Sarah Gamard and Caitie Burkes/Manship School News Service
More than half of Louisiana’s residents favor raising taxes to support transportation infrastructure. The state is in need of federal transportation funds, but recent events show it is unclear when the state will get it.
Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Shawn Wilson told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Infrastructure and Resources the state has sent a request to President Trump outlining its transportation funding needs, which includes dredging, the Causeway Bridge, LA1 and additional ferries.
For the next fiscal year, Wilson said, more than 50 percent of his department’s revenue will be federal funds.
“That’s not always something good to say,” he said.
This is especially true given this week, when U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said the Trump administration will unveil a 10-year $1 trillion infrastructure plan within the year.
Wilson said Trump’s infrastructure package proposal suggests he expects a 50-percent match for most funds.
“I’m not confident that small states like Louisiana, in terms of our system, are going to be very competitive in that,” Wilson said. “When he talks about that trillion dollars, there’s a lot of anxiety of smaller state secretaries -- and I’m one of them.”
Wilson said Louisiana will have trouble competing against other parts of the United States, like California or Chicago.
Wilson said his primary concern is inability to make federal match.
In the past, Wilson said, the state has had to provide 20 cents to match every 80 cents of federal funds. For Trump, state obligation may rise to 50-50. If Louisiana does not make the match, the state does not receive federal funds.
Wilson said he thinks it is still possible that the Trump administration will grant the presidential package next fiscal year. “It’s going to be tough,” he told the Manship School News Service.
“We appreciate that (President Trump’s0 commitment is there,” Wilson told the Manship School News Service.
Wilson also said he appreciates that the governor has prioritized investment in transportation, but acknowledged he is limited by funds to the state budget.
Where the state should spend its transportation money depended on the state representative. Rep. Walt Leger, D-New Orleans, for example, called it “incredible” that mass transit is a comparatively small investment in the state.
“We run the risk of being left behind by the larger states,” Leger said. He mentioned Texas, Florida and Georgia. “And we’re just kind of left in the middle, alone and disconnected.”
Wilson said the answer is to do what the state’s transportation and infrastructure investment task force recommended, which is to implement both a sustainable revenue source indexed to keep up with inflation and a categorical allocation of dollars for balanced development.
Some committee members were less optimistic.
“Let’s face it,” Rep. John Schroder, R-Covington said. “Everybody wants something for their region and they don’t really care about the next region.”
Schroder made clear that he did not disagree with Leger’s statements, but “I hate to say it, but Santa Clause doesn’t come every day,” he said. “We’re a small state. Our population is stagnant. We don’t do a good job with dealing with reality.”
Schroder said he thinks most people are open to tolls as a means of revenue.
The past few natural disasters have had an effect on finances, too. Wilson said his department spent $38 million in emergency response for August and March floods, while his budget only had $3 million ready. He said that, even though DOTD will be reimbursed eventually, that took away from other infrastructure projects.
Wilson said the floods were why Louisiana needs the federal government to deliver on their request. “That’s how things get done,” he said. “Unfortunately, at the state level, we don’t have [the funds].”
According to the 2017 Louisiana Survey, which was released this week, 57 percent of Louisiana residents support raising taxes for transportation infrastructure.
Wilson said the state allocation for bridges is currently not enough to keep up with statewide bridge dilapidation.
If they could fund more toll projects, Wilson said, his department would love to expand them. But, he said, it is hard to come up with the money to build the infrastructure in the first place before supplementing the revenue with tolls post-construction. He said tolls should not finance the system, but should fund a particular project.
Louisiana currently faces a $13.1 billion backlog in highway needs. About $5.9 billion of that backlog comes from repairing roads and bridges while $6 billion comes from widening and adding road lanes.
About $1 billion is due to safety-related infrastructure, such as isolated construction, road shoulders and railroad crossings.
A comparatively small sliver -- $200,000 million -- comes from things like interstate striping, signs, rest areas and ferries.
House Fiscal Division budget analyst Daniel Waguespack, who gave a presentation along with Wilson, said that the 16 cent gas tax, which was implemented in Louisiana in 1984, would be at 37 cents today if it had increased with inflation.
Waguespack said inflation has “eroded” the 17 cent gas tax by more than half its original value.
Louisiana’s current gas tax is 38.4 cents per gallon -- 18.4 cents for federal gas taxes and 20 cents for the state.
To put that into perspective, Waguespack said a car that gets 20 mpg pays an average $19.20 per month on state and federal gas taxes. A more fuel efficient car, such as 25 mpg, Waguespack said, requires about $4 per month less than that.
Baton Rouge and New Orleans rank in top 10 medium-sized urban areas for congestion.
Louisiana also has the third worst structurally deficient bridges in the nation.
“(That) doesn’t necessarily mean the bridge is going to fall down,” Wilson assured the committee.
Wilson said, Louisiana has closed 16 of its bridges since Jan. 1, 2017. Wilson said that 760 of the 12,788 bridges in the state are 50 years or older.
Louisiana also has the fifth highest vehicle fatality rate and the eighth worst highway system pavement condition in the country, according to the DOTD’s testimony.
The department said that, over the next 30 years, Louisiana bridges need $9.2 billion, freight rail needs $1.2 billion, aviation needs $3.5 billion, port needs $1.8 billion and waterways need $6.9 billion. State highway needs over this time are $26.8 billion.
About 40 percent of Louisiana’s freight is delivered on either a rail or by water.
Wilson said that 44 states have increased transportation investment more recently than Louisiana. They have not adjusted investment, he said, since the state passed the 4-cents gas tax nearly three decades ago.
Louisiana’s rail freight movement ranks 26th in the nation.
Tommy Clark, Commissioner of Multimodal Commerce, said Plaquemines Port plans to institute a new barge service with a new vessel that is more efficient than average barges in towing capacity, while also being lightweight and “green efficient.”
The barge only draws 9 feet of water and can move all across the river, thus helping relieve traffic on highways -- 1,700 trucks per fully loaded barge, Clark said.
Leger expressed concern over what he called an “astounding” number of backlog.
“It’s a result of 30 years of disinvestment,” Wilson said.
Wilson said further investment in infrastructure that needs to be built and maintained in the future will increase the current backlog by billions of dollars more.