A Vision for Funding Transportation in 2021 (and Beyond)

2020 will be a memorable year for many reasons — a mix of good, bad, and ugly — that no one will forget anytime soon. I certainly will not forget this year anytime soon, but with 2021 on the horizon I am optimistic about what can come next: a new beginning. For me, new beginnings often arrive after catastrophic storms that reveal how to make the most of any situation while thriving. That’s the lesson I drew from having a phoenix, the mythical bird that dies and is born again through fire, as a mascot in high school. In ways big and small, I hope that the phoenix serves as a reminder to us all that even after the fire, we can soar again. We need that courage and audacity to ensure 2021 is a headline year for lasting, positive change — and not just the year after 2020. 

For the transportation sector, America’s new beginning in 2021 can ignite revolutionary change in the ways humans and goods move throughout our country such as with automated vehicles. But before advanced technologies rule the roads, our nation’s transportation leaders will need to use 2021 as a critical pivot year to not only help cities and states financially recover due to the pandemic, but as an opportunity to support underserved communities in connecting to vital opportunities while driving down climate emissions. Achieving these objectives in the transportation industry will not happen overnight, yet alone a year, but 2021 should be the year that we begin to make earnest funding changes that will pave the way for the future of the transportation system in this country.  

Most state, local, and federal transportation policy leaders have relied on taxes from the sale of gasoline and diesel to help fund these projects, but the budget shortfall continues to grow as funds collected are no match for the growing list of repairs and upgrades needed across the country. Moreover, as we have seen during the pandemic, demand for gasoline has fallen due to variety of factors eliminating the daily commute for workers and students, while contactless deliveries for goods like food and clothing have grown exponentially as Americans seek to reduce human-to-human interaction to reduce transmission of the coronavirus. However, low gasoline sales should not impede infrastructure upgrades — especially as the world grapples with how to reduce consumption of fossil fuels in order to decrease climate emissions.  

To chart a new path forward, 2021 should be the year that every American learns about options for a Road Usage Charge (RUC). A RUC is a user fee that can be based on mileage or vehicle miles traveled, offering an alternative to gas taxes that have dried up due to low gasoline consumption during the pandemic. With completed RUC pilot programs conducted in Delaware, Utah, Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, California, and Colorado over the past few years, the time is now to turn lessons learned from those policy experiments into a viable funding mechanism that can be adopted by all states and the federal government. The future of the U.S. transportation system requires a stable funding stream that allows for flexible accounting of all fuel types and technologies. A RUC is our nation’s best hope for ensuring we arrive in the future with the roadway and highway infrastructure needed to foster safe, affordable, and efficient mobility for all.