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Transportation system needs help in Minnesota |
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Wednesday, 23 April 2008 |
Ron Bray
Guest Columnist
These comments are in response to a letter published Wednesday, March 12, in the Forest Lake Times Open Forum column.
Here are the particulars of the transportation funding bill.
The money the state collects in gas tax and license tab fees is constitutionally dedicated to the Highway Trust Fund and has to be spent on roads and bridges, not on transit projects.
The Highway Trust Fund, however, has seen declining revenue from the gas tax and tab fees and the revenue from the motor vehicle sales tax has come in far below projections as fewer people purchase cars.
The funds in the Highway Trust Fund simply could not keep up with growing traffic and growing demands.
The gas tax hadn’t been increased since 1988 – 20 years ago. Nothing costs what it used to cost in 1988 and highways/repairs are no different.
There has been a backlog of highway and bridge projects with no money in the foreseeable future to pay for those projects.
MnDOT had to shift funds from projects like the Highway 169 “Devil’s Triangle” project in Brooklyn Park and others to the Crosstown project in order to get that project done.
It was just announced that the Devil’s Triangle has been put to the front of the line thanks to the passage of the bill in February and construction will begin this year.
The small increase in the gas tax passed by the legislature will cost the average driver $55 per year.
That’s less than the cost of a cup of coffee and a doughnut every week.
The change in the license tab fee schedule doesn’t apply to cars that were previously registered in Minnesota.
It applies to new cars and those who buy the most expensive cars will pay the most.
Taxpayers who have older, less expensive cars, aren’t likely to see any change at all.
Remember, license tab fees were cut because former Gov. Ventura didn’t like paying for the tabs on his Porsche.
There is also a gas tax credit of $25 per household provided for those in the lowest income tax bracket. The bill does not hurt the “little people.”
The 2008 Transportation Funding bill will allow the state to fix more roads and bridges including the replacement of the Highway 23/DeSoto Bridge in St. Cloud currently closed due to problems with gusset plates.
We have a number of aging bridges in this state with the same design as the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis that collapsed.
We can’t wait to replace these bridges.
Doing nothing as our infrastructure deteriorates and traffic congestion increases is not a responsible way to govern.
I applaud all the legislators who did their jobs and made sure that the state has additional funding to improve the safety of our transportation infrastructure.
Remember, you only pay the user fee at the pump if you are consuming gas or diesel and using the roads and bridges.
This method is a lot better than having fixed income seniors pay increased property taxes.
This way, if you don’t drive, you don’t pay.
Thank you for making the roads safer for me and my family!
The writer lives in Burns Township. He is a public engineer and vice president of WSB & Associates, Inc., Minneapolis. WSB provides engineering services to the city of Wyoming and Wyoming Township.
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