation infrastructure resources.
The Commission's core recommendations focus on the first attribute of this new intelligent system: improving how the system is funded, specifically in ways that are more sustainable and more efficient. The Commission's other recommendations also play vital roles in ensuring overall funding security and staving off further system degradation through immediate action that will afford the nation the time to realign the funding framework.
Transitioning from a fuel tax-based system to one based more directly on use of the highway system measured by miles driven undoubtedly will require a great deal of planning and public education. But that is no reason to delay initiating the transition. As one Commissioner warns, "If we don't start, we won't ever get there." And, as this process commences, policy makers will need to ensure that all stakeholders are consulted and involved in the decision making for all aspects of the transition.
In closing, if we fail to address the immediate funding crisis and longer-term investment challenge facing our surface transportation system, we will suffer grim consequences in the future: unimaginable levels of congestion, reduced safety, costlier goods and services, an eroded quality of life, and diminished economic competitiveness as a nation. Our alternative future—with increased federal revenue, new funding approaches, and new technology as a foundation—is an integrated national transportation system that is less congested and safer and that promotes increased productivity, stronger national competitiveness, and improved environmental outcomes. That future is waiting for us to embrace it.