Aug 17 2010
Archive for the 'Funding' Category
Jan 01 2010
Episode 30 - LEDs, Newspapers, Funding
Mar 02 2009
Episode 28 - Stimulus and Politics
Feb 26 2009
Georgia DOT has its Work Cut Out
As mentioned previously, I’ve been doing some research into the portion of the Transportation Stimulus that will end up in Georgia. I’ve come up with some numbers that leads me to believe that the Georgia Department of Transportation contract office is going to be a madhouse in a few months.
ENORMOUS CAVEAT! All numbers here are WAGs1 at best and downright assumptions at worst.
Here’s what I’ve got. According to GDOT, here’s the preliminary list of projects that might be included in the stimulus. That list and some assumptions about what might be ready lead to these conclusions:
- $1 billion in stimulus funds for Georgia Transportation
- $500 million to be spent by July 8, 2009 (120 day shovel-ready provision)
- 75 projects on the books that would probably be ready and that meet the $500 million dollar goal which leads to…
- 1.3 Contracts per business day in order to meet the deadline
- Some really busy letting months of May and June
With respect to item number five, it seems likely that if the goal of 75 projects let by July 8 is to happen, the majority of the bidding will occur toward the late part of the 120 day period. That means the months of May and June. I honestly have no idea if the administrative, contract and engineering staffs of GDOT and the other agencies involved are capable of this sort of output. I hope so, because I’d hate to leave some of the money on the table.
Things that would help:
- Fewer contracts - with only a few exceptions, the projects on that list linked above are “small” i.e. less than $10 million. A few more large contracts in the $25-$75 million range would even things out nicely. Unfortunately, those would be difficult to drum up in the 120 days.
- Combined contracts - I haven’t examined the list in detail, but having contractors bid on bunches of projects at the same time would reduce the workload
- Longer timeframe - a change to the law that would allow for a longer time-to-project than the 120 days. I’m rating that as “unlikely”
- Cooperative agencies - a great deal of the delay in reaching the letting stage of a project contract occurs during agency reviews. If these review periods were shrunk, more projects could be ready in time.
I’ll be discussing some of this in my podcast due out on Monday morning but remember, I’m only working with my own research and what I read in the papers. For all I know, there’s already a plan that is set and rolling.
1: “WAG”: Technical term standing for Wild-Ass Guess. Usually used in the context of “this is better than a guess, worse than having real data, and based on experience”.
Feb 25 2009
Education about Law, Codes and Time
I’m putting out an episode next week about the transportation stimulus. In preparation, I looked up the text of the stimulus1 in order to determine how much of the $26.725 billion will be ending up in Georgia:
…50 percent of the funds made available under this heading [$26.725 Billion: ed] shall be apportioned to States using the formula set forth in section 104(b)(3) of title 23, United States Code, and the remaining funds shall be apportioned to States in the same ratio as the obligation limitation for fiscal year 2008 was distributed among the States in accordance with the formula specified in section 120(a)(6) of division K of Public Law 110-161:…
The formula in USC 23 Section 104(b)(3) is relatively easy to find and understand. I’ve seen it before. It talks about how the money for each fiscal year’s highway trust fund investment is broken out between the states and it boils down to how many lane miles of interstate and state highways each state has compared to all the other states.
Unfortunately, that second bit, about Division K of Public Law 110-161: section 120(a)(6)? Well…let me just quote it for you:
(4)(A) distribute the obligation limitation for Federal-aid highways, less the aggregate amounts not distributed under paragraphs (1) and (2), for sections 1301, 1302, and 1934 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users; sections 117 (but individually for each project numbered 1 through 3676 listed in the table contained in section 1702 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users) and 144(g) of title 23, United States Code; and section 14501 of title 40, United States Code, so that the amount of obligation authority available for each of such sections is equal to the amount determined by multiplying the ratio determined under paragraph (3) by the sums authorized to be appropriated for that section for the fiscal year; and…
I have a life that does not involve spending the umpteen hours needed to decipher this, run down all the references, do the math, and then probably still get it wrong. So I cheated. I looked up the fiscal 2008 apportionment to Georgia2 and just assumed that it would be the same percentage, or close. This came out to approximately $998 million, which is close to the round $1B. That’s what I’m working with right now, until the newspaper tells me different.
1: Do a search on “Highway Infrastructure Investment” at http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h1/text?version=enr&nid=t0:enr:31 to find the related text. It’s an education in patience.
2: If you go to the link, look at the bottom under table 7 for your state’s fiscal 2009 apportionment. Tables 3, 4, 5 and 6 will tell you how much money your state is losing because of failure to comply with federal regulations.
Jan 05 2009
Episode 27 - Myriad Topics
Topics: Metacast, Transportationist, Email Encryption, Infrastructure Stimulus, Podcast Shout Outs, Extraordinary Contraptions
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Dec 22 2008
Episode 26 - Transportation Finance in the United States
Topics: Transportation Finance in the United States
Episode 26 - Transportation Finance in the United States [15:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadContinue Reading »
Aug 01 2008
I-35W Anniversary
Today is the one year anniversary of the I-35W bridge collapse in Minnesota. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out the wikipedia article. Most of the relevant info is there.
The Interstate bridge collapsed during evening rush hour on August 1, 2007. Thirteen people died and approximately 100 were injured. The reason for the catastrophic failure of the bridge has not been determined precisely, but early findings by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) pointed at an original design flaw in the Gusset Plates (details here).
This tragedy has underscored a problem that the U.S. is facing: aging infrastructure requires maintenance or replacement. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Infrastructure Report Card, the price of maintaining and upgrading the United States public infrastructure (roads, bridges, airports, utlilities, harbors, buildings and everything else) at an adequate level is approximately $1.7 trillion over five years (that’s $340 billion annually). Without a continued investment you run into issues such as degrading roadways, leaking sewage systems, inadequate water supplies, congested airports, etc. It is a fact that this nation continues to grow and the infrastructure representing its nerves and veins must grow with it. Look at Singapore and Manila. Those two cities are so overwhelmed by traffic congestion (to take only one example from transportation) that almost all deliveries from the ports occur at night; the trucks simply cannot move during the day. I’d hate to see that happen to Baltimore, or Savannah, or Long Beach.
$340 billion is a very big number, but let’s remember that Congress fell all over itself to send $200 million to Minnesota to replace the I-35W bridge. If they can snap-count a number that big, I think it’s reasonable to find some additional funding on an annual basis to assist the states in replacing and maintaining the existing infrastructure. 27% of the nation’s bridges are currently rated as strucutrally deficient as of 2005 (which does not mean in imminent danger of collapse, so don’t worry too much) which is an improvement from several years previously, but is too high. Unfortunately, the only way to improve that number is through funding because bridges need constant maintenance and eventual replacement to keep up with the growing traffic demand.
Do I have a proposed solution? I do not. I am not a finance geek or a politician. I, along with many others in my field, see a looming problem which if unaddressed will only lead to bigger problems in the future.
So, remember the I-35W collapse. While it apparently wasn’t directly caused by insufficient funding for maintenance, it is a bellwhether for problems to come.
Apr 30 2008
Traffic Tidbits: 29 April 2008
Hold the Presses! US Trans Sec has a Blog!: US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced that she has a blog now! Call my cynical, but how much “blogging” is really done by the top politicians, rather than their staffers. I may be giving Secretary Peters short shrift here, but I think my point is valid.
Valley Girl Hates Freeways: An LA Blogger discusses the freeway culture.
Texas is Cutting its Highway Maintenance: Through policy decisions, the Texas Department of Transportation is cutting $4.9 Billion from it’s next 10 years of maintenance. Unfortunately, I don’t know what that equates to in terms of percentage per year.
Transportation Improvements due to World Sports: Everyone knows that Beijing is spending uberbucks to get ready for the Olympics. Did you know that Germany spend $15 billion for the World Cup in 2006, and Brazil is building new infrastructure for the 2010 Cup?
Mar 18 2008
