State panel looks for ways to fix roads

A special panel, the Transportation Funding Task Force, which includes legislative leaders and others, is about to launch a study of ways to boost state aid for Louisiana's often-criticised road and bridge system. "There is not a legislator across the state that does not have some kind of issue with getting a project done, starting a project, finishing a project," said state Representative Karen St Germain, chairwoman of the House Transportation Committee and a member of the panel.
September 4, 2014 Read time: 2 mins

A special panel, the Transportation Funding Task Force, which includes legislative leaders and others, is about to launch a study of ways to boost state aid for Louisiana's often-criticised road and bridge system.

"There is not a legislator across the state that does not have some kind of issue with getting a project done, starting a project, finishing a project," said state Representative Karen St Germain, chairwoman of the House Transportation Committee and a member of the panel.
St Germain said that, unlike previous road funding studies and bills that went nowhere; this one comes amid a widespread public outcry about road conditions.

The study comes at a time of both highway improvements, including in the Baton Rouge area, and a US$12 billion backlog of road and bridge needs.

6174 Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) officials say US$540 million has been spent on road and bridge upgrades since 2008 in East Baton Rouge Parish alone, mostly through surplus state dollars after hurricanes Katrina and Rita and federal stimulus dollars.

However, the Baton Rouge area is considered ground zero for motorists' complaints, including heavy congestion on and near the Interstate 10 Mississippi River bridge.

State Senator Robert Adley says one aim of the study is "to try to get everyone to understand how serious the problem is and how far behind we are."  Part of the problem, he said, is that few taxpayers realize how much money is diverted from the state's Transportation Trust Fund, the key source of road and bridge aid.

He has complained that US$60 million of state gasoline tax revenue yearly helps fund State Police at a time when the state cannot come up with at least US$70 million a year for road preservation.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Momentum builds for increase in US fuel tax
    January 12, 2015
    The possibility of a gasoline tax increase to help pay for federal highway improvements was attracting increased attention in the US Congress as a prominent conservative Republican on Thursday said he was willing to consider the move. According to Reuters, Senator Orrin Hatch, the new chairman of the Senate Finance Committee that oversees tax measures, told reporters he has an open mind on raising the 18.4 cents per gallon tax levied at the gasoline pump. "I prefer not to increase taxes, but to me tha
    Read More
  • US economic stimulus package highlights ITS technology
    July 17, 2012
    US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood talks to ITS International about economic stimulus funding and the absolute need to maintain and increase the use of technology in transportation. Of the total of $787 billion of funding announced under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the economic stimulus package which was signed into law by US President Barack Obama on 17 February 2009, $48.1 billion will go to the US Department of Transportation (USDOT). Of that, $27.5 billion is for highway in
    Read More
  • US closer to finalising a new reauthorisation bill
    January 25, 2012
    Pete Goldin talks with ITS America about the continuing efforts of US Congress to finalise a transportation reauthorisation bill and how this will impact the ITS industry
    Read More
  • NATSO dismisses tolling study claims
    September 16, 2013
    NATSO, the US association representing travel plazas and truck-stops, has rejected the report prepared by the Reason Foundation that pushes for widespread tolling. "The public detests interstate tolls, and with good reason," said NATSO president and CEO Lisa Mullings. "Tolls divert motorists and truck drivers to non-interstates, leading to more traffic deaths. Additionally, it costs the government more money to collect tolls than to collect fuel taxes."
    Read More

Highlighted Content