On May 14, 2021, Jim Burnley and Fred Wagner were featured on Transportation Today’s podcast, where they discussed the Biden administration’s $2.2 trillion infrastructure bill and what they expect to see in the coming months.
“We need to see larger federal appropriations funded through the Highway Trust Fund for highway and transit projects in this country, and that they should be paid for by an increase in either fuel taxes and/or a transition to the vehicle miles traveled tax,” said Burnley. “I strongly support the latter, particularly if we are going to incentivize people to go to electric powered vehicles, they have to pay their fair share of the costs for the highway system too.”
“As each day goes by and political developments transpire here in Washington, DC, I am getting less and less optimistic,” Wagner said of Congress passing a new infrastructure package. “I think the likely scenario is that they don’t reach an agreement this summer, they extend the Highway Trust Fund funding for a period of time to see what happens into next year. I think you are going to see a division between the physical infrastructure and the human capital infrastructure that the administration has been advancing.”
Click here to access the podcast.