You don’t have to be a traffic engineer or city planner to know that our country’s transportation system is in desperate need of help. Consider this statement from a recent white paper produced by the Bureau of National Affairs: “As of 2006, more than half of total vehicle miles traveled on the federal highway system occurred on roads that were not in good condition. More than one quarter of the nation’s bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.”
Making the problem worse is the fact that new infrastructure projects haven’t kept up with demand. According to the same white paper, between 1980 and 2006, vehicle travel miles increased by 97 percent for automobiles and 106 percent for trucks. But in the past 30 years the total number of highway lane miles grew only 4.4 percent.
The situation – some say a crisis – is especially worrisome for businesses because the harder it is for them to transport goods and services, the costlier it becomes. A higher cost of doing business translates to lower profitability and less money for hiring employees, which inhibits the economic recovery. Simply put: deteriorating infrastructure is a danger to public safety, harmful for the environment (think of all those vehicles idling in congested traffic because there aren’t enough roads), and bad for our nation’s economy in more ways than one.
Many experts, including the leadership of Sundt, agree that now is the time for bold action to turn the situation around.
“Initially, the federal government needs to pass a long-term transportation bill that is at or above the current funding levels. A five-year plan would give the states the stability they need to move forward with construction projects,” says Jeff Williamson, senior vice president and manager of Sundt’s Civil Division. “Ultimately, broad-based public awareness and education need to occur to create the will for a major investment in our infrastructure if this nation is to remain competitive in a global economy.”