Rebuilding Vermont

Vermont Business Magazine, Apr 01, 1997 by Andrews, Richard

Vermont's roads and bridges will continue to crumble in fiscal 1998, but maybe not quite so fast as in the last few years.

A coalition of highway contractors and users say it is making headway in its push to persuade the public and the Legislature to invest more in maintaining the state's transportation network. There is general understanding that the problem of deterioration is large and growing at an escalating rate. The difficulty is finding money to address it.

Key legislators say they know bridges and roads are failing fast, and they would prefer to restore all transportation funds to fixing them. But there are too many equally vital competing demands for money to permit a full scale attack on deteriorating infrastructure.

Transportation committees in the Legislature have long been convinced of the need for more money, and they argue for it before their colleagues in appropriations committees. But appropriations committees see transportation as just one need among many competing for scarce funds.

Complicating the issue this year is the recent Vermont Supreme Court decision requiring reform in educational funding. The effort to comply with the decision is absorbing enormous amounts of legislative energy, and reform proposals tend to absorb more money as well, making it even harder to find money for bridges and roads.

Thom Serrani, executive director of the Associated General Contractors of Vermont, says his group has two ultimate goals: to stop diversion of money from the Transportation Fund to non-transportation purposes, and to get the Legislature to enact a 10-year plan to restore Vermont's transportation system to good condition.

Those goals are also supported by other members of the Vermont Highway Users Coalition, which includes the Vermont chapter of the American Automobile Association, the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, the Associated Industries of Vermont, the Vermont Automobile Dealers Association, the Vermont Petroleum Association, the Vermont Truck and Bus Association and the Vermont Ski Areas Association.

"We hope to come out of the session with a few million more dollars, and are hoping the Legislature will come up with a vehicle to establish a 10-year plan, if not the plan itself," Serrani said. "We hope experts in the field and the users of highways can get together and develop a plan."

PUSH FOR FUNDING

Last fall, the Associated General Contractors produced a series of television advertisements dramatizing the decay of bridges and highways.

"It is clear there is a real problem," Serrani said. "The Agency of Transportation itself said there could be a (bridge) collapse here. Eighty percent of our highways are in fair to poor condition, according to regional studies published in December. Vermont has the worst roads In New England.

"The first part of our effort was to educate the public," Serrani said. "What we saw in the campaigns in both parties --what we heard in campaign debates and forums -- indicated to us that indeed the message was getting across.

"The second part is harder," he continued. "And it comes at a time when there is a Supreme Court decision which, if you interpret it strictly, implies that everything will be directed to fixing the (school financing) problem with new financing. It doesn't come at a good time for finding a solution to transportation funding."

This year, about $42 million of the $145 million Transportation Fund is being spent for things other than construction, although a large chunk of that is going for items like motor vehicle law enforcement that are arguably transportation related. Serrani said in March that it appeared that the Legislature might reduce diversion from the fund by $3 to $5 million.

"It's incremental, and our members understand that," Serrani said.

The effectiveness of the extra money may be enhanced by loosening of design standards so bridges in places likely never to see much traffic don't have to be built to the highest standards. "There are towns that have bridges that are never going to be four-lane roads," Serrani observed. "Certainly it's a lot cheaper to avoid ASHTO (American Society of Highway Transportation Officials) standards."

TRANSPORT FUND RAIDS

Representative Gary Richardson, R-Perkinsville, introduced a bill to phase out Transportation Fund diversion over five years. His bill, H-295, began with 60 cosponsors -- just 16 votes short of a majority in the House.

"That was very positive," Serrani said. "We think it possible and reasonable, though it won't happen overnight." The Associated General Contractors has produced new television ads in support of the bill, he said.

Richardson said he could have gotten 20 more sponsors.

"If this bill reaches the floor, I think it would pass," he said. However, he predicted the Democratic majority would bottle the bill up in committee.

"We have a majority of people in the House that loves to spend money, and they are reluctant to remove money they are accustomed to spending from their clutches," he charged. "They are pretty well able to control the people who would vote on this."