Fueling Infrastructure Repairs
The National Commission on Surface Transportation has released its final report on upgrading the nation's infrastructure (You can read a summary here). Basically it's an aggressive list of recommendations to upgrade the nation's highways and bridges.
Aggressive sounds expensive. To pay for it, the commission recommends increasing the national sales tax on gasoline 25 to 40 cents per gallon. That increase would happen about 5-8 cents per year.
(FYI, I have to credit Marketplace for letting me know about this report)
Members of the commission argue that the impact on motorists will be small. Before you react to that, consider these two stories in the Bangor Daily News today:
Bill proposed to ease weight restrictions on logging trucks Frequent Maine storms, high fuel costs make snow removal contracts unprofitable
I have to wonder what the effect will be on the average business.
The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives has scheduled a hearing for 11 a.m. Thursday. There's no word yet on whether CSPAN will air the hearings. Rep. Michael Michaud is a member of the committee. You can reach Michaud at :
Lewiston: (207) 782-3704 Waterville: (207) 873-5713 Bangor: (207) 942-6935 Presque Isle: (207) 764-1036 or by writing
I admit mixed feelings on this. Like you, I don't want to pay any more for gasoline. One the things an economy needs to stay healthy is the efficient flow of goods and people. We need to be able to move around the country as cheaply and reliably as possible. Gasoline prices don't help.
But neither do roads and bridges that are falling apart. Any money spent on them could be considered an investment that will help the economy. But considering gas prices already are above $3 a gallon, what would be the return on investment here?
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