Modernizing Our Roads and Bridges: The Problem with Transportation Funding in Louisiana

Louisiana’s roads, highways, and bridges form vital transportation links for the state’s residents, visitors, and businesses, making the condition of our roads a focal point for many. Not only does our transportation quality reflect potential economic advances, but our roads provide daily access to homes, jobs, commerce, natural resources and recreation, and emergency services required by Louisiana’s growing population. The state’s population grew to approximately 4.6 million residents in 2020, a 4% increase since 2000. Louisiana’s motorists and businesses require a high level of personal and commercial mobility. Taking into consideration the amount of water area, this makes repairing our bridges a critical part of future growth in population, tourism, business, recreation, and vehicle travel. Improving transportation funding is critical for Louisiana’s future.

Modernizing Louisiana’s transportation system is critical to quality of life and economic competitiveness present in the Pelican State. Inadequate transportation investment year over year results in deteriorated infrastructure and quality of life and economic growth. Unfortunately, the problem with transportation funding has fallen to the wayside, and we can no longer afford to ignore the crucial task of modernizing our roads and bridges.

The Hidden Cost of Deficient Roads

Driving on Louisiana roads that are deteriorating, congested, and lack important safety features cost motorists a total of $7.6 billion annually. On average, drivers in Baton Rouge pay a total of $2,431 in vehicle operations and repairs, wasted fuel due to congestion, and traffic crashes while drivers in New Orleans pay $2,403 on average. Due to inadequate state and local funding, nearly half of major roads and highways in Louisiana are in poor or mediocre condition. Driving on rough roads costs a driver more annually than a road in good condition. In North Louisiana, Shreveport faces the worst percentage of poor roadways at 45% and contains the least amount of “good” roads at 17%.

The costs of deficient roads continues to be a burden on Louisiana drivers. During the Covid-19 pandemic, vehicle travel in Louisiana dropped as much as 36 percent, reducing congestion substantially; however, traffic has increased by 30% since 2020. Congested roads choke commuting and commerce and cost Louisiana motorists $3 billion annually in the form of wasted fuel. In the state’s most congested areas, drivers lose up to $1,312, spend as much as 60 extra hours per year on the roads, and waste 26 gallons due to congestion.

Traffic Safety Presents a Huge Hazard to Louisiana Drivers

In Louisiana, a total of 3,738 people were killed due to traffic crashes from 2015-2019, an average of 748 fatalities per year. Traffic crashes imposed a total of $6.8 billion in economic costs in 2019 and traffic crashes in which a lack of adequate roadway safety features, while not the primary factor, likely contributed to $2.3 billion in losses.

Three major factors are associated with fatal vehicle crashes: driver behavior, vehicle characteristics like dependency, and roadway features. It is estimated that roadway features are likely a contributing factor in around one-third of all fatal traffic crashes. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the economic loss of traffic crashes includes:

Work and household productivity losses
Property damage
Medical costs
Rehabilitation costs
Legal and court costs
Congestion costs
Emergency services

Improving safety on Louisiana roadways can be achieved through a variety of safety features like:

Converting intersections to roundabouts
Removing or shielding roadside objects
Adding left-turn lanes at intersections
Signalization of intersections
Adding or improving median barriers
Improved lighting
Adding centerline or shoulder rumble strips
Providing appropriate pedestrian and bicycle facilities
Including sidewalks and bicycle lanes
Providing wider lanes
Wider and paved shoulders
Upgrading roads from two lanes to four
Updating rail crossings

Louisiana’s Worsening Roads and Bridges

The life cycle of Louisiana’s roads is greatly affected by the state and local governments’ ability to perform timely maintenance and upgrades. Provided by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), pavement data suggests these statistics regarding the condition of Louisiana’s roads and bridges:

47% of Louisiana’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition
44% of Louisiana’s major locally and state-maintained urban roads are in poor condition
16% of Louisiana’s major locally and state-maintained rural roads and highways are in poor condition

Pavement failure is caused by a combination of traffic, moisture, and climate. Moisture often works its way into road surfaces and the materials that form the road’s foundation. Reconstruction of roads costs four times more than minor repair, so it is critical that roads are fixed beforehand. Once roads continue to age, they reach a point of deterioration where it is impossible to perform routine maintenance, resulting in inadequate roadways for travel.

Given the amount of waterways in Louisiana, its bridges form a key link in the state’s highway system, providing communities and individuals access to employment, schools, medical facilities, commerce, and other essential services. Bridges that are structurally deficient may be posted for lower weight limits or closed if their condition warrants such action. Restrictions of vehicle weight may cause dependency on alternative routes to get around. For vehicles like ambulances, commercial trucks, school buses, and farm equipment, this could put the public at even more extreme of a risk. 13% of Louisiana’s bridges are rated in poor structural condition, the seventh highest share in the U.S.

Most bridges are designed to last 50 years before major overhaul or replacement while modern bridges can last up to 75 years or longer. In Louisiana, 33% of bridges were built in 1969 or earlier. The service life of bridges can be extended by performing routine maintenance such as resurfacing decks, painting surfaces, ensuring proper drainage, and replacing deteriorating components. Routine maintenance helps to keep the condition of our bridges intact, but most will require costly construction or major repairs to remain operable.

Transportation Funding and Economic Development

Revenue from Louisiana’s motor fuel tax, a critical component of state transportation funding, has been eroding at an alarming rate since it was established nearly 40 years ago. Increasing vehicle fuel efficiency and the increase of electric vehicles is likely to erode the fuel tax even further. Fuel efficiency is expected to rise by 2030 to 32 miles per gallon. By 2040, electric vehicles are expected to represent 30% of the passenger vehicle fleet. This reduction in fuel expenditure will inevitably reduce the purchasing power of our roads down to zero.

In addition to state funds, the federal government is a critical source of funding in Louisiana’s roads, highways, bridges, and transit systems. It provides a significant return based on the revenue generated in the state by federal motor tax. Most federal funds for highway and transit improvements in Louisiana are provided by federal highway user fees, largely an 18.4 cents-per-gallon tax on gasoline and a 24.4 cents-per-gallon tax on diesel fuel. Since 2008, revenu into the federal Highway Trust Fund has been inadequate to support legislatively set funding levels. While the FAST act was extended to expire on September 30, 2021, it still does not provide adequate funding to meet the needs of Louisiana’s deficient roads.

Build a Better Louisiana | Support Louisiana Coalition to Fix Our Roads

Louisiana is currently facing a backlog of $786 billion in road and bridge projects. As Louisiana works to enhance its thriving, growing, and dynamic state, it will be critical that it is able to address the most pressing transportation issues by modernizing roads, highways, bridges, and transit infrastructure. By improving the physical condition of its transportation network and enhancing the system’s ability to provide efficient, safe, and reliable mobility for residents, visitors, and businesses, Louisiana will see long-term economic growth. Without a substantial boost in state or local transportation funding, essential projects will continue to fall by the wayside, and quality of life will continue to worsen. It is critical that we work together to build a better future for Louisiana residents. Support Louisiana Coalition to Fix Our Roads in our fight to improve transportation funding in Louisiana.

How Investing in Roads and Bridges Helps the Economy in Louisiana

Study Finds 1 Dollar Spent on Transportation Creates 4 Dollars of Economic Growth

How does investing in roads and bridges help the economy?

According to a recent report by the University of Louisiana Lafayette’s Public Policy Center (Center), there are up to four dollars of economic growth for each dollar invested into roads and bridges. When it comes to “what government can do” to reboot Louisiana’s economy, roads and bridges remain the time-tested way to grow our way into a better economy.

In analyzing the issue, the Center found that investing in roads and bridges “inadequate infrastructure increases marginal costs for businesses, reducing productivity. Improving infrastructure can change market structure and the production and consumption processes.”

When looking to maximize the economic impact, the Center noted that “enhancing infrastructure that impacts the distribution and movement of goods and services may have a higher impact on economic benefits than other types of publicly funded infrastructure. Developing regional amenities, such as through improved transportation access and quality, may attract households and firms and increase the regional impact of public investment.”

Government is extremely limited in what it can do to create jobs and spur economic growth on a short term basis. Investing in roads and bridges is the proven way to have both a short and long term positive impact on the economy.

Louisiana’s history on transportation

Louisiana – like other states and the federal government – has long relied on the gas tax to fund its roads and bridges. According to the Center’s research, “drivers pay $0.20 in state taxes and $0.184 in federal taxes on each gallon of gasoline.” Louisiana’s base gas tax of $0.16 was enacted in 1984 with an additional $0.04 to support a specific list of projects – the Transportation Infrastructure Model of Economic Development (TIMED) program was approved in 1989 that went into effect in 1990.

The challenge with a fuel tax is that it’s based on consumption of fuel and not the price of fuel. 20 cents per gallon had more value in the 1980s than it does today and consumers actually use less fuel per capita today than they used to because of increased fuel economy. If you only look at the effects of inflation, the Center found that the purchasing power of the fuel tax in Louisiana has been “eroded 61.5 percent” since 1984. To regain that purchasing power, the state fuel tax would need to be increased by 25.5 cents.

Louisiana versus other states

When compared to other states, Louisiana ranks 49^th when you consider the percentage of the entire state budget that goes to transportation, saying a lot about the state’s priorities. More specifically, the Center found that “Louisiana’s transportation expenditures as a percent of total state expenditures are the lowest in the Southeast and the second lowest in the nation. In 2020, Louisiana spent 4%, Texas spent 10.8%, Mississippi spent 6 %, and Florida spent 11.8% on transportation expenditures as a percent of all state expenditures.”

The Center also found that, on average, states fund 73 percent of transportation spending with the rest coming from the federal government. In Louisiana, we only fund 49 percent, relying much more heavily on limited federal funds.

The state of Louisiana roads and bridges

When you consider our history and how we compare to other states, it’s easy to see why Louisiana has such poor roads and bridges. Since 2012, the backlog of projects has grown from $12.1 to $14.8 billion, and this only relates to fixing the roads and bridges that we have now. It doesn’t speak to the additional billions of needs for new roads and bridges across the State.

Because of our failure to act, the Center found that “nearly 50% of Louisiana’s major roads are rated in poor or mediocre condition” and that “Louisiana has 12,982 highway bridges, 14% of which are considered structurally deficient.” Additional findings include that “Louisiana has more bridge area (square meters) in poor conditions than any state in our region.”

Louisiana can control its own destiny

Louisiana does not have to accept the current state of affairs. Louisiana doesn’t have to remain so reliant on the federal government to fund its roads and bridges. The Center found that “$100 million investment on high priority infrastructure could be expected to generate $400 million in economic benefits.” With this in mind, generating new revenue for roads and bridges will allow Louisiana to control its own destiny and put the State on a path toward long-term, sustained economic growth.

Less Traffic, Same Bad Roads this Vacation Season

The COVID-19 pandemic definitely put a damper on summertime travel plans for many. If you did get out of town, you probably enjoyed a little less traffic during your travels this year. Sitting in traffic for hours is the most frustrating waste of time of modern times, so hopefully you enjoyed some relief. But don’t get used to it.

Projects to expand Louisiana’s highway system and reduce traffic make up some $20-30 billion of the state backlog. Louisiana currently has no plan to fund and construct these projects. WIthout immediate action, trust that this current dip in congestion – however long it lasts – is not the “new normal.” What we are experiencing now is just a tease. You will be stuck in traffic again, and you will be even more frustrated than you were before COVID-19.

One of the main reasons that road projects take a while to build is because of managing the heavy traffic during construction. Lighter traffic means more efficient construction. With vacation season in the rear view mirror and a modified school season upon us, traffic may stay lighter for a while longer. We should be taking advantage of this unique opportunity to build roads more quickly.

We are all looking forward to when we get beyond COVID-19. What a gift to all of us it would be to emerge from the pandemic on a path to a world class highway system that would attract a better economy than we ever had before. Instead of imagining, let’s get it done. Let’s demand lawmakers take advantage of this opportunity to rebuild Louisiana and finally fix our roads.

We Could Be Rebuilding Louisiana

Over $3 billion spent on 300,000 Unemployed Louisianans due to COVID-19. We could be rebuilding Louisiana.

Imagine if the Louisiana Legislature had acted last year to invest more in highway construction. Thousands of currently unemployed Louisianans could be working safely – outdoors – to rebuild Louisiana’s system of highways.

For over thirty years, Louisiana has said “now” is not the right time to invest in roads and bridges. We have missed out on so much as a State because of the proverbial “kicking the can down the road.” There is likely not a greater missed opportunity than the COVID-19 pandemic.

Think about it. Louisiana has spent over $3 billion so far on unemployment benefits related to COVID-19. Each year we are lucky if $700 million gets spent building roads. Can you imagine the scope of construction projects and economic renaissance that would follow if we instead put people back to work rebuilding Louisiana?

While we continue to wait for the non-existent “perfect time” to invest in roads and bridges, conditions get worse and more expensive to fix. Especially in the unusual times we are living in today, we must acknowledge that Louisiana has missed a major opportunity.

Traffic is lighter than usual and it’s construction season. Outdoor labor is safer than indoor labor in the pandemic. We could be safely rebuilding Louisiana. We could be laying a literal foundation for an economic rebound. Doing nothing is the most expensive mistake. Let’s have COVID-19 be the wake up call that makes Louisiana start demanding better.

The Louisiana We Want for our Kids

For those of us who are parents and grandparents, the last several months have been especially concerning. When will the pandemic be over? When will my kids or grandkids get to have a normal life? These types of questions weigh heavy on many of us.

The truth is, no one knows the exact answers about what the future holds. This is painful for those of us who want to see our kids and grandkids live fulfilled lives here in Louisiana.

In trying times, we often recall the actions of our parents and grandparents in past hardships. While COVID-19 is certainly unprecedented, our nation has faced major challenges before. As we look to the past for help in dealing with the future, let us all take note of how our parents and grandparents handled their greatest economic hardships. With grit and foresight, they rebuilt and expanded the nation’s highways.

Their response to hardship created decades of economic prosperity that we have all enjoyed. When we rightly worry about the future that your kids and grandkids will have, we should keep this in mind. What are we doing to pay forward the favors that we received? Without intentional action by lawmakers and elected officials, we will come out of COVID-19 – whenever it occurs – with roads and bridges that couldn’t possibly support economic recovery and long-term growth. That is not what we want our kids and grandkids to look forward to.

Building roads is an investment in the future. Among all the uncertainties of COVID-19, one thing we can be certain about is that fixing our roads and bridges would serve our “new normal” very well, whenever it arrives. Our kids and grandkids would benefit and be grateful.

Can’t Build A New Economy on D Rated Roads

COVID-19 struck Louisiana’s economy at its core, taking down tourism and oil and gas. As we all work together to rebuild a new, more diverse and expansive Louisiana’s economy, we must remember what hampered our growth before the pandemic. If you ask any major company or economic development professional, Louisiana’s D rated roads and bridges have been hampering our economy for decades. Regardless of the pandemic, this core issue has not and will not change without deliberate action by the legislature.

Trying to lure businesses and people to Louisiana is a tough sell when our roads will leave them either stuck in traffic or with a blowout. No amount of government incentives will change this fact, but the solution is simple. Invest now and show the nation that we are not just open for business, but doing what it takes to support a booming economy for decades to come.

COVID-19 has taught us that we need a more diverse economy that isn’t so reliant on a couple vulnerable sectors. Louisiana is blessed with just about every natural resource we could ask for, and if we are going to finally leverage that into a new Louisiana economy, goods and people have got to be able to get from point A to B in a safe, efficient way. Our D rated roads and bridges won’t cut it any longer. #FixLARoads

Invest in Roads for Our Kids and Grandkids

We are very lucky that generations before us invested time and real money into building a world class system of roads and bridges. They understood that their sacrifices and efforts would position their kids and grandkids to proposer for decades to come. That is exactly what we did.

We find ourselves now reaping the final benefits of their hard work. What’s left is barely supporting our economy. More troubling is that we have yet to pay the favor forward for our kids and grandkids. Surely, we will not leave behind a system of highways and bridges that stifles the future of the ones we love the most.

It’s not too late to rebuild Louisiana’s roads and bridges. We can take steps immediately to make our roads safer and less congested, improving our quality of life now and for the future. If you think Louisiana should act now to rebuild Louisiana’s system of roads and bridges, contact your legislator today and tell them to #FixLARoads #FixItNow.

Building Roads Rebuilds the Economy

Our state and country have endured economic collapse before. When faced with the most uncertain times, there is really only one impactful thing government can do to reboot: put people to work building roads and bridges. All of the unknowns associated with COVID-19 do not change the undeniable truth about investing in roads and bridges.

Tens of thousands of Louisiana workers have lost their jobs due to COVID–19, with the biggest hits coming from the retail, restaurant and hospitality industries. Lawmakers have been busy passing tax bills to provide relief to businesses in Louisiana. The fact is, no amount of tax relief will save a business that has no customers. The same good people who are without work due to COVID-19 could easily be put right back to work rebuilding Louisiana’s broken system of roads and bridges. It would literally take a single act of the legislature to begin restoring our economy.

Building public infrastructure is the one area that Government can create thousands of both direct and indirect jobs. We have been here before, and Government got it right. That’s how we came out of the Great Depression with system of roads and bridges that was the envy of the world.

This crisis may be new, but Government’s role in economic recovery is time tested. Let’s join together to do what works. Let’s rebuild Louisiana now and reap the benefits for decades to come. #FixLARoads

The Dangers of Summertime Driving

Have you ever thought about how the weather affects our roads? A rainstorm might cause some traffic delays. A sunny day means you’ll need your sunglasses behind the wheel. However, the weather’s effects can be longer-lasting and more devastating. Louisiana’s heat and humidity combine to wreak havoc on our roads and bridges. Southern summers are especially brutal. Winter’s cold rains and freezing temperatures can crack asphalt and concrete. Then once summer comes around, the heat turns the cracks and air gaps into potholes. Summer driving can be full of dangers.

The Summertime Blues On The Road

And it’s not just the road conditions that affect our driving experience. Summer’s also the riskiest time to drive, according to The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The NHTSA is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation. It’s responsible for keeping people safe on America’s roadways. The CrashStats website collects all kinds of data about driving on America’s roads. They also report recalls, issue grants, and offer information on driving safety.

Many people assume the slippery ice over the winter might cause the most accidents. But actually, more crashes occur over the summer. NHTSA’s trend data analyzed highway crash fatality by month and day over 27 years. Vehicle occupant fatalities peak in July and August, then decrease the rest of the year. In recent data, May, June, August, and October saw increases in fatalities from 2017 to 2018. All the other months saw decreases. The highest increase was in August at 2.3%.

How To Stay Safe On The Summer Roads

To help drivers during the most dangerous months, NHTSA issued summer driving tips. Most are common sense, but there might be a few you haven’t thought about:

Stay alert when driving on long trips
Watch for motorcycles
Don’t engage in distracted driving such as texting
Refrain from drinking and drugs
Obey speed limits
Keep your kids safe in and around the car
Be informed about vehicle recalls
Regularly check your vehicle’s tire pressure, lights, fluid levels, and wiper blades
Pack an emergency roadside kit

These are all fantastic tips everyone should follow. However, these will only keep you as safe as the roads you’re driving on. To TRULY be safe in future summers, we need to FINALLY fix Louisiana’s crumbling roads and bridges.

Take Action This Summer

Do you want to take some steps to make driving safer this summer and any time of year? Join us at the Louisiana Coalition To Fix Our Roads (LCFOR). We’re a statewide nonprofit advocating for improving our state’s roads and bridges. Business leaders, associations, and chambers of commerce join together. We all believe Louisiana’s economic growth requires a safe, efficient highway system.

You can help by taking action on our website. We have a quick and easy-to-use form to tell your lawmakers to fix our roads and bridges. They’re in session now, making important decisions that affect Louisianians’ lives. You can also follow us on our social media to stay updated and help spread the word! We’re on Facebook and Twitter, and we use the hashtag #FixLARoads.

The Opportunity Cost Of Not Fixing Louisiana’s Roads

Choosing NOT to fix our roads comes at a cost. On paper, it may look like we’re saving money by not spending it on roads. However, the price of not taking the opportunity to fix them adds up. Over the years, it costs our state money as well as individual residents more NOT to fix them than it would to fix them.

The Opportunity Cost Of Louisiana’s Roads

Opportunity cost is what you miss out on when you spend money on something else. For example, on your commute home, you hit a pothole and have to pay $150 for a new tire. The straight cost of that flat tire is $150. The opportunity cost is everything else that you could have spent that $150 on. New clothes, a fun night out, or groceries—opportunity cost could be different for everyone.

Now, wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have to hit the pothole in the first place? It turns out that Louisiana’s terrible roads could be costing you way more than $150. Louisianians’ additional vehicle operating costs could be more than $700. When you add in congestion-related delays and traffic crashes, it could be as high as $2,400! As that amount rises, the opportunity cost grows with it. Now, you’re missing out on potential vacations, school tuition, or your family’s mortgage.

Louisiana has a $26 billion backlog of road and bridge projects in Louisiana. Theoretically, the state has spent that $26 billion on other things. NOT spending it on roads is an opportunity cost. And it’s quite the cost, indeed. The longer we wait to fix them, the worse they’ll get. And the worse they get, the more expensive it will be to fix them. So, the opportunity cost will continue to grow.

The Economic Cost Of Not Fixing Our Roads

Louisiana’s roads affect the statewide economy by costing us jobs, tourism, and business. A quarterly magazine, 10/12 Industry Report provides news, data, analysis and insight. Specifically, they focus on the petrochemical and oil and gas industries in south Louisiana. Any resident knows that these industries are huge parts of the state’s economy—and the condition of our roads and bridges affects them.

This recent article recaps the annual meeting of Greater New Orleans, Inc. (GNO, Inc.). It’s the regional economic development organization serving the 10-parish region of southeast Louisiana. The conversation centered on the need for statewide infrastructure funding for economic growth.

Michael Hecht, GNO Inc. president and CEO, explained, “We talk about incentives, but that’s not economic development. Economic development is about creating the conditions where people want to invest their capital. If you do that, companies will come and thrive.”

It’s Time To Prioritize Our Roads

Energy, advanced manufacturing, and trade are critical to Louisiana’s future. In fact, according to Louisiana Economic Development, energy and advanced manufacturing are two of Louisiana’s key industries. Without stable and safe roads and bridges, our state won’t be able to entice more businesses and more jobs. It’s time for our state leaders to prioritize our roads, so our cost doesn’t grow even more. Do your part by telling your legislatures to vote for bills to help our infrastructure! It’s an issue that affects all of us—and our wallets.