LaHood talks transport funding at Press Club

LaHood talks transport funding at Press Club

LaHood

   The Obama administration is interested in an infrastructure bank, public-private partnerships and tolling as new sources of money to pay for highways, bridges, intermodal service roads and other infrastructure, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Thursday at the National Press Club.
   The government is looking for alternate sources of revenue and financing to supplement the fuel and excise taxes in the Highway Trust Fund, which is unable to keep up with state obligations as drivers cut back on fuel consumption.
   LaHood reiterated during the question-and-answer portion of the event that the administration is opposed to a raise in the gas tax for the upcoming reauthorization of the surface transportation bill.
   His speech focused on his department's ability to meet the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's goal of quickly pumping hard cash into the teetering economy.
   LaHood said the highway portion of the stimulus bill is now flowing out ahead of schedule at about $4 billion per month, nearly twice as fast as in traditional highway grant programs.
   'The Department of Transportation has made more money available to states more quickly than any other of our routine programs,' he said. The pace of construction and hiring based on the federal spending is expected to accelerate during the peak summer season, he added.
   LaHood said the stimulus program has done its job because many contractors who were on the verge of laying off employees held off when they saw the legislation being formulated and they also started buying heavy equipment.
   As of last week the department had made almost $13 billion available to states, equal to more than one-third of its normal funding allocation based on preset formulas.
   That includes nearly all of the recovery funds available to the Federal Aviation Administration for airport construction projects.
   The DOT plans to announce winners in the fall for its $1.5 billion competitive grant program for multimodal projects, LaHood said, adding that ports are prime candidates to funding because they didn't get very much in the main portion of the stimulus bill.
   Building out the Next Generation Air Traffic Control System is the FAA's top priority because it will improve safety and save jet fuel, LaHood said. NextGen, as the system is called, uses satellite-based global positioning system technology instead of ground-based radar to track and monitor aircraft. The system's greater precision allows planes to fly in closer proximity and take more direct routes.
   Airlines have complained that the federal government isn't moving quickly enough to install the system and they can't outfit their aircraft with expensive digital receivers until NextGen is in place.
   LaHood pointed out that the FAA's 2010 budget submitted to Congress includes $800 million for NextGen. 'We're going to get there sooner rather than later. We don't think it takes decades to get there,' he said. ' Eric Kulisch