The former director of the West Virginia University Bureau of Business and Economic Research hopes policymakers are not scared off by the large dollar figure a study group says is needed to fix the state’s transportation system.

“It’s too easy to look at the dollar amount and get bogged down and do nothing, but things are just going to get worse,” says Tom Witt, professor emeritus at the WVU College of Business and Economics.

“A well-maintained transportation system is essential for economic growth,” he said. “If you want to attract businesses to West Virginia, those businesses have to have a way of getting their goods and services out of the state.”

The report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Highways, issued Wednesday, estimates it would take more than $1 billion to fix the roads network. Witt was a member of the commission, appointed by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin. He is also a board member of West Virginians for Better Transportation, and has researched highway financing since the 1980s and provided several reports on the subject to the West Virginia Legislature and various tax study commissions. He said the Commission’s report is a good start.

“The Governor charged the commission to study the needs of the transportation system and develop a long-term, strategic plan of action,” Witt said. “In looking at the future of the system, we had to look at both maintenance and construction as well as expansion of the highway system.”

The Commission, formed on Aug. 14, 2012, noted three recurring themes that guided its work and provided the basis for its recommendations:

1) State Road Fund revenues have not kept pace with inflation and no longer provide the financial resources to maintain the current roads system.
2) Since traditional funding mechanisms cannot provide for future growth of the highway system, West Virginia should pursue finance options outside of the State Road Fund.
3) The West Virginia Division of Highways should continue to explore every opportunity to operate more efficiently.

Witt said he hoped the West Virginia Legislature would immediately tackle the highways issue, especially in light of data compiled by the Federal Highway Administration and reported by The Road Information Program, a nonprofit research group based in Washington, D.C. That report indicated that 36 percent of West Virginia’s major roads are either in poor or mediocre condition, with 12 percent in poor condition and 24 percent mediocre.

Other findings include:

• Rough roads cost West Virginia motorists $400 million annually in extra vehicle operating costs, such as accelerated vehicle depreciation, additional repair costs, and increased fuel consumption and tire wear, equating to $333 annually per West Virginia motorist.
• The State Highway System has more than 7,000 vehicular bridges with an average age of nearly 40 years; bridges typically have a design life of 50 years and frequently require extensive rehabilitation or replacement near the end of the design life; 35 percent of these bridges are currently in need of repair, improvement or replacement, and 22 percent are functionally obsolete, no longer meeting current highway design standards.
• West Virginia’s overall traffic fatality rate of 1.78 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles of travel in 2011 was the second highest in the nation.

In order to fund highways projects, the Commission recommended the initiation of new sources of revenue. Recommendations ranged from increasing the motor vehicle sales tax and Division of Motor Vehicles registration and licensing fees to dedication of the consumer sales and use tax revenue already collected from purchases associated with cars and trucks, such as automobile parts, batteries, brakes and services to the State Road Fund.

The Commission also presented innovative financing methods, ranging from public-private partnerships to tolling. A State Infrastructure Bank was suggested, allowing West Virginia to join 32 other states and territories that share a bank of revolving funds to offer low-cost loans and other credit assistance to help finance highway projects at the local level.

Witt said one of the more controversial issues the Commission tackled is tolls paid on the West Virginia Turnpike.

“If tolls are removed from the turnpike there is a loss of more than $60 million, three-quarters of which is paid by out of state motorists,” he said. “Future costs to the turnpike will have to come out of the state roads fund, reducing the ability to fund the highway system in other parts of the state. We didn’t see that as a solution, in that it actually creates another hardship.”

The Commission recommended continuing to collect turnpike tolls, with an escalation of those tolls over time to fund a $1 billion road construction bond issue. However, the Commission specified that 25 percent of the bond issue amount should go to road construction projects in the four counties in which the turnpike operates.

In the end, Witt said, the longer West Virginia waits to take on this issue, the worse the situation becomes.

“Surrounding states have all addressed long-term funding of improvements for their transportation systems, giving them a competitive advantage over West Virginia. In the absence of creating additional funding, the effective decision for West Virginia would be the abandonment of some of our roads, because there simply isn’t enough money to go around. And I don’t think anybody wants that,” he said.

Witt also supports the examination of localities funding their transportation systems and improvements, instead of relying solely on state funding.

“For example, the Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization has prioritized transportation projects for the region,” Witt said. “If local organizations are able to raise money, such as through a discussed 1-cent county sales tax in Monongalia County, that revenue could be directly allocated to the highways system in this county.”

A legislative bill creating that 1-cent sales tax was approved by the West Virginia Senate Transportation Committee during the last legislative session, but was not addressed again in the House or Senate.

For a comprehensive list of reports, studies, and other documentation provided to the Commission, visit http://www.transportation.wv.gov/highways/highwayscommission/Pages/default.aspx.

-WVU-

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CONTACT: Patrick Gregg, WVU College of Business and Economics
304.293.5131; patrick.gregg@mail.wvu.edu
Follow @WVUToday and the WVU College of Business and Economics at @wvucobe on Twitter.