Rebuilding America's infrastructure - Building the American Future - Cover Story

Nation's Business, March, 1992 by Albert G. Holzinger

Transportation

America's transportation infrastructure, one of the key elements fueling America's industrial dominance this century, has fallen into such disrepair that it is now hurting the competitiveness of U.S. industry. For example, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials estimates that truck delays resulting from overburdened highways and bridges add $7.6 billion a year to the cost of American-made goods.

The airport/airway industry estimates that it must raise $180 billion over the next decade to meet government mandates on aircraft purchases and airport infrastructure improvements.

In response, Congress last year enacted a measure that will provide more than $150 billion to begin upgrading the nation's highways, bridges, and rail and mass-transit systems.

However, there is widespread agreement within the transportation industry that the statute has shortcomings. For example, the new law frees states and cities to spend funds on just about any transportation project. Thus, as much as 54 percent of the money earmarked by the statute for highways--about $65 billion--could be diverted to mass-transit programs.

If that happens, the new bill will fail to meet many of the basic needs it was intended to address.

Also, the consensus is that the Bush administration will not spend all the money the new law makes available. This expectation stems from the administration's use of surpluses in the airport trust fund and the highway trust fund for deficit reduction, when the money was collected from transportation users for infrastructure construction and repairs. These surpluses totaled $23.5 billion in the last fiscal year.

This year's National Business Agenda calls for close monitoring of the new transportation law and its implementation, with an eye toward gaining remedial actions if necessary.

It also calls for establishment of clear-cut national transportation policy. Goals of this policy should include:

* Completion and maintenance of an interstate-highway and airport/airway system capable of increasing business productivity and U.S. competitiveness well into the 21st century.

* Educational and other support of communities in their efforts to increase efficiency of existing highways.

* Use of financing methods that do not involve tax increases.

* Private-sector involvement.

* Use of earmarked revenues for the purposes intended by Congress.

Telecommunications

America's competitiveness in the years ahead will be affected dramatically by the ability to telecommunicate massive amounts of computer-generated information quickly, efficiently, and accurately. This view has been widely accepted by government, business, and the scientific and academic communities, yet America still has not made a full-scale commitment to creating an advanced telecommunications infrastructure.

Late last year, Congress passed a law that will establish the first major piece of this infrastructure--a high-speed network of the high-performance computers at major U.S. research centers, most of which are at universities.

The National Business Agenda calls for rapid expansion of this and similar information networks throughout America's economic base, with the ultimate goal of making educational and other information and business services widely available.