With the energy bill and the highway bill now signed into law, it's time to reflect on what transpired and the implications for shippers in this country.
Congress passed 12 extensions to the highway bill that expired in September 2003. The highway bill covers a six-year period, retroactive to the 2003 expiration, so in about four years, Congress will begin debating a new version and with that, the debate over our nation's transportation planning will begin again.
The time to think about the future is now.
Many shippers and carriers may be relieved that we finally have a highway bill, but frankly, this legislation does very little in moving us toward a world-class transportation infrastructure.
There are three reasons for my concerns.
First, our transportation infrastructure is becoming increasingly overburdened.
Second, it takes time -- and lots of it -- to build new roads, add new airports and expand ports.
Third, maintaining a world-class transportation infrastructure requires political leadership that has vision and courage to make and fund initiatives.
Regarding transportation infrastructure, the statistics confirm what most of us experience on a regular basis. There is congestion -- and lots of it -- on the roads, at the ports, the airports and along our rail lines.
The price tag for this congestion numbers in the hundreds of billions of dollars on an annual basis. The reason for this congestion is simple: we have not been investing in our transportation infrastructure to keep pace with the normal annual growth in the economy.
There is no magic here. If you want to maintain or improve the infrastructure, you have to invest.
According to data from organizations such as American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the future isn't looking any better. Look at things like projected annual growth in the miles driven or the projected increases in the volume at our country's ports and you have to ask: How will we handle this increased volume?
Ideally, the answer would be the new roads and expanded facilities that we will be building. Unfortunately, it's not quite that simple. It takes lots and lots of time to build these things.
For example, here in Chicago, the I-355 expansion to Interstate 80 was approved in 2004. Planners are not quite sure how many miles it will be, but it will probably be around 30 miles. This project was originally submitted for approval in the mid-1980s. So it "only" took around 20 years to fight the environmental and other battles to get approval; however, the road still isn't built. An optimistic assumption suggests it will come on line by 2010, which means it will have taken about 25 years to build this 30-mile stretch of road.
And look at the infamous third airport in Chicago. This debate has been going on for "only" 10 to 15 years and it is highly unlikely that the airport would come on stream until after 2015. So practically speaking, it could easily be 30 years, if ever, before Chicago sees a third airport.
We're not just talking roads and airports.
Recently, I heard an executive with the Port of Long Beach discuss how it has taken more than 10 years to get approval to expand that critical gateway so it can receive the new mega-containerships. And they are still fighting battles to expand ports.
There are serious implications resulting from the failure of our elected leaders to take actions(as opposed to talking or posturing about) that reflect importance of the transportation infrastructure in forging a competitive advantage for the United States.
When it comes to building a world-class transportation infrastructure, this country has miles to go.
This isn't rocket science; we either invest in our transportation infrastructure or suffer the consequences. The fact that the highway bill is, in the words of Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) "stuffed fuller than a turkey" with more than $24 billion of political pork, is not a legacy that inspires confidence.
We need political leaders that understand the importance of this issue. What would our country look like today if the Eisenhower administration hadn't made the decision to complete our national interstate system?
Where are the leaders who are willing to stand up and proclaim "this is a critically important issue?"
Instead of debating what our infrastructure should look like in 2010, 2015 and beyond, our "leaders" spent hours and hours debating donor/donee issues along with other senseless issues such as federally mandated fuel surcharges.
Absent effective leadership on this issue, this country will squander the advantages derived from a world-class transportation infrastructure and we will pass a blighted future to our children.
That is why both carriers and shippers need to band together and relentlessly communicate to our elected leaders that we need a world-class infrastructure and resolve the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) problem; and we need to address the issue of productivity enhancing legislation that addresses safety issues while also allowing for more effective utilization of our infrastructure.
We need to start this communication process right now.
Michael Regan is president of Tranzact Technologies, Elmhurst, Ill.
