interstates

The doctrine that tolls should only be used for adding extra capacity on Interstates - espoused by the Democrat Party administration's transport sec Ray LaHood and the Republican leader of the US House transport committee Cong John Mica alike - is not supported by public opinion according to a survey published by HNTB.

US secretary of transportation Ray LaHood (Dem) and US House of Representatives transport committee chair John Mica (Repub)  are both out of touch with public opinion in their hostility to use of tolls to rebuild interstates and relieve congestion - according to surveys by the big Kansas City based engineering firm HNTB.

Kenneth Orski who follows transport funding issues in Washington DC says US Government grants to the states for highways will drop from the current level of $41b/year to about $32b next year based on the end of deficit financing under a newly budget conscious House of Representatives. That $32b will be the result of relying solely on federal gas/diesel tax revenues - as we used to before the massive deficit spending of 'stimulus' funds the past three years.