Deron Lovaas, Federal Transportation Policy Director, Washington, D.C.

Thirty years ago America was mired in a recession. Oil prices were high. The nation’s highways and transit systems were falling apart. Divided government was the name of the game, with Republicans controlling one branch of government and Democrats another.

After signing a new, badly needed transportation law, the president stated:

Today, as this bill becomes law, America ends a period of decline in her vast and world-famous transportation system. Because of the prompt and bipartisan action of Congress, we can now ensure for our children a special part of their heritage -- a network of highways and mass transit that has enabled our commerce to thrive, our country to grow, and our people to roam freely and easily to every corner of our land…

Common sense tells us that it will cost a lot less to keep the system we have in good repair than to let it disintegrate and have to start over from scratch. Clearly this program is an investment in tomorrow that we must make today…

When we first built our highways, we paid for them with a gas tax, a highway user fee that charged those ...

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