Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx says the
Highway Trust Fund is going to run out of money in August, and
President Barack Obama is spending this week pushing his
infrastructure plans. If Congress doesn’t come up with the money to
patch the shortfall, many states will likely start cutting back
transportation projects, so the looming deadline is prompting an
embarrassment of gimmicks and bad ideas, which range from raising
the federal gas tax to cutting unrelated programs to pay for one
year of highway funding.
While there are a lot of things to disagree with in the
president’s transportation plans, writes Robert Poole, the most
sensible long-term solution for the Interstate Highway System is
actually coming from the Obama administration, which is calling for
allowing states to use toll revenue to finance the reconstruction
of aging Interstate highways. As Poole explains, this approach
would actually give states more control, tap the private sector’s
capital, and move the country closer to the Tea Party’s user-pays
principles. Conservatives should embrace this plan.
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