Boost investment in transportation

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Boost investment in transportation

By Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.)

Posted: 03/05/08 05:18 PM [ET]

U.S. trade policy has been a disaster for American workers. Since the implementation of NAFTA, millions of quality, high-paying jobs have been shipped overseas. Real wages for the lowest-paid workers in the United States have stagnated or decreased while our trade deficit continues to grow. The Chicago area has lost over 100,000 manufacturing jobs while millions more have been lost nationally. Even as the U.S. economy teeters toward recession, the administration continues to push new NAFTA-style trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea that promise to further hurt American workers.

Instead of passing these flawed trade agreements, I believe Congress should work to find solutions that will grow the economy, replace the jobs lost by

NAFTA, protect our environment and allow American workers to compete and win in international trade. Fortunately, I believe there is a bipartisan step that can accomplish all of these goals. We must invest in our nation’s transportation infrastructure.

The need for such investment is obvious. Every year, U.S. producers are burdened with billions of dollars in additional costs stemming from the lack of capacity and poor maintenance of our nation’s roads, rails and ports. These inefficiencies drive up the cost of U.S. goods and leave us at a comparative disadvantage with other countries. As a result, jobs and production have relocated overseas, with American workers and the economy suffering.

Last year, the Texas Transportation Institute released a report that concluded urban traffic congestion cost the American economy $78 billion annually. The congestion led to 4.2 billion hours of extra travel time, 2.9 billion gallons of wasted fuel, and huge amounts of unnecessary and harmful emissions. The Department of Transportation estimates the cost of congestion might approach $200 billion annually when productivity losses, cargo delay costs and other associated economic impacts are included. In effect, our transportation deficiencies are creating a $200 billion tariff on U.S. exports. That’s quite a hurdle for domestic producers to clear just to make it out the door.

Unfortunately, transportation problems are expected to worsen. By 2020, freight tonnage is expected to increase by more than 50 percent compared to levels at the beginning of the decade. With increased growth in the U.S. population, especially in urban areas, transport bottlenecks will only become more frequent and severe. Meanwhile, countries such as China are making record investments in their transportation systems. As the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials observed, “Nearly all major players on the world stage are investing aggressively in their transportation infrastructure” as a way to support economic development. The U.S. should be no different.

So what are the solutions? First, we should invest more in rail transportation. Since freight railroads are the only mode of transportation in the U.S. that fund their own infrastructure, a relatively modest injection of federal, state and local funding can significantly leverage private capital to make critical rail infrastructure improvements. Trains are three or more times more energy-efficient than trucks, are more environmentally friendly, and contribute significantly to relief of highway congestion. Expansion of rail infrastructure can occur faster and requires less land and money than highway expansion. Investing in rail is an easy way to reduce congestion, cost, and energy consumption, and make our producers more competitive.

That is not to say we shouldn’t continue investing in our country’s highways. Trucks remain an integral part of getting goods to and from producers and consumers and facilitating trade. Due to past investments, the U.S. enjoys the most advanced and comprehensive highway system in the world. But we must steadfastly maintain highways if we are to ensure safe and efficient travel and increased U.S. productivity.

We must also work to expand and improve our ports, both air and sea. With air traffic increasing exponentially, and sea ports handling greater traffic and larger boats, we must commit to building and maintaining new runways and deeper and larger harbors. Just as important, we must work to fully integrate our intermodal transportation system so that goods can quickly and seamlessly move from truck, to rail, to plane and boat, and reduce the congestion at our nation’s ports. By ensuring the smooth transit of goods in and out of our country, we can guarantee that U.S. producers will have the ability to compete with the speed and efficiency needed in a global economy.

Finally, while transportation investments are not cheap, it is important to remember that every $1 billion invested in American infrastructure creates and supports 47,500 American jobs — jobs that cannot be outsourced or shipped overseas.

With the current transportation bill set to expire in 2009, we will soon have the opportunity to provide the transportation investments necessary to accelerate U.S. trade competitiveness and productivity. Let’s make sure this opportunity isn’t missed.

Lipinski is a member of the House Small Business Committee.

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