PD Editorial: Dodging the repair bill for nation’s roads

Sonoma County's roads are among the worst in the state.

California's highways are among the roughest in the nation.

And the Interstate highway system is crumbling.

Anyone see a pattern here?

OK, what about here: In June, Sonoma County voters thrashed a proposal to raise the sales tax to upgrade local roads. California legislators are at odds over how to pay for highway maintenance. And Congress just kicked the can down what's left of the road. Again.

To sum up, the nation's infrastructure is deteriorating from Bodega Bay to Boston and Missoula to Miami, but no one wants to pay the bill to resurface, rehabilitate and rebuild all those roads, bridges and interchanges.

In fairness to Sonoma County voters, many opposed Measure A because it didn't guarantee that new revenue would be spent on road maintenance.

Taxes on gasoline and diesel are earmarked for roads and transit, and they are a logical source of highway funding — a textbook example of a user fee. But revenue from fuel taxes hasn't kept pace with the need for a variety of reasons, including the dramatic increase in fuel-efficiency. As gas mileage continues to improve (as mandated by the federal government), and more drivers switch to hybrids and fully electric cars, the gap will grow even larger.

California's urban-centric formula for distributing gas tax revenue exacerbates the funding shortfall in Sonoma County, where the Board of Supervisors has tapped the general fund to make up some of the difference.

Estimates for rehabilitating aging Interstate highways and expanding their capacity to accommodate traffic demands range as high as $3 trillion.

California's maintenance backlog is $59 billion, Gov. Jerry Brown said.

Sonoma County needs $950 million to restore its entire 1,300-mile road network to good condition, with millions more needed for to upgrade city streets.

Oregon is experimenting with a mileage-based roads fee to ensure that all vehicles are contributing to highway maintenance. Some of our readers have suggested taxing tires as an alternative to fuel. While these ideas are worth exploring, increasing gasoline taxes for the first time in a quarter-century would have an immediate impact. Indexing fuel taxes for inflation also makes sense. But the political prospects aren't good for either proposal.

Brown recently called the Legislature into special session to address highway funding, but North Bay Assemblyman Bill Dodd told the Editorial Board that he's pessimistic about lawmakers settling on a tax plan that can muster the two-thirds majority needed for approval.

'I'm not sure how we get there,' he said.

We hope state lawmakers don't look to Washington for inspiration. On Thursday, the Senate passed a six-year spending plan that includes … three years of funding.

Even that was too much for hard-core conservatives in the House, so the Senate also approved a stopgap bill — the 34th since 2009 — to keep the Federal Highway Trust Fund solvent for three months, enough to get through the summer construction season.

Crumbling roads are a drag on the economy and, as the recent collapse of a bridge on Interstate 10 in Southern California demonstrates, they're also a threat to public safety. A reliable source of highway funding is a necessity for California and the nation. Unfortunately, that message seems to be lost on Congress and the Legislature.