WHERE IS THE UNDERINVESTMENT?  Food for thought in a guest commentary by railroader Richard L. Beadles in Destination: Freedom.

Since 1980, national highway route miles have increased about 5%, lane miles a bit over 7%, and vehicle-miles-traveled, 100%. Does this sound like a healthy trend?

That might be a case for committing additional public resources to road-building, externalities and land-use considerations notwithstanding.

About 25% of the nation’s highways, which carry about 85% of all road traffic, are paid for in part by federal user-taxes, but such taxes do not yield enough revenue to support the current level of federal highway spending. Since 2008, more than $30 Billion of federal general fund revenue has been required to supplement road taxes [not to mention more than $70 billion in state and local tax revenues every year that according to AASHTO subsidizes the automobile owner – the editors]

FHWA estimates that to maintain the current level of highway utility would require a 50% increase in current funding levels, which are now in excess of revenues. Automobiles and buses account for more than 90% of all vehicle-miles-traveled, and are the major contributors to urban congestion, thus requiring costly lane-mile expansion, yet we permit anyone to drive anywhere, anytime, without regard for the demand-cost imposed upon the system. Easy solutions are still politically unpalatable.

Trucks account for the other 10% of mileage, yet they have been found to be responsible for almost all of the pavement damage. Depending upon truck weight, number of axels [c.q.], etc., FHWA and the CBO estimate that the cost of truck-related pavement damage ranges from 5 to 55 cents per mile—a huge public subsidy.

The essay is incomplete, in that the author does not make a case for cooperation between Passenger Rail authorities and the freight railroads, in which public monies might be more cost-effectively deployed to provide additional capacity for faster passenger trains (for the moment set aside fantasies of high speed rail and futuristic trains ... variable-formation diesel-hauled trains offering food service and first class accommodation and cruising at 125 mph offer almost the same advantage over air travel on trips of 300 to 500 miles) commingled with intermodal and priority freight trains.