Transportation funding: doing more with less

Last week, the General Assembly Commission on State Tax and Financing Policy took up the issue of transportation funding during its second meeting. During this summer and fall, the interim Commission is examining a roster of financial issues including transportation, county income tax, fire protection territories, tax credits for school foundation contributions and others. Chairperson Scott Pelath stated in a press release about the Commission that “We will come to grips with dissipating sources of road dollars, establish realistic levels for state and local road funding, and scrutinize our infrastructure priorities.”

The meeting’s transportation session began with a presentation by the Purdue Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) that mapped the complex state transportation financing structure. We also heard from INDOT on the status of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act-funded transportation projects. Stimulus monies have funded 1,087 transportation projects around the state, ranging from road resurfacing to bridge repair to transit vehicle upgrades. Indiana’s ARRA projects have a completion deadline of February 17, 2012.

For the rest of the session, local public officials, citizens and interest group representatives made comments before the Commission. Just about all of the comments concerned the scarcity of transportation funding. City and town managers spoke of the hardships they face in funding local road maintenance. Several comments referenced the LTAP 2008 Statewide Bridge Sufficiency Rating Report, which reports that 21.6 percent of the state’s bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Some relayed concerns about the expense of constructing Interstate 69 in the southwest region of the state. Another issue that came up was vehicle fuel efficiency. Improvements in fuel efficiency (along with other factors such as the economic downturn) are decreasing the amount of gasoline sold, leading to a reduction in the gasoline tax revenues that fund much of the nation’s transportation programs.

Though the session’s main theme was the shortage of funds for meeting our transportation needs, the dialogue focused on lack of money – there was no discussion how we can reduce those needs to begin with. We are rightfully concerned about meeting the demand for transportation infrastructure. But what if we could reduce that demand? Transportation demand management is the process by which we change travel behavior (how, when and where people travel) in order to increase transportation system efficiency. Using transportation demand management strategies, we can do more with less. For example, we can reduce the number of vehicles on the road by increasing carpooling to work through incentives such as HOV lanes or preferential parking and resources like online carpooler matching databases. If we improve bus service and rail options, maybe we can divert enough traffic from the roads to reduce the expense of continually repairing and expanding highways like I-465. Another strategy is to employ transit-oriented development principles in constructing or redeveloping our neighborhoods and urban corridors.

There are dozens of other transportation demand management strategies to consider as governments plan for a future of increasing mobility needs and fewer funds to meet those needs. Which of these measures would work in your community? What are the best alternatives to making more and more room on the roads for single-occupancy vehicles?