BAF IN THE NEWS
WAMU: Maryland Remains Serious About Maglev, Despite Skeptics
https://wamu.org/news/15/11/23/maryland_remains_serious_about_maglev_despite_skeptics
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan's dream of building a magnetic levitation train — known as maglev — has taken two key steps, placing Maryland among a small number of states slowly moving toward establishing the first high-speed rail systems in the U.S., a half century after Japan operated its first bullet train.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Tech Crunch: The Last Bus Startup Standing: Chariot
http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/29/the-last-bus-startup-standing-chariot/
In the beginning, there were three.There was Leap Transit, the Andreessen Horowitz-backed bus startup stocked with Blue Bottle Coffee and furnished with plush stool seating for morning and evening commuters.
Vancouver Sun: Vancouver residents lead Canada in urban bike trips
Vancouverites take more trips by bike than their fellow Canadians in any other major city, and they're the safest cyclists, too, according to a new study.
NATIONAL NEWS
The Hill: Five groups that could determine the fate of TPP
http://thehill.com/policy/finance/261333-five-groups-that-hold-the-fate-of-tpp
Congressional passage of a sweeping Asia-Pacific trade agreement hinges on several key endorsements that will make or break the pact on Capitol Hill. Republican leaders, a tight coalition of Democrats and a diverse range of business groups — all of whom worked hard to pass trade promotion authority (TPA) this summer — are needed to push through the massive 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, which was completed in early October.
The Wall Street Journal: Lawmakers Near Deal on Highway-Funding Bill
http://www.wsj.com/articles/lawmakers-near-deal-on-highway-funding-bill-1448856673
WASHINGTON—Congressional negotiators closing in on legislation to reauthorize transportation programs are expected to be able to fund highway programs for at least five years, the longest time frame for such a measure in at least a decade.
ABC News: Hillary Clinton Calls for Additional $275 Billion to Modernize Infrastructure Nationwide
Hillary Clinton unveiled a five-year, $275 billion plan today to rebuild and modernize the nation's infrastructure, which she says will be a "down payment on our future."
New York Times: Hillary Clinton Calls for a $250 Billion ‘Down Payment’ for Infrastructure Improvements
Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday will unveil the details of what she has called a “down payment on the future,” a $250 billion federal investment in infrastructure over five years paid for by overhauling the business tax code.
YAHOO! News: Clinton vows hundreds of billions for infrastructure, jobs
http://news.yahoo.com/clinton-proposes-275-billion-infrastructure-spending-203821232--election.html
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton unveiled the first piece of a new jobs agenda on Sunday, promising hundreds of billions of dollars in fresh federal spending in an effort to compete with the liberal economic policies of her primary challengers.
Reuters: Clinton will unveil $275 billion infrastructure plan to create jobs
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton plans to make job creation the focus of her campaign over the next month, beginning with a $275 billion infrastructure spending plan that will be released this week.
STATE NEWS
Charlotte Observer: Anthony Foxx tries to bridge partisan divide in unglamorous role
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article46929590.html
Many say Transportation Secretary Antony Foxx, plucked to fill a role some thought he was unqualified for, has largely lived up to the high expectations. But praise only goes so far in Washington.
Mobility Lab: Answers to Transportation Ills Need to Come from Unexpected Funding
The world of transportation is innovating and shifting at a clip no mere mortals can expect to follow easily, but one would never know it by simply glancing at the flat and seemingly unexcited way Congress has taken to keeping roads and transit barely patched.
WAMU: Paul Wiedefeld Takes Helm Of Metro, But Don't Expect Immediate Results
http://wamu.org/news/15/11/30/paul_wiedefeld_takes_helm_of_metro_but_dont_expect_immediate_results
Metro’s 13,000 employees officially have a new boss today. It is the first day on the job for newly hired general manager Paul J. Wiedefeld, who faces a plethora of problems and enormous expectations to help turnaround the region’s sprawling public transit authority.
The Atlantic’s City Lab: No, U.S. Driving Has Not Hit an All-Time High
http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/11/peak-car-us-driving-america-vmt-vox/417795/
In posting the above chart, Brad Plumer at Vox writes that “peak car” was just a myth and that Americans are apparently driving more than ever. If you’re on the road to a Thanksgiving get together right now, that might seem like a reasonable conclusion. And indeed “vehicle miles traveled,” the primary metric for U.S. driving habits, has been on the rise—up 3.5 percent on the previous year, as of September.
Bicycle Coalition: Philly Leads U.S. Cities in Bike Lanes Per Mile
http://bicyclecoalition.org/philly-leads-u-s-cities-in-bike-lanes-per-mile/#sthash.vA1DP7Lp.dpbs
With 426 miles of on-street bike lanes, Philadelphia leads the United States with the most bike lanes per square mile, according to a recent article in Triple Pundit. At 4.3 miles of bike lane per square mile, Philadelphia comes in with more miles of lanes than Mesa (4.2), Albuquerque, Fresno, Tucson, San Jose, New York, San Diego, Phoenix, and Los Angeles.
POLTICO Morning Transportation
By Jennifer Scholtes | 11/30/2015 05:46 AM EDT
TRANSPORTATION NEGOTIATORS ENTER HOMESTRETCH: Five days out from another policy expiration, the question this week is whether Friday will be the deadline to end all deadlines - or whether lawmakers will (again) buy themselves more time to clear a multiyear transportation bill. Dealmakers aim to file a final conference report by tonight. But even if those dreams are realized, both chambers will still have to sign off on the compromise before this thing is ready for President Barack Obama's signature. In the House, leaders prepared members in their weekly agenda for "possible consideration" of the conference report.
Dead set: As our Heather Caygle reported last week , "even if one more short-term punt is needed to give lawmakers more wiggle room to clear the deal, everyone from congressional leadership on down to lobbyists say they're determined to deliver a long-term bill to the White House ... And while no one is ready to pop champagne in celebration of a job well done just yet, there's excitement in the air as Congress zeroes in on the first truly long-term bill since 2005."
Sticking points: Heather reminds us that negotiators had hoped to announce a broad outline of the deal the Friday before Thanksgiving. But disagreements about rest rules for truckers and other issues dashed those dreams. And negotiators have had to sort out about $78 billion in pay-fors.
Five-year span: The Wall Street Journal reported late Sunday night that negotiators "are expected to be able to fund highway programs for at least five years." And the Pittsburgh Tribune Review ran a story over the weekend, detailing a sit-down chat with T&I Chairman Bill Shuster on his aspirations for clearing a multiyear measure and explaining that the chairman "is not thrilled by its funding, or that it is effective for five years instead of six. But he is pleased with some of its reforms ... "
IT'S MONDAY: Good morning and thanks for tuning into POLITICO's Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on all things trains, planes, automobiles and ports.
Reach out: jscholtes@politico.com or @jascholtes.
THIS WEEK:
Tuesday - Volpe, The National Transportation Systems Center, hosts a discussion with the director of Google's self-driving car program. Airlines for America member CEOs discuss efforts to overhaul the nation's air traffic control system as lawmakers prepare to reauthorize the FAA.
The Surface Transportation Board holds an advisory committee meeting on transporting energy resources by rail. The Maritime Administration holds an advisory committee meeting to talk over a national maritime strategy, integrating marine highways into the national transportation system and options for funding port infrastructure. The Federal Transit Administration holds a teleconference meeting of its safety advisory committee.
Wednesday - The American Road and Transportation Builders Association hosts a webinar on how enactment of a multi-year highway and transit bill would impact transportation construction. The American Public Transportation Association hosts a forum on high-speed rail, with a lunchtime speech by Rep. Earl Blumenauer. The FAA holds a special committee meeting on navigation information and electronic maps.
Thursday - The Senate Judiciary Committee marks up the Nuclear Terrorism Conventions Implementation and Safety of Maritime Navigation Act. The Dulles Corridor Advisory Committee meets in Herndon. The FAA continues its special committee meeting on navigation information and electronic maps.
Friday - The FAA wraps up its special committee meeting.
CLINTON TAPS INTO POTHOLE POLITICS: Touting the benefits of public transit and cursing crumbling roads and bridges, Hillary Clinton is trying to woo the nation's urbanite mayors and the construction industry crowd with a $275 billion infrastructure proposal. POLITICO's Annie Karni reports that the presidential hopeful laid out her five-year infrastructure plan before a cheering audience of 800 on Sunday, at an event called Hard Hats for Hillary: "Leaning into her urban message, she added that 'not everyone can afford, or wants, to have a car these days, and I don't think people want to see more traffic downtown. That's why public transit is absolutely vital to connecting people.' ... Clinton promised her entire infrastructure program would be paid for through business tax reform."
McCAUL WARNS OF ISIS AIM AT WESTERN AIRLINERS: House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul continues to register fears about terrorism attempts on U.S.-bound flights, noting over the weekend that Islamic State leaders had originally plotted to bomb an airliner in the West and shifted targets to the Russian plane that blew up in the northern Sinai last month. "That kind of scenario playing out on an airliner flying directly into the United States is what I'm most concerned about. And ISIS now has demonstrated they have that capability that we only thought al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula had," the chairman said on CNN's State of the Union . "We know that originally they wanted to target a Western airliner. When Russia invaded the region into Syria, they turned their sights onto Russia."
Intent and capability: McCaul noted that Bu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, has personally voiced interest in attacking the United States. "al-Baghdadi, when he was released from prison in Iraq, in his words, he said: 'I'll see you in New York.' So that shows you the intent behind ISIS," the Texas Republican said. "Do they have the capability? I think their capabilities have ramped up recently, far beyond what we thought they were capable of doing."
LAWMAKERS HARP ON AVIATION WORKER VETTING, VISA WAIVER CONCERNS: McCaul also told CNN this weekend that he thinks the U.S. is now doing a better job of screening airport and airline workers - a concern raised in the aftermath of the Russian plane disaster since intelligence officials suspect someone with special access planted a bomb onboard before the airliner departed Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport in Egypt. "We can have the best screening technology," he said, "but if we have an insider threat out there, that is very, very hard to stop."
Tightening defenses: On ABC's This Week , Rep. Adam Schiff cited "the concerning vulnerabilities" at U.S. airports. "All too often when we test the TSA, they don't meet the test," said Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat. "And if you look at the device that ISIS claims to have used, it's no larger than a soda can. ... I believe that a device that small can bring down an aircraft. And that means that we really need to tighten up our defenses."
More money?: Hearkening to ongoing discussions about whether to tighten security under the Visa Waiver program, Schiff said "the real vulnerability here is people with European passports, European citizens, that can travel without a visa to the United States." And McCaul reiterated his concerns about "foreign fighters coming into the United States from Visa Wavier countries," suggesting lawmakers provide more resources to the agencies charged with staving off that threat. "We have an appropriations bill coming up in about two weeks, and I think the FBI and components of Homeland Security will need an increase in funding to help combat this threat that we see right in our homeland," he said. Under DHS, Customs and Border Protection runs the Visa Waiver program that allows eligible citizens of 38 partner countries to travel to the United States for up to three months without visas.
** A message from the Coalition for Efficient and Responsible Trucking: We can dramatically reduce truck congestion and prevent over 900 truck-related accidents every year through a tried and tested five-foot extension in the length of twin trailers. Learn more about the amazing accident-free track record of twin 33s at http://efficientandresponsible.org/twin33s **
THOUGHTS FROM FOXX: Heather gave you the lowdown last week on the latest from Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx on congressional prospects for enacting a multiyear transportation bill, how he thinks it's a "false choice" to have to pick between higher annual funding levels and longer-term legislation, and his prediction that DOT's new guidance on self-driving cars is "weeks, not months" away. Thumbing through our notebooks, we've scrounged up a few more gems from the secretary's latest sit-down with reporters:
Sales pitch: Foxx says his department has worked hard to explain why it's so important to clear a multiyear highway and transit plan. "I think it's still important to reemphasize, even at this juncture, how paralyzed the system is with uncertainty because of what hasn't been happening in Washington," he said. "These are entirely avoidable problems. And - in fact - left unmanaged, these problems could pose a great threat to our economy." That message seems to be "breaking through," the secretary said, adding that he continues "to urge Congress to go big because that's what's going to help us."
'A second revolution': The secretary said he gave NHTSA "the same timeline I always give, which is: as soon as possible," for firming an updated stance on self-driving cars. And he doesn't want the agency "to be skittish" about emerging innovations. "You think about how human beings went from walking to the wheel, which was transferring some of the work of moving, but the human being was still in control. And now we're in a second revolution in transportation, which is where the machine takes on more of the operating tasks."
Drone dreams: The department is on schedule, Foxx assures, to announce an "ultimate position" by mid-month on how Americans will be required to register drones. As for the recommendations the task force just turned out, the secretary says he's "very pleased," calling the feedback "quite extraordinary" and "well thought-out."
PSEUDO PILOTS LICENSES FOR EVERY SCHMUCK: As holiday shoppers begin to stock up on amateur drones, the FAA is trying to communicate the concept that all drone operators - no matter how small-fry - are essentially pilots. Pointing to its safety checklist , the agency tried to spread the word on Black Friday that "when you fly your drone anywhere in the nation's airspace, you automatically become part of the U.S. aviation system. Under the law, your drone is an aircraft. So while the rules for drones may be different, you have the responsibility to operate safely, just as a Cessna or 747 pilot does."
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ):
- Weather, flights aid post-Thanksgiving travel efforts. The Associated Press.
- Road to robotic parking is littered with faulty projects. The New York Times.
- NYC-area ports stare down sizeable challenge of modernizing. The Associated Press.
- Data show hazardous airliner landings are rare, but pilot reporting lags. The Wall Street Journal.
- How railroad history shaped Internet history. The Atlantic.
- Don't cry for Tracy Morgan. GQ.
THE COUNTDOWN: Transportation authority expires in 5 days. DOT appropriations run out in 12 days. FAA reauthorization expires in 124 days. The 2016 presidential election is in 346 days.
THE DAY AHEAD:
No events on our radar for today.
Did we miss an event? Let MT know at transpocalendar@politicopro.com.
** A message from the Coalition for Efficient and Responsible Trucking: As more consumers than ever rely on Internet shopping and efficient package delivery, it¹s time to make our highways safer by reducing the number of large trucks on the road. Over the next decade, the Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) freight trucking sector is expected to grow by 40% unless steps are taken to make trucking more efficient. Through a modest five-foot extension in the length of twin 28-foot trailers, we can economize 6.6 million truck trips every year, significantly reducing highway congestion preventing over 900 accidents per year. Fewer trucks would significantly extend the life of our aging infrastructure, while saving 204 million gallons of fuel and reducing carbon emissions by an astonishing 4.4 billion pounds every year. Learn more about the benefits of twin 33s, including the amazing five-year, 1.5 million mile, accident-free track record of twin 33s at http://efficientandresponsible.org/twin33s **
Stories from POLITICO Pro
It's a working Thanksgiving for aides negotiating a highway and transit deal Back
By Heather Caygle | 11/30/2015 05:46 AM EDT
A dedicated group of Hill staffers will be working overtime this Thanksgiving, trying to wrap up a deal on a multiyear highway and transit package before lawmakers shuffle back into the Capitol next week.
A major announcement on a final agreement isn't expected until Monday at the earliest, giving congressional aides the rest of this week to consult with members, negotiate details down to the finest point and put the finishing touches on a massive transportation bill that's been years in the making.
Even if conferees sign off on a final deal early next week, in accordance with the plan laid out by House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), lawmakers will be left with just a few days to shepherd the legislation through both chambers before current policy sunsets Dec. 4.
It's an ambitious timeline to say the least, though on Wednesday the House leadership's weekly floor schedule notice contained a warning that a conference agreement could be brought to the floor next week.
Even if one more short-term punt is needed to give lawmakers more wiggle room to clear the deal, everyone from congressional leadership on down to lobbyists say they're determined to deliver a long-term bill to the White House, the first such measure in more than a decade.
"After pounding the pavement for the last two and a half years ... it looks like we may be on the cusp of getting a long-term surface transportation bill done," said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.
But there's still plenty of work to do before the ink is dry on a finished deal.
"Nothing is done until it's done," Foxx told reporters Tuesday. "But there's a steady amount of work going on up on the Hill, which is encouraging."
Steady might be an understatement. After a setback last week - lead negotiators had hoped to announce the broad outlines of a deal Friday but disagreements on rest rules for truckers and other issues held that up - staffers powered through, working well into the weekend and this week.
Some aides have even slept in their offices and while sources say there's been enough progress for staffers to celebrate Thanksgiving away from Capitol Hill, phone work on turkey day is still likely.
Staff will be back in the office Friday and is expected work through the weekend with the goal of filing a conference report Monday night.
And while no one is ready to pop champagne in celebration of a job well done just yet, there's excitement in the air as Congress zeroes in on the first truly long-term bill since 2005.
At the start of this year, transportation advocates and lawmakers were skeptical that anything beyond another extension would materialize until after the 2016 elections.
But a push from GOP leadership, particularly Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, kicked things into overdrive this summer.
McConnell made passing a multiyear highway and transit bill a top summer priority, forming an odd couple coalition with liberal Sen. Barbara Boxer from California to get the job done.
Boxer, the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, worked with McConnell and EPW Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), practically moving mountains to get a multiyear bill through the Senate.
The surprising feat - many House staffers said privately they never thought a multiyear bill would make it out of the Senate alive this year - forced the House's hand. After focusing most of their attention on a stalled FAA overall, House Transportation leaders then had to get serious on their own highway and transit bill.
House lawmakers overwhelmingly passed their version earlier this month and the bicameral negotiating process has been relatively smooth, at least publicly, as members keep their food fights mostly behind closed doors.
There's still more to be hammered out - negotiators have about $78 billion in offsets to work with, if they choose to use all of the pay-fors, which hasn't been completely settled, according to sources.
Critics have said the offsets are nothing more than a long list of budget gimmicks, warning that using the pay-fors to boost transportation spending now sets the program up for bigger bailouts down the road.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget warned that enacting a five year bill with higher funding levels, an idea pushed by Senate conferees, could be "a costly mistake."
"Although there is no problem with increasing infrastructure spending and paying for the costs, the proposal under discussion would effectively result in a permanent cost increase and pay for it only over the next five years," the independent group wrote in a blog post Wednesday.
"Another patch for highway funding combined with increased spending will result in bigger potholes down the road," the group said.
But conferees and their staffs seem ready to brush the skepticism aside, instead giving thanks for what seemed impossible just months ago -a multiyear, fully funded highway and transit bill, budget gimmicks or not.
"We have a tight timeline here. These things usually take months," said Shuster at the conclusion of the conference's first, and likely only, public meeting last week. "I think we're close to getting there. I think we'll meet the deadline."
Hillary Clinton's pothole politics Back
By Annie Karni | 11/30/2015 05:46 AM EDT
BOSTON -Standing in front of a cheering crowd of 800 construction trade union members and supporters inside Boston's historic Faneuil Hall with Mayor Marty Walsh by her side, Hillary Clinton turned Sunday to a subject that she hasn't devoted much time to on the campaign trail: pothole politics.
At an event billed as "Hard Hats for Hillary," Clinton unveiled a $275 billion infrastructure proposal to fix highways, trains, airports, aging sewer systems and the country's frayed electrical grid.
"Here in Boston, I remember the historic snowfall you had last winter," she told the packed hall, where an overflow crowd of about 1,200 supporters watched on a screen set up in the square outside. "The pictures I saw of two-story snowdrifts -- it crippled the T, I remember hearing that."
Leaning into her urban message, she added that "not everyone can afford, or wants, to have a car these days, and I don't think people want to see more traffic downtown. That's why public transit is absolutely vital to connecting people."
For Clinton, the event presented an opportunity to roll out her jobs and five-year infrastructure plan, which includes creating an infrastructure bank, funded by $25 billion in federal dollars. But Clinton also managed to underscore her strength in one of the party's bedrock constituencies - the traditional big-city Democratic stronghold.
Her campaign has been assiduously collecting big-city mayors from across the country in a show of muscle that Clinton hopes can help block any challenge from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on the left. Nearly all of the Democratic mayors of the 10 most populous cities in the nation have publicly endorsed her; last month, the campaign unveiled an endorsement list of 85 mayors from across the nation, including leading progressives like New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
"It is good political strategy for electoral votes in the fall," said Ed Rendell, a former Pennsylvania governor and two-term Philadelphia mayor, referring to the Clinton campaign's long list of mayoral endorsements. "In a general election, cities can be crucial. Turn out in Philadelphia, in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Miami and Jacksonville and Tampa - those will decide how Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania go."
Until recently, Boston's Walsh was a coveted hold out among the mayors. The face of blue collar labor in Massachusetts, the mayor is also a young progressive validator who helps in an area that also provides jobs for residents of southern New Hampshire. In 2008, Walsh's predecessor, the late Mayor Tom Menino, contributed to Clinton's New Hampshire primary win against Barack Obama by sending what has been described as a "political army" into the first-in-the-nation primary state to fight for Clinton.
Walsh, a former labor leader, had close ties to Vice President Joe Biden. But on Sunday he finally gave Clinton a ringing endorsement.
"We need someone who is battle tested, someone who fights hard, someone who makes everyone around them better," he said introducing Clinton as a "global leader on human rights....Nobody comes closer to her experience. She's got heart and she's got grit."
"Get your sledgehammers ready because we've got a glass ceiling to demolish!" he told the cheering crowd.
His endorsement could matter more for the purposes of identity politics than for his clout in Boston, said Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf.
"Big city mayors where Democrats usually win, even if the solar system were to explode, don't matter," said Sheinkopf. "What matters is Catholic white ethnics in the Midwest, where the general election will be won or lost. Secretary Clinton needs the voters a name such as Walsh attracts - starting now."
As a result of a primary calendar that is front-loaded with smaller states - none of the four early states has a city that ranks among America's top 25 in population - urban policy has so far gotten short shrift on the campaign trail.
"The Democrats have ignored the word 'urban' or 'city' the entire year," said Mitchell Moss, urban policy professor and director of the Rudin Center for Transportation at New York University. "The primaries are largely in rural states. They've been able to avoid cities, because most of their time is spent campaigning in places where there are no cities."
But after focusing her attention on issues such as the drug epidemic ravaging rural communities, Clinton delivered a message Sunday that resonates for many mayors.
"Our roads and bridges are potholed and crumbling," she said. "Families endure blackouts because our electric grid fails in extreme weather. Beneath our cities, our pipeline infrastructure, our water, our sewers are up to a century or more old. Our airports are a mess, our ports need improvement, and our rail systems do as well."
Clinton promised her entire infrastructure program would be paid for through business tax reform.
"For years the best airports in the world have been in places like China, Korea and Japan," she said. "Not one U.S. in the top 10 or even in the top 20.... We invented airplanes in America, we are the reason the world can fly, we can do better than we're doing now."
Her plan comes as Congress is wrestling with a six-year transportation bill to authorize money for federal transportation projects. "This would be on top of what the Congress should finally get around to authorizing," she said. "That is just the floor. We have to build on that. We are trillions of dollars behind. We have to add to what the Congress appropriates."
Clinton pitched her infrastructure plan as a way to create good-paying building trade jobs that serve as a ladder to the middle class, noting that she is "the only Democratic candidate in this race who will pledge to raise your incomes not your taxes."
Clinton aides said details of her tax plan will be unveiled in the coming weeks - including how she will pay for the most significant investment of her policy platform, without raising middle class taxes. But some experts said it could be a difficult pledge to keep.
"It is literally possible to only tax people above $250,000 and get enough money to fund an infrastructure program," said William Gale, the Arjay and Frances Miller Chair in Federal Economic Policy in the Economic Studies Program at the Brookings Institute. "But it may not be politically feasible, and it may not be a good idea on economic grounds."
Even Rendell, a stalwart Clinton supporter, said it would be easier to achieve her infrastructure goals by raising the gas tax. "A gas tax increase would cost the average driver who drives 14,000 miles a year about $120, about $10 a month," said Rendell. "When you consider the state of our roads and bridges, if a driver hits a pothole and blows out a tire, that's $250. The cost of doing nothing has to be factored in."
When asked if it would be possible to fund an infrastructure program with taxes just on the top 2 or 3 percent, Gale said: "Mathematically the answer is yes, but the taxes may look pretty ugly. In economic terms, in terms of solving the longer-run fiscal imbalance, it seems to me it is a big problem."