A Palm Beach County, Fla. commissioner said that counties want to work closer with the federal government to improve the nation’s transportation system during a House Surface Transportation subcommittee hearing, tMay 2, on the reauthorization of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA).
“Because of ISTEA, county officials now have greater ownership in the federal program,” said Palm Beach County (Fla.) Commissioner Carol Roberts, on behalf of NACo. “Any effort to remove local elected officials from this role would undermine their support for a national program.”
Roberts stressed that it is in the federal government’s best interest to see that the federal highway program continues to work directly with local officials on the construction and rehabilitation of roads and facilities. Roberts warned that the federal investment in transportation infrastructure is of national importance and shouldn’t be jeopardized.
“The federal government needs to continue playing a strong role in national transportation policy rather than back away from its federal commitment,” she said.
The Palm Beach official added that counties strongly oppose any turnback or devolution of federal gas tax authority to the state, saying that move would be “tragic.”
“I don’t believe the 50 state legislatures and governors will raise state gas taxes enough to replace any federal highway and transit funds which would be eliminated through a turnback proposal,” she concluded.
Counties have a major stake in surface transportation. Counties own and maintain 1.7 million miles of highway, or 43 percent of the total road mileage in the United States. Counties also own 219,000 bridges, 45 percent of the total bridges in the nation. And finally, counties operate 25 percent of the nation’s transit systems.