As I mentioned in my June editorial, Rodney Slater, Federal Highway Administration
(FHWA) administrator, was a participant in a regional forum held in Chicago
in May on reauthorization of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency
Act of 1991 (ISTEA) . Open to the public, and attended by ROADS & BRIDGES,
the forum was the second in a series of 12 forums scheduled across the country
through September.

ISTEA reauthorization forums are scheduled to take place in New Orleans
July 30; Huntington, W.V., Aug. 7; Missoula, Mont., Aug. 20; Minneapolis
Aug. 23; and Miami Sept. 25. A forum in Providence, R.I., is slated for
an unspecified date in September.

These forums provide an excellent venue for highway-industry personnel to
show support and state the urgent need for proper funding of our nation's
highways and bridges. Transit supporters and environmentalists always are
well represented at these events and its time representatives from our industry
made their voices heard.

Although freight transportation was the intended focus of the Chicago forum,
the cry for more money for mass transit was loud. To encourage commuters
to use transit, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley proposed a tax cut be offered
for transit riders. Perhaps this would help increase ridership. But it also
might help transit support itself more rather than relying on gas-tax funds
supplied by highway users, which should be going toward maintaining and
upgrading our highway system.

While transit, and the need for more subsidies, garnered much of the attention
from speakers, highways also were represented in the equation. The urgent
need for funding for maintenance and repair of our roads was stressed by
Ed McNamara, a county executive in Wayne County, Mich. "We frequently
use the estimate that it costs $100,000 to repair one lane mile of road;
it costs about $2 million to replace that lane after the lane is no longer
repairable," McNamara said. "Our concern is that more and more
of these lanes are moving from a repairable state to a replacement state
that is costing us millions and millions more because the dollars [to repair
the lanes] are just not available. I think that rather than looking at the
[funding] process we need to look at the end result. How do we fix those
lanes in need of repair and keep them operating for the next 10­p;12
years, rather than having to dig them up and turn them back to gravel?"

In response, Administrator Slater said, "We're doing an inadequate
job across the country on that score when it comes to maintenance. We've
got a system now that we've constructed over 40 years that in many places
is in a state of serious disrepair. It's going to be very costly if we don't
deal with that issue very soon."

From your lips to Congress' ears, Administrator Slater.