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Transportation and Infrastructure

Transportation and Infrastructure

It's time to rebuild and renew America.

It is no secret that America’s infrastructure is falling behind our global competitors. Once known for world-class roads, highways and bridges, the United States has significantly reduced its infrastructure spending during the last 50 years. Today, much of our infrastructure is nearing the end of its useful life—most water pipes are more than 50 years old, and nearly 50,000 of our bridges are structurally deficient.

Earl is working in Congress to change that. He knows that transportation and infrastructure play a critical role in the quality of life of our communities, influencing everything from access to economic opportunities to environmental protection and public safety.

Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act 

Earl was proud to help pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in the 117th Congress. This legislation invested $1.2 trillion in federal funding to modernize America’s crumbling infrastructure and create millions of good-paying jobs. 

Specific provisions secured by Earl in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act include:

  • Reinstating the Superfund tax on applicable hazardous chemicals.
  • Creating a $1 billion Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program to fund projects that help prevent death and serious injury on roads and streets.
  • A 70 percent increase in funding to create and maintain bike lanes and sidewalks, and make shared micromobility (bikesharing and shared scooter system) an eligible use of resources from a federal program designed to reduce road congestion.
  • Reauthorizing and expanding the state pilot projects to test the feasibility of user-based alternative revenue mechanisms to help maintain the solvency of the Highway Trust Fund.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is expected to allocate over $1.6 billion in investments to Oregon as follows: 

  • $747 million in public transit investments;
  • $529 million to improve access to safe drinking water; 
  • $268 million for bridge replacement and repairs; 
  • $52 million to expand our electric vehicle charging station network; and
  • $39 million to help protect against wildfires.

Bike Issues

Earl believes that the bicycle is the most efficient form of transportation ever invented. It allows people to burn calories instead of carbon while meeting transportation needs quickly, easily, and effectively.     

From riding his bike to work in the Oregon State Legislature to creating the City of Portland's Bicycle Program as a City Commissioner to enacting a federal bicycle commuter tax benefit and founding the Congressional Bicycle Caucus, Earl has dedicated his career to championing bike and pedestrian issues.

In the 117th Congress, Earl enacted the highest-ever funding for bicycle projects through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Included in that historic effort was the $1 billion Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program to fund projects that help prevent death and serious injury on roads and streets. Since its passage, the Biden Administration has already announced $800 million in grants to support the development and implementation of plans in communities across the country. A perfect example is the $20 million Earl secured for traffic safety improvements on 122nd Avenue in Portland. This will make a tremendous difference to the people that live and work in East Portland.  

However, Earl knows there is much more to do to keep users safe amid a dangerous increase in road fatalities. In the 118thCongress, Earl introduced the Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Active Transportation Act to unlock funding for state and local governments to build safer, more complete, networks for biking and walking.

He is also leading the charge to level the playing field for cycling. People who bike to work should be provided a tax incentive, just like those who take transit or park at work receive. Earl reintroduced the Bicycle Commuter Act to recognize and reward bike commuters. Earl’s original Bicycle Commuter Act was signed into law in 2009, but unfortunately was repealed in 2017 as part of the Trump tax cuts.

Earl is also working to make it easier and cheaper to buy electric bikes. With an e-bike, anyone can be a bike commuter, but the high cost discourages too many consumers. He introduced the E-BIKE Act to change that by encouraging the use of e-bikes through a consumer tax credit.

Americans who understand the value of active transportation aren't just bicycle fanatics. They are families, public health advocates, educators, school children, environmentalists, business leaders, and offices of tourism and economic development. Constructing better bike lanes and sidewalks for people who chose to walk and ride their bikes creates jobs, gives people more and healthier choices for their daily transportation needs, is better for the environment, creates safer communities, and strengthens local economies. To learn more about Earl's bicycling advocacy in Congress, please visit The Congressional Bike Caucus.

Public Transit

With the cost of transportation becoming an increasing share of low- and moderate-income Americans' budgets, access to reliable and affordable transportation options is important. The growing threat of climate change makes it imperative.

Earl has been a champion for public transportation projects throughout his career. As Portland's Public Works Commissioner, he successfully expanded Portland's single light-rail line into a regionwide system: The Metropolitan Area Express or ‘MAX.' He has translated these local successes nationwide by securing billions of dollars of funding for transit expansions, including the MAX Orange Line, working with the Federal Transit Administration to promote transit-oriented development, and founding one of the largest national conferences promoting livable communities.

Dozens of communities around the country want small-scale rail-based transit lines – similar to the Portland Streetcar – creating jobs and connecting urban neighborhoods. Earl is a strong advocate of the streetcar as a transportation and community revitalization tool, and created the "Small Starts" program, which matches local funds to provide capital and start-up costs for small transit project development and expansion.

Transportation Funding Certainty and Investment

It's no secret why our roads and bridges are in such poor shape—the federal gas tax, the main source of transportation funding since the 1950s, is broken. The gas tax has not changed since 1993 at 18.4 cents a gallon and has lost more than 40% of its purchasing power due to inflation, rising construction costs, and increased fuel efficiency. As a result, the Highway Trust Fund, the source of federal road and transit dollars, faces a growing shortfall and is projected to be insolvent by 2022.

To make up for the lost fuel tax revenue, Congress has borrowed more than $140 billion from the Treasury's General Fund since 2008 just to maintain inadequate infrastructure. If current spending levels stay the same, the Highway Trust Fund faces a shortfall of more than $160 billion over the next 10 years. Earl has introduced legislation to fill this shortfall and increase spending by raising the federal gas tax 5 cents a year for the next 5 years and then indexing the tax to inflation. While the average driver already pays more than $600 a year in vehicle maintenance due to potholes and rough roads, and more than $1,400 a year due to congestion, a moderate increase in the federal gas tax will cost less than $3 a week to the average driver and provide immeasurable benefits to motorists and non-motorists alike.

While a gas tax increase will help in the short term, more fuel-efficient cars make it important to transition away from the gas tax and toward a true user fee. It doesn't make sense to tie infrastructure investment to how much gas is consumed when electric vehicles are becoming increasingly common. A more sustainable, fair, and efficient user fee is charging drivers by how far they drive. Earl successfully created a five-year pilot program at the U.S. Department of Transportation funding projects around the country that explore mileage-based alternatives to the gas tax. Today, Oregonians can take advantage of a road usage charge (RUC) alternative to the gas tax. Earl's legislation would encourage other states to do the same. Earl is working in Congress to expand this program and scale it up to the national level.

Water Infrastructure

While the funding woes of roads, bridges, and transit systems are readily apparent and visible, what is under the surface is in worse shape. The overall federal government contribution to total clean water spending has shrunk from 78% in 1978 to 3% today. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that we need $655 billion in water infrastructure investments over the next 20 years, yet Congress invests an average of only $2.5 billion annually and there is no dedicated water infrastructure revenue source. Chronic underfunding of our water infrastructure systems disproportionately impacts communities of color because of community disinvestment, residential segregation, and discrimination.

To begin to meet the water infrastructure needs of our nation, Earl has introduced legislation to create a Water Infrastructure Trust Fund. This fund will provide a deficit-neutral, consistent and fire-walled source of revenue for states to support the replacement, repair, and rehabilitation of clean and drinking water infrastructure. Earl also worked with his colleagues to pass legislation that allows states to leverage their water infrastructure funds to increase investment for all sizes of water infrastructure projects.

The Future of Transportation

Urbanization, changing travel trends, new modes of transportation, and autonomous vehicles (AVs) all will lead to a radically different mobility landscape. We have a rare opportunity to use these changes to solve problems rather than create new ones.

Earl is a leading voice on Capitol Hill for updating our transportation policies for the 21st century. He has pushed for more stable, equitable transportation funding alternatives, modernized commuter benefit tax provisions, and giving communities the technical assistance they need to successfully plan for the future.

For more information about Earl's works and priorities for rebuilding and renewing America, please contact the office.