Dear Highway Users,

As Nevada continues to look for ways to deal with its $5+ billion highway funding shortfall, the outlook from the 30,000 foot level is also troubling. A recent story, that ran in Forbes, outlines efforts made by some national highway groups to emphasize that the current federal investment is not enough. Although federal highway funding is supposed to be at the $41 billion level according to the current transportation law, the highway trust fund is only being replenished to $27 billion through gas tax collections and other sources. If there isn’t a “funding patch”, then the only way to address the deficit is to cut spending!!

A new administration and new environmental issues will complicate already contentious issues of funding America's infrastructure. Given a new Administration will be in office in January 2009, it’s not even expected that it will focus on the reauthorization until the spring.

While it will be important to remain engaged as Congress and the new Administration works to reauthorize the federal transportation budget, Nevada needs to deal with its own problems soon. Washington’s troubles will definitely have an impact on ours as well.

To read more, please click here.

Sincerely,
Nevada Highway Users Coalition

June 4, 2008 Transportation Issues Meeting CANCELLED

Meeting is rescheduled for
July 2, 2008 at 1:30pm
Grant Sawyer State Office Building - Rm 4401
555 E. Washington Ave.
Las Vegas, NV

Videoconference to:
Legislative Building - Rm 3138
401 S. Carson St.
Carson City, NV

For more information,
please visit:
www.leg.state.nv.us:80/74th/Interim/

If you would like to learn more about NHUC's educational efforts or to arrange for a representative to speak to your group or organization, please email us at:
contact@fixnvroads.com.

On the pot-holed highway to hell
As the debates over highway funding continue as outlined in the article to the left, it is interesting to watch the perspective of other nations’ as they look at the status of US infrastructure. The article below is from the British newspaper, Financial Times, and looks at the overall negative economic impacts that poor infrastructure has on the US economy. It also points out some of the absurdities of the US election season, particularly the proposed “gas tax holiday” that has been promoted by both Republican Presidential nominee John McCain and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton despite the looming shortfall in the US Highway Trust Fund.

The article also illustrates how poor the US is beginning to look for investors as this quote indicates:

“The state of transport and communications infrastructure is a symbol of a nation’s economic development and the US is starting to look like a third world country. In fact, scratch that. Many developing countries look and feel better. Of course, they are in a different phase of development. The US invested 10 per cent of its federal non-military budget in infrastructure in the 1950s and 1960s as it built the interstate highway system – at the time, the envy of the world. While US investment has fallen to less than 1 per cent of gross domestic product, China has been matching its double-digit postwar record.”

Finally the article highlights what is the most difficult piece of the transportation funding puzzle, the fact that thus far, the US has refused to embrace the right funding mechanisms to build its transportation infrastructure back up.

To read the full article, please visit:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c54f4258-1c5f-11dd-8bfc-000077b07658.html

Pennsylvania Gets Turnpike Bid From Abertis, Citi
Last week as part of the ongoing highway funding saga in Pennsylvania, state officials indicated that a $12.8 billion bid from Citigroup Inc. and Abertis Infraestructuras SA won an auction to lease the state's only toll road in what would be the biggest agreement of its kind in the U.S.

New York-based Citigroup, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, and Barcelona-based Abertis, which operates toll roads in Europe and Latin America, topped two other offers. The next-highest bid was $12.1 billion by New York's Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Transurban Group, Australia's second-largest toll-road operator.

Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell wants to lease the 537-mile (864-kilometer) turnpike for 75 years if the U.S. government rejects the state's application to put tolls on Interstate 80. Money from a turnpike lease would help the state close a $1.7 billion gap in transportation funding.

For more info, please visit:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103

Levels of Service Lowered in Washoe County
As was indicated in the May 14 newsletter, the elected officials from Reno, Sparks and Washoe County recently approved new lower Level of Service standards (LOS) for their respective road systems. These new LOS standards are meant to approximate those used in several other major metropolitan areas in the western United States and result in construction savings of approximately $488 million over the next 30 years.

The Highway Users Coalition has obtained a document from the RTC describing specifically which roads are to fall under which LOS standard.

Please click here to view the detailed document (PDF).

Traffic congestion in the United States wastes three billion gallons of fuel and contributes 27.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

Source: Portland Cement Association
http://www.cement.org/newsroom/Traffic_Congestion050808.asp