Deadlock on US transportation funds spurs warnings
CHICAGO (AP) — If Congress fails to break its deadlock over a transportation funding bill before a weekend deadline, sprawling transit systems like Chicago's would rapidly deteriorate and potentially push millions of riders onto already congested roads, transit authorities warned Monday.
The Chicago area alone would lose $1.2 million a day in federal funds it relies on to repair tracks, upgrade equipment and replace aging rail cars and buses, said Joe Costello, director of northeastern Illinois' Regional Transportation Authority. If no measure replaces legislation set to expire Saturday it would also stop the collection of federal gasoline and diesel taxes that take in $90 million a day for transit programs and highways.
"Once again, state and local transportation officials and citizens in this nation — not just Illinois — are being held hostage by the United States Congress' inability to make decisions in a timely manner," said Doug Whitley, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and co-chairman of the Transportation for Illinois Coalition.
House Republican leaders have been unable to push through a new transportation bill or agree to back a bipartisan Senate version. The backup plan is a temporary fix: a 90-day extension of the current legislation, which is itself a temporary fix. There have been eight temporary extensions since the last major funding bill expired in September 2009.
"Since then we've been on sort of life support," said Costello, who joined Whitley on a conference call with reporters Monday.
Fed-up state officials in charge of transit systems, highways and bridges say those temporary extensions don't allow enough certainty to plan for infrastructure projects that take years to complete and require full funding before they can even begin.
They also point out that the issue is coming to a head just as the spring construction season is about to get under way.
In heavily transit-dependent cities like Chicago and New York, there is a sense among city authorities that a divided Congress embroiled in partisan brinkmanship is jeopardizing transportation networks that are key to keeping local economies running.
In Chicago, Costello put the issue in perspective by saying the $1.2 million a day at stake would be enough to pay for two city buses or one rail car. Three days of that funding would pay to rebuild a bridge for the Metra commuter rail service that runs out to the city's suburbs, he said.
The Chicago transit system carries 2.2 million riders a day.
Costello said transit authorities in Chicago were backing the Senate bill, which would authorize $109 billion to be spent over about two years. It passed March 14 by a bipartisan vote.
A longer-term Republican-led bill in the House triggered an uproar among transit agencies because it would redirect the funding they get from the gasoline tax to highways. GOP leaders have failed to gain enough support for it. Now, they are trying to pass a three-month extension to buy time to line up votes for their bill.
Democrats want the House to take up the Senate bill. Their opposition could prevent passage of the GOP's short-term extension in a vote later Monday.
Two Republican Congress members from Illinois, Judy Biggert and Robert Dold, were among those urging House leaders to take up the Senate bill.
"Transportation is a priority for all Americans," they said in a letter Monday. "Our constituents deserve to see Congress act swiftly and in a bipartisan way on this important issue."
