First Signs of Gas Tax Crisis in Funding Roads

We told you so, said my brilliant co-author Julie.  We told you that the gas tax funding for roads is broken, unable to sustain the roads.

Now here's the first publicity we've seen on the topic. Note that there is now an advocacy group over this issue.

With Gen Y driving less and Boomers lowered driving on the horizon, we predict by 2020 roads will be financially unsustainable.

 

Comments

[D. P. Lubic]

Somehow this sounds very familiar. . .

From other perspectives (bicycles, history, Copenhagen?) comes this editorial about the early fight against automobiles:

http://www.copenhagenize.com/2011/02/anti-automobile-age-and-what-we-can.html

From the same site, under the tag line, “Car Industry Strikes Back,” is this post, an accounting of a meeting in Australia. Of interest is this section, starting at the eighth paragraph down:

“[Chris] Bangle [former head of design for BMW] said one thing that stood out, bold black on white. He said that the number of 16-18 year olds in the US who aren’t bothering getting their driving licences is growing fast. Cars register less on their radar. Then Bangle said it:

“We have to hook them back to the car.”

“That’s what he said. Sitting in the audience it was remarkable to see how many people turned their heads to the person next to them with quizzical looks on their faces. Silently asking each other; “Did he just say that? Really?”

Complete post:

http://www.copenhagenize.com/2010/08/personal-emotional-mobility.html

The whole “Car Industry Strikes Back” posting list:

http://www.copenhagenize.com/search/label/car%20industry%20strikes%20back

[D. P. Lubic]

Additional material from a site devoted to high speed rail in California:

http://www.cahsrblog.com/2011/10/wsj-obamas-hsr-plan-foundering/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wsj-obamas-hsr-plan-foundering

[D. P. Lubic]

In other news, all 50 states are having their highways subsidized at the Federal level; there are no longer any "donor" states that pay more in gas taxes than they receive from the Federal government

All are now net "recipient" states:

http://www.narprail.org/cms/index.php/narpblog/highway_spending_exceeds_user_fees_government_accountability_office_reports/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/commuting/states-get-back-more-than-they-put-into-highway-trust-fund-gao-report-says/2011/10/12/gIQAhBGchL_story.html

http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-918

[D. P. Lubic]

And some material on the truth about trains:

http://www.narprail.org/cms/index.php/resources/more/passenger_rail_myths_facts/

[D. P. Lubic]

More on this subject--gasoline consumption remains low, despite a supposedly recovering economy:

http://bonddad.blogspot.com/2011/10/weekly-indicators-gasoline-usage.html

And part of a stronger case for trains (and local trolleys, too):

http://newamerica.net/publications/policy/the_price_induced_energy_trap