The American Society of Civil Engineers has released their 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. The report estimates a $2.2 trillion cost for necessary repairs and upgrades to our infrastructure networks. Unfortunately, current funding mechanisms are unable to meet this challenge. The current surface transportation program expires on September 30, 2009, and Congress must use this critical opportunity to improve the programs and increase investment. 

RAND hosted a transportation infrastructure panel on January 28, 2009 on Capitol Hill with three former Secretaries of Transportation who discussed the current state of U.S. infrastructure policy and the outlook for 2009 and beyond. The speakers included:  Secretary William T. Coleman, Jr. (Ford 1975-77); Secretary James H. Burnley (Reagan 1987-89); and Secretary Rodney E. Slater (Clinton 1997-2000). The Secretaries addressed a wide range of transportation issues from the effect of greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change to the future of earmarking. 

Of particular interest was the agreement on the need to fix the broken funding mechanisms for our highway and transit systems. Secretaries Burnley and Slater both lauded the Chamber for making this important issue a priority and dedicating staff and resources to infrastructure.  The Secretaries were of course referring to the Chamber’s Let’s Rebuild America initiative and the Chamber-led Americans for Transportation Mobility Coalition. They echoed our call for finding new and innovative sources of dedicated revenue to address the United States’ infrastructure woes.