West Virginia faces a transportation funding shortfall of $5 billion over the next 10 years, and unless West Virginia addresses this funding gap soon, many sorely needed transportation projects will remain unfunded.
Worse still, the state's funding shortcomings will cause existing problems to worsen - more than one-third of West Virginia's roads are in poor or mediocre condition, and 37 percent of the state's bridges are deficient.
These are the distressing facts contained in a new transportation report by TRIP and West Virginians for Better Transportation. TRIP is a Washington D.C. non-profit organization that researches, evaluates and distributes information on highway transportation. West Virginians for Better Transportation is a statewide coalition working to educate the public and elected leaders about the problems we face with our roads, bridge and highway infrastructure.
"Future Mobility in West Virginia: Meeting the State's Need for Safe and Efficient Mobility" provides a list of needed projects that remain unfunded, including road and bridge repairs and projects to enhance economic development.
Here are some other reasons why all West Virginians should care:
Driving on roads in need of repair costs each West Virginia motorist an average of $280 annually, $371 million statewide, in the form of accelerated vehicle depreciation, additional repair costs and increased fuel consumption and tire wear. So, people are going to pay one way or the other.
West Virginia's traffic fatality rate of 2.10 fatalities per 100 million miles of travel is the third highest in the country, and 54 percent higher than the national average. Good roads, bridges and highways are part of saving lives and preventing injuries.
Of the state's bridges that are 20 feet or longer, 15 percent are structurally deficient and another 22 percent are functionally obsolete. Many of these bridges have weight limits, which can force trucks, school buses and emergency vehicles to take alternate routes, which are time-consuming and gas-wasting.
According to TRIP's research, the West Virginia Department of Transportation estimates that $9.75 billion will be needed through 2018 to improve road and bridge conditions, enhance economic development, provide needed safety measures and relieve traffic congestion. However, the state estimates that only $5 billion will be available during that time.
Will Congress bail us out? Not likely.
Currently, West Virginia gets about $500 million in federal highway funds. But, the current federal transportation program expires on Sept. 30. This will require Congress to authorize a new federal surface transportation program or extend the current program to allow federal highway dollars to continue to be provided to West Virginia.
Recent declines in federal surface transportation revenues, as well as significant increases in the cost of transportation construction materials, will make it more difficult for Congress to authorize new, adequately-funded federal surface transportation legislation. Smaller states such as West Virginia that have mountainous terrain may have to fight even more with the urban states to maintain its existing share of federal highway dollars.
The state recently did receive about $211 million in federal stimulus funding for highway and bridge improvements and $19 million for public transit improvements, but this funding will serve only as a small down payment on needed improvements. It is not sufficient to allow the state to proceed with numerous projects needed to modernize its surface transportation system. It is estimated that West Virginia has more than $20 billion in unmet projects.
As one can read, West Virginia faces enormous deficiencies in road and bridge funding. The federal stimulus package will not make as big of an impact as we had hoped. And with a projected deficit of $5 billion in surface transportation needs over the next 10 years, we believe it is critically important for the governor, the legislature and the Department of Transportation to come together and develop a long-term funding solution for our roads, bridges and highways.
West Virginia's leaders must understand that our transportation crisis is serious and will grow much worse in the coming years unless something is done to address it.