Going the distance
As Idaho’s roads keep crumbling, Gov. Butch Otter promises an aggressive, statewide information-gathering approach to the state’s transportation challenge. It is a workable strategy that involves consultation with the public and members of the Legislature, who will need to come up with some answers in January.
Keeping lawmakers in the loop is a promising addition to the strategy that Otter employed so unsuccessfully during the 2008 legislative session.
Last August, Otter seemed to be inviting a collaborative approach to the highway funding shortfall when he declared: “My idea is to say, ‘Look, folks, I admit that we need $200 million in additional highway moneys – you tell me where to get it.’ “
Lawmakers were willing partners. But, as Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, would say later, they worked all last summer on the problem, but the governor himself didn’t offer any proposals – until, in his State of the State address in January, he startled lawmakers by proposing a boost in vehicle registration fees.
In an election year.
Near the session’s end, lawmakers had come up with a smaller, but less volatile compromise worth $68.5 million, but Otter rejected it as inadequate, shortsighted and lacking in political will.
The Legislature adjourned without resolving what was supposed to be a top-priority issue for 2008.
To no one’s surprise, the situation has worsened. Inflation has boosted the estimated price tag on the problem to $240 million – at least. Gasoline tax revenues continue to sputter because cost-battered motorists are shunning the pump. Twenty percent of the state’s highways already are considered substandard, and about half of the state’s bridges will be at or beyond their 50-year life expectancy in the next decade. The infrastructure won’t repair itself.
In April, the Idaho Transportation Board acknowledged that basic needs are so great that there’s no room in the budget for add-ons, even those that make vehicle travel safer, more efficient and more appealing. So it diverted $12 million a year, beginning in 2011, from planning, congestion relief and enhancements such as bicycle paths, historical kiosks and visitor centers. Those funds will go instead to pavement preservation.
Even so, state Transportation Director Pamela Lowe has warned that the revenue shortage could compound itself. Once it reaches the point where state transportation dollars are inadequate to qualify for matching dollars, Idaho’s share of federal funds will shrink, too.
Idaho cannot withstand another year without action on this issue. Otter has the right idea by including state lawmakers in the upcoming conversation, but he needs to go further. With their input, he needs to assemble a thoughtful package that will be expected, understood and ready for attention when the opening gavel falls at the 2009 session.