In The News

Infrastructure bank plan could lead to more tolling

Three U.S. senators have drafted a bill that would create a federal infrastructure bank to fund highway, bridge and railway projects. As more details come to light, OOIDA leadership is concerned about the likelihood of more tolling, congestion pricing, or other fees that states will charge to pay back the federal loans.

Sens. John Kerry, D-MA, Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-TX, and Mark Warner, D-VA, promoted the infrastructure bank proposal during a press conference held Tuesday, March 15, on Capitol Hill. They said they will file the bill soon.

Startup funding for the infrastructure bank would come from the federal government. As private investors get more involved, public funding would be reduced and the bank would stand on its own.

The Kerry-Hutchison-Warner version of an infrastructure bank would require $10 billion in federal startup money. That differs from a $30 billion plan floated earlier this year by President Obama.

An infrastructure bank, according to the senators’ plan, would fund up to 50 percent of the cost of an infrastructure project.

OOIDA leadership is concerned about the requirement that projects generate revenue for entities to pay back the money that is loaned by the bank.

“It increases the chance of tolling,” said OOIDA Director of Legislative Affairs Ryan Bowley.

“It’s certainly a good idea to put more dollars into the system, but the concern that we have is with the details on how things like this get structured.”

Bowley said OOIDA also has concerns with how the projects would be chosen, and by whom.

“There’s just a lot more questions out there that we have,” he said. “We’re excited about the concept of bringing more investment to the table, but we’re concerned about incentivizing toll roads and tolling existing roads to get work done, and who is going to be making the decisions.”

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