Ian Jefferies: Cantwell’s work on infrastructure bill shows bipartisan leadership is still possible

“We’ve been blessed by growth and trade, but if we don’t make the infrastructure investments our economy won’t be able to keep up,” U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., recently said regarding the bipartisan infrastructure bill signed into law by President Biden in November.

As chair of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the senator understands fully the need for quality infrastructure – both private and public – and the importance of well-functioning transportation systems to move people and goods. This is why she and other congressional leaders like Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., deserve immense credit for advancing the five-year transportation bill that will improve highways, ports, broadband and more. And for the industry I represent – freight railroads – the law, known as the “IIJA,” will bring valuable public dollars to supplement the sustained private spending of railroads (some $25 billion annually) in ways that will positively impact the public.

Like so many of her constituents and other critical industries to Washington like agriculture, retail, manufacturing and forestry, railroads commend Senator Cantwell for her leadership.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the law as it relates to railroads, which have a storied history in Spokane and serve an integral role to the west at the Port of Tacoma, relates to grade crossings. As outlined in a recent Spokesman-Review report, the transportation law includes new funding for “at-grade railroad crossing improvements,” including the expansion of a successful program active since 1987 that upgrades crossings with warning devices and technologies.

Known as Section 130, this program recognizes that states and localities evaluate grade crossings and own the property where the two transportation modes interact. The goal has always been consistent: reduce collisions, injuries and fatalities, many of which are preventable.

While such incidents have been reduced nearly 40% nationally the past 20 years, more progress must be made, including in expanding education programs and lessening the number of gate-less grade crossings. The IIJA increases funding for Section 130, enabling more states and localities to make needed upgrades.

But most recognize that the best grade crossing for safety is no grade crossing at all. Sen. Cantwell led the effort to establish an entirely new program designed to separate grade crossings through engineering solutions like overpasses. The program is significant and the first of its kind, designating $600 million per fiscal year explicitly for eliminating or separating these areas where railroads and motorists interact.

Such an elimination program has long been a priority of organizations like the National Association of Counties, which adopted a resolution in 2020 advocating for this type of program. Fewer grade crossings will improve fluidity for freight and reduce wait time for motorists. This will hopefully mean less time for drivers to wait at grade crossings in the future.

As a key solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, greater freight fluidity may also help make railroads more competitive in serving businesses and taking freight off local roads and highways. Indeed, railroads are eager to partner with states and localities in the years to come to put those millions to good use.

Railroads of course appreciate many other parts of the new law, including efforts to streamline permitting, increase funding for short line railroad projects as well as port infrastructure and major research and development funds for climate initiatives like alternative fuels.

There is still of course much work to do in the area of transportation policy. Long term, lawmakers must get back to the “users pay” principle for infrastructure – particularly highways – meaning those who use those systems pay for it. This would be best achieved long term by charging drivers for the miles they drive while factoring in for weight, understanding that has the largest impact on road deterioration. Lawmakers cannot continue to bail out the Highway Trust Fund, as they did once more with this bill with $118 billion in general funds, bringing that total to some $275 billion since 2008.

Yet progress is significant and will be felt across the country. Bipartisan leadership is still possible.

Ian Jefferies is president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads.