URGENT ITEM OF BUSINESS

By H. R. HANLEY,
Secretary, Illinois Department of Transportation

One of the most urgent items of business for the incoming 100th Congress must be to promptly enact an extension of the federal highway-transit programs. Until this is done, there will be no new federal dollars available for projects. Convincing the new Congress of the urgency of this situation will be the task of state and local governments and the construction industry.

Congressional Inaction Creates Funding Crisis

Passage of the reauthorization bill was left unfinished by the 99th Congress when it adjourned last fall. Apparently, Congress did not fully understand the devastating impact of its failure to enact new authorizations. The members assumed that $6.5 billion in unspent funds from prior years would be sufficient to meet the states' highway needs for the first six to nine months of federal fiscal year 1987. This is simply not the case for most states! The funds are not distributed evenly among all states (for some it represents more than half of their historic annual share; for others, including Illinois, it is less than one fifth). Also, the funds are not balanced among individual programs to reflect the states' priority needs.

These unobligated funds are rapidly being depleted. According to AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials), many states will have run out of highway funds by January 1;

• 25 states — out of Interstate construction funds;

• 23 states — out of Interstate 4R funds;

• 42 states — out of federal-aid primary funds;

• 18 states — out of federal-aid secondary funds;

• 16 states — out of federal-aid urban funds;

• 15 states — out of bridge funding; and

• 26 states — out of safety construction funds.

Illinois Especially Hard Hit

In Illinois, the situation is especially critical since the state has relatively few left-over funds due to the fact that we have done so well in the past in using our federal funds. IDOT had planned to let $110 million in highway projects in December. The letting has now been cut back to $49 million. If the impasse continues, the February letting could be affected even more drastically. Each month of delay will aggravate the situation further. If Congress does not act in a timely fashion, nearly 80 percent of our federal-aid projects in the 1987 state highway program could be at risk.

Construction Industry Feels the Pinch

Substantial delays could deal a blow to the construction industry — both to contractors and employees.

• Illinois' 1987 highway program would generate about 20,000 construction jobs. Anticipated funding in the new federal bill represents about half of these jobs. If these jobs should not become available this spring or summer, the social and economic tolls will have to be borne not only by the unemployed workers and their families, but also by the taxpayers.

• Some contractors could be forced out of business, especially those small specialty firms which lack the flexibility to find other types of non-highway projects.

Loss of Trust in Highway Trust Fund

Motorists are still paying taxes that go into the Highway Trust Fund, including the Mass Transit Account. Yet, the programs funded from these revenues have been put on hold.

• This undermines the time-honored principle of employing user fees as the foundation of the federal highway program: the partnership between the states and the federal government and the contract between the federal government and the highway users.

• Delays in getting highway programs authorized will set back the progress made over the last few years in reducing the backlog of rough roads and bad bridges. Ignoring the ongoing transportation infrastructure needs carries a heavy price — accelerated decay. One of the major reasons for the user financed Highway Trust Fund is to preclude such consequences.

January 1987 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 27

Special Effort Needed

The change in control of the Senate from Republican to Democrat and the US DOT's insistence on introducing a highway-transit bill that will contain numerous, radical changes resoundingly rejected last year will tend to hinder expeditious action. In addition, the major issues of controversy that held up progress in the fall are likely to resurface. The message that this legislation must be passed promptly will be as critical as ever. A delay in enactment past March will begin to substantially impede the implementation of highway programs, especially in the frost-belt states like Illinois with a limited construction season.

We at the state level are intensifying our efforts to let Congress know the devastating impacts of delaying action. However, all interested parties must work together to ensure that Congress really expedites enactment of a bill.

Impacts of No Federal Highway Bill on Illinois

Illinois is hit hardest among the states because it has a relatively lower balance of left-over federal highway funds from prior years compared to other states. Illinois is virtually out of federal funds for Interstate completion, Interstate substitution, Interstate repair and bridge repair — four very crucial programs.

• At stake is approximately $450 million in anticipated FY 1987 federal highway and safety construction funding for Illinois.

• Failure to enact an authorization bill by April 1 means that drastic cutbacks in the remaining FY 1987 Illinois highway program will have to be made. The magnitude of improvements to Illinois highways that are jeopardized is as follows:

— 484 miles of highways

— 274 bridges

— 35 safety projects

— 57 intersection improvements

• Progress made over the last three years in reducing the backlog of roads and bridges in need of repair and improvement will be set back. From June 1983 to June 1986, that backlog was reduced 25 percent for bridges and 40 percent for roads.

• Construction industry in Illinois is threatened.

— Spring and summer construction seasons may be all or partially lost.

— A substantial portion of the nearly 20,000 construction jobs that Illinois' annual highway program generates may not be realized this spring and summer.

— Firms, particularly small, specialty subcontractors may go out of business.

• Illinois' economy would suffer.

— Each highway construction job generates at least two other jobs as the demand and ability to pay for manufactured goods and services increase.

— Fewer highway construction jobs would thus deny Illinois the spin-off benefits of other economic activity. This will considerably weaken the momentum of Illinois' reviving economy.

• Illinois' motorists are big losers.

— Illinois contributes over $1.2 million a day to the Highway Trust Fund, with no return of new federal highway funds since October 1, 1986.

— By April 1, 1987 Illinois will have contributed $225 million to the Highway Trust Fund.

— Safety and convenience of motoring public is unnecessarily compromised as construction at existing sites of projects requiring multi-year funding is halted. •

Page 28 / Illinois Municipal Review / January 1987