NEWS FLASH: DOT to solicit applications for FAST freight grants

The U.S. Department of Transportation is working to implement the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act and is ready to launch a new competitive grant program for freight projects as outlined in the legislation.    The U.S. Department of Transportation on Friday expects to publish a Federal Register notice announcing a funding opportunity for $800 million in new freight transportation infrastructure grants, according to Deputy Secretary Victor Mendez. 
   The request for applications is one of the early results of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, which was enacted in December and established a $4.5 billion discretionary grant program over five years for large, nationally significant multimodal projects. Congress earmarked $500 million of the total for non-highway mode improvements.
   FAST also included authorization for $6.3 billion in formula grants to states to be used on highways that carry a lot of freight. The two programs represent the first time that Congress has set up dedicated funding specifically to aid in goods movement.
   Implementation of FAST was the dominant topic Wednesday at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ annual legislative conference in Washington. 
   The $305 billion legislation also increased highway funding by 15 percent over 2015 fiscal year levels, ensured that no state receives less than 95 cents in return for every dollar contributed to the Highway Trust Fund from fuel taxes, fully funded the bridge replacement program, streamlined several DOT agencies and gave states the option to use their own environmental regulations for project review rather than U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ones. 
   But its main accomplishment, according to several speakers, was that it ended a decade of temporary funding measures at pre-existing levels that left state transportation departments without the certainty to continue major projects, and, in some cases, to even plan basic maintenance.
   More fuel-efficient cars and inflation have led to a declining balance in the Highway Trust Fund, forcing Congress to bail out the system with more than $60 billion from the General Fund since 2009. Disagreement over how to make up the difference between revenues and growing obligations to states trying to modernize deteriorating highways and bridges, prevented passage of a long-term bill until late last year. Congress, which hasn’t raised the per-gallon fuel tax since 1993, did not settle on a sustainable new revenue source. Instead it took the controversial tack of carving out $70 billion from other parts of the budget and directing the money to the Highway Trust Fund.
   The short-term extensions are anathema to transportation planners at the state level. Federal highway aid reimburses states for completed construction work and states are reluctant to bid new projects when they are not sure of receiving timely payments for the federal share of highway expenses. 
   Arkansas, for example, had 113 projects that were threatened to be cancelled and Tennessee was able to move ahead with 12 projects that could have been stalled without a long-term surface transportation bill.
   Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the ranking member on the Environment and Public Works Committee, likened short-term extensions to banks offering six-month mortgages.
   “You’re not going to buy the house” under those circumstances, she said.
   Simply extending expired legislation wastes about 30 percent of the spending capacity, EPW Chairman Jim Inhofe said.
   He urged lawmakers to start preparing now for the next reauthorization bill and avoid short-term extensions.
   All revenue sources need to be considered, including a fuel-tax increase and tolling, but the idea gaining the most interest seems to be taxing vehicles based on miles traveled, Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on highways and transit, said.
   FAST included money for additional research into a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) system, which still must overcome technical hurdles and opposition from privacy advocates worried about government tracking individual movements by GPS. Those concerns could result in a program that only captures one’s odometer reading, Graves said. Others say that would eliminate the ability of transportation managers to apply congestion pricing as an incentive for motorists and commercial drivers to use certain highways at non-peak periods.
   The dedicated freight programs are a welcome development, but “we hope that money flows to where it’s really needed, like for chronic bottlenecks, last mile connectors and technology, and that we don’t just peanut-butter it across” all potential uses, Jeff Paniati, executive director of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, said.
   Pete Ruane, president of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, said that the private sector and states need to do a better job explaining how transportation investments have a positive impact on the economy and quality of life, or risk having small-government budget hawks kill federal involvement in infrastructure and kick the programs to the states.
   “We don’t go back and measure the benefits and changes brought about by these investments. It’s an investment. It’s not a cost, not an expense,” he said.
   States and business groups should hire outside parties who can routinely analyze and report on the public benefits of transportation to grow support for user fees and other revenues, Ruane insisted.
   The DOT has organized seven, cross-agency teams to address FAST implementation in the following areas:
     • Freight policy;
     • Discretionary grants;
     • Innovation, technology and research;
     • Safety;
     • Project delivery;
     • Innovative finance;
     • And Ladders of Opportunity (the DOT’s goal of creating jobs through infrastructure building for small and disadvantaged businesses; connecting Americans to jobs, education, healthcare and other services through multimodal transportation; and creating walkable communities through transit and other transportation development).
   The department’s new transportation investment center is designed to help states, municipalities and project sponsors get technical assistance for DOT credit programs and access private capital in public private partnerships. FAST included substantial funding increases and procedural changes for the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act credit program and the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing program.