Title: Six Ideas for Fixing the Nation's Infrastructure Problems
Headings: Six Ideas for Fixing the Nation's Infrastructure Problems
Six Ideas for Fixing the Nation's Infrastructure Problems
Here's how to plan, fund and make a safer, more efficient transportation system.
Revamp the Highway Trust Fund
Get Washington to Take the Issue Seriously
Empower State and Local Governments
Increase Rural Access
Get Cities to Think Big
Make Bridges Smarter
Caroline Cournoyer

Content: With Congress debating reauthorization of the transportation bill this summer, and with states and localities looking for their own solutions, here are six ideas for fixing the nation’s infrastructure system -- how to plan it, how to fund it and how to make it safer and more efficient than ever. Revamp the Highway Trust Fund
Speaking before a conference of state transportation officials in a D.C. hotel ballroom in March, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood challenged his audience to ask him some hardball questions. John Schroer, the transportation commissioner from Tennessee, delivered. Schroer wanted to know how Congress and the Obama administration are addressing a situation most state and local transportation officials worry about: the future of the gas tax. “ Well,” LaHood replied, “we’re not doing anything about it.” That’s a serious problem, according to virtually all transportation experts. The nation’s highways are primarily financed by the Highway Trust Fund, which gets most of its money from a gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon. The tax has remained unchanged since 1993 and isn’t tied to the price of gas or inflation. As a result, it’s lost a third of its purchasing power over the past 18 years.