Problems Predicted for Highway Trust Fund

The bruises from the protracted fight over the latest federal transportation bill, SAFETEA-LU, are barely healed, but industry and state officials are worried about the health of the Highway Trust Fund. What compounds the problem is that the most obvious remedy for the fund, hiking federal motor fuel taxes, is anathema to the White House and many in Congress.

With the trust fund projected to exhaust its cash balance in 2008, a study released Nov. 3 by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's National Chamber Foundation outlines steps to bolster the fund's finances. (See a summary at www.uschamber.com/ncf/publications/default.)

The report, done by Cambridge Systematics, says that trust fund annual revenue between 2006 and 2015 will be $23 billion short of what it takes to maintain current road and transit conditions and $48 billion below federal spending needed to make improvements.

To prevent the fund from running in the red, the report, Phase II of a two-part study, lists various options. These include indexing fuel taxes for inflation, adding the trust fund's interest to its balance, steering 10 percent of federal customs revenue to the fund and expanding use of tolls and innovative financing. Further in the future, the report says the federal government could add a tax on hybrid vehicles and states and localities could impose fees based on vehicle miles traveled. A Hudson Institute report issued in August had similar ideas.

But at a conference at the Chamber of Commerce, congressional aides and industry executives raised cautionary flags about some of the options. Associated General Contractors CEO Stephen E. Sandherr says indexing or raising the fuels tax is "the most rational, fairest, flattest way to take care of the problem." But he notes that the current political environment "makes it a tough, uphill battle to get a gas tax increase passed."

Drafters of SAFETEA-LU, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, saw the trust fund's looming problem. The legislation, enacted Aug. 10, establishes a National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission to evaluate highway and transit needs and financing, including "alternative revenue sources." Its report is due July 1, 2007. Source: Engineering News-Record. By Tom Ichniowski.

OSHA Awards Grant to Georgia Tech to Train Workers Involved in Gulf Coast Rebuilding

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has awarded a one-year, $400,000 training grant to the Georgia Tech Research Institute to help train workers involved in cleanup and rebuilding in Gulf Coast areas damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The grant is funding GTRI researchers to develop and provide training materials and conduct training sessions addressing occupational and safety health hazards that may be encountered by disaster recovery workers, supervisors and employers.

The training will target those providing skilled support services, such as utility, demolition, debris removal and heavy equipment operation, as well as site clean-up services, and recovery activities, including the rebuilding and reconstruction of the damaged areas.

Work zone safety and fall protection for people working on roofs are two top priorities.

ABC Launches VeteransBuildAmerica.org

Associated Builders and Contractors and Orion International, a military placement agency, recently launched VeteransBuildAmerica.org, a website that links U.S. veterans making the transition from the military sector to civilian life with construction contractors seeking employees.

The website allows job seekers to search for specific positions in certain geographic areas. Veterans can also browse through lists of available positions, or post their resumes for employers to review.

United Rentals Opens Branch in Homestead, Fla.

United Rentals recently opened its newest branch in Homestead, Fla. The facility will provide equipment rentals, new and used equipment sales, repair and maintenance services and supplies.

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