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

  • GPS accuracy concern in US
    April 17, 2012
    Pressure is growing in the US over concerns that GPS accuracy could be affected. A coalition has formed that comprises an array of the leading construction equipment manufacturers, GPS technology providers and other concerned bodies including those from the agricultural and airline industries. The coalition claims that up to 3.3 million US jobs could be affected by the threat to GPS accuracy, with an economic impact of some US$96 billion in annual direct economic benefits to the US economy.
  • Amsterdam reaps the reward of digitised parking
    April 20, 2016
    Amsterdam had taken the final step in digitising parking and parking enforcement and the move is paying dividends. It was almost a decade ago that the City of Amsterdam decided to start the evolution - or maybe even a revolution – of its parking enforcement: it got rid of the paper parking permit or ticket behind the windscreen and introduced the digital parking right. It was the first step on a bumpy but successful road to digitization, resulting in a fore running position in on street parking enforcement.
  • IBTTA, ARBTA, ATFI comment on latest Grow America Act
    April 2, 2015
    The International Bridge, Toll and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) has applauded the Grow America Act 2.0 just released by the US Administration and US DOT. It says that once again, the Administration has boldly called for lifting the ban on Interstate tolling for the purpose of reconstruction, giving states greater flexibility to meet their challenging infrastructure and surface transportation needs. The six-year, US$478 is said to be US$126 billion more than current investment levels and US$238 billion mo
  • InfoConnect delivers accurate travel information on all levels
    August 1, 2012
    Deryk Whyte provides an overview of how the New Zealand Transport Agency's InfoConnect concept was developed. Historically, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) (formerly Transit New Zealand) has faced challenges in communicating effectively with road users, its customers, about highway-related events or incidents in a timely, accurate manner. Prior to 2007, Transit relied on a third-party organisation to collect and disseminate national road condition information. This often resulted in incomplete infor