Skip to main content

Coalition to address deterioration in US transportation system

The American Crisis in Transportation Coalition (ACT) has been formed to expand national understanding of the serious deterioration of America’s transportation system, and to educate the public and Congress on the funding needed to save the system from continued decline.
April 25, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSSThe American Crisis in Transportation Coalition (ACT) has been formed to expand national understanding of the serious deterioration of America’s transportation system, and to educate the public and Congress on the funding needed to save the system from continued decline.

The founders of ACT are former Wisconsin Secretary of Transportation Frank Busalacchi, who also served as a member of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, and John Boffa, owner of two marketing and research firms in Washington, DC which have a heavy concentration in transportation issues. Busalacchi also chaired the States for Passenger Rail Coalition.

ACT will use as its guiding document the final report of the surface transportation commission, which identified a $225 billion annual shortfall in transportation funding.

“Roads and bridges are deteriorating at an alarming rate,” Busalacchi said. “Transit systems on which millions of Americans depend to get to work are experiencing funding shortfalls. 2008 Amtrak trains travel through tunnels and bridges built in the 1800s. The federal gasoline tax has not been increased since 1993.”

ACT will call for funding increases for all modes of transportation, including a 40-cent increase in the federal gasoline tax, to be phased in over a few years to ease the impact on motorists.

“The highly respected American Society of Civil Engineers recently rated America’s roads with a D minus,” Busalacchi said. “That is just a notch above a failing grade. And they rated our transit systems with a D. People drive over bridges, or travel over railroad bridges, everyday without incident. But if they looked at the condition of the structures underneath, they would be horrified.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • USDoT rolls out $25bn coronavirus response
    April 14, 2020
    The US Department of Transportation (USDoT) is rolling out $25 billion in funding for public transit services, which have been hit hard by Covid-19.
  • Integrated corridor management aids multi-modal transport planning
    January 24, 2012
    Telvent’s Jorgen Pedersen and Tip Franklin discuss how integrated corridor management can create synergies within a multimodal transportation infrastructure, while promoting modal shift. The mantra ‘We cannot build ourselves out of congestion’ has long been stated and too often ignored. But with the economy in dire straits, funding deficits and pressure to reduce governmental spending, this is now being taken seriously by almost everyone who has an interest in the flow of traffic. By ‘everyone’ we include
  • US business leaders discuss concerns over transportation funding
    July 11, 2014
    US business leaders briefed Vice President Joe Biden and US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx yesterday on business issues associated with transportation infrastructure during a meeting hosted by the White House Business Council and Business Forward. Meeting participants included executives from large manufacturers, shipping companies, trade associations, and a range of other businesses, including Doug Oberhelman, chairman and CEO, Caterpillar, and Matt Rose, executive chairman, Burlington Northern S
  • US eyes European model for Illinois toll road upgrade
    May 30, 2014
    David Crawford welcomes the adoption of European-style ITS technology by the US. The Jane Addams Memorial Tollway in Illinois, US is well on the way towards becoming a ‘smart traffic corridor’, taking full advantage of active traffic management (ATM or ‘managed lanes’) technology that originated in Europe. It is one of the first American toll roads to do so; preliminary work began in 2014 and will continue through to 2016. Jane Addams is one of four toll roads operated by the publicly-owned Illinois State T