August 8, 2007

Vermont Transportation Investments

(posted by me in the Burlington Free Press' online forum on August 3; published in their print edition on August 7, 2007)

The Vermont Department of Transportation has been saying consistently for years that we need to move faster in fixing bridges in the state. Replacing a bridge is not a quick task with planning, design, permitting and available contractor capacity. The minimum goal for Vermont would be for our Legislature to commit to spending ALL transportation tax revenue (likely to decrease as vehicles become more fuel efficient and people drive less) on transportation issues. Even that would not suffice.

In addition, we probably should consider a significant increase in spending, probably by long term bonding. We could use the state's excellent credit rating to increase asset replacements, primarily bridges. This would have the advantage of forcing the commitment of future $ to transportation infrastructure rather than divert them to the political 'cause of the hour.'

If we continue to underfund the most basic underpinnings of our economy and way of life, that neglect will eventually come back to bite us and we should not expect the Feds to do more than they are now.

I believe we have a huge financial storm ahead as the infrastructure demands and the health care funding crisis may converge at the same time.

True leadership in state government would put this potential financial crisis scenario front and center for the next legislative session. It transcends next year's budget in importance.

Legislators...are you listening?

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