With all that is going on in Washington, long term transportation funding bills for both surface and aviation have taken a back seat. Given all that is going on this is probably for the best! Who wants Chairman Oberstar’s bill on the surface side loaded with things like Office of Public Benefit, Office Livability etc.?
Perhaps we will in fact have time to have an honest debate as to what the next bill should look like.
For the best “state of play” article look at “Waiting for Multi-Year Legislation” by Audrey Dutton in the Bond Buyer.
Important in the article is a quote from Jack Finn, Sr. Vice President and national director or tolls services for HNTB:
“The delay in finding a new revenue source could spark more participation from the private sector and more public-private partnerships. If Congress does not raise fuel taxes significantly, states and localities will look more and more to the private sector for capital to support their needs. ”
Now how bad can that be?