Post from marvhagedorn at CHUM.LY

Had an interesting meeting today with the Dir. of ITD, Chairman of the State Transportation Board and Sen. Russ Fultcher regarding the Meridian interchange. This interchanges is the last obstacle to opening our I-84 investment to a full 4 lanes as it was designed, yet it's not included in the upcoming GARVEE request because of an oversight on the corridor project planning for the I-84 construction...

 #ITD  #GARVEE  #Marv  #Hagedorn  #Russ  #Fultcher
http://chum.ly/n/539d16

A new way to pay for our roads?...

We have passed a bill out of the House that has the potential to add a very valuable tool to the State's toolbox of items available to them to pay for our infrastructure. Besides taxes and fees, we have the ability for ITD to "earn" some of the funds they need without competing with business. A reporter from the Lewiston Tribune seemed to be one of the first to understand the potential, he writes:

BOISE - Last November, about the time Congress switched from billion-dollar to trillion-dollar bailouts, one of the more intelligent government money-making operations in recent years came to an end.
That was when, with minimum fanfare, the last of the 50 state quarters hit the market.
I don't know who dreamed up that project, but it was one of those ideas that makes you smack your forehead and wonder why nobody thought of it earlier. It was brilliant in its simplicity: Produce 50 new quarters honoring each of the 50 states, roll them out over a 10-year period, then stand back as coin collectors go into a numismatic feeding frenzy.
Before the program began in 1999, the U.S. Mint produced about 1.5 billion quarters per year. Since then, according to the Congressional Budget Office, production has more than doubled, to an average of 3.5 billion per year - an increase worth about $350 million in annual net profits, or $3.5 billion over the life of the program.
The project was such a hit, the mint plans to follow it up this year with quarters honoring the District of Columbia and five American territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Marianas Islands). A decade-long project featuring quarters for various national parks will begin in 2010.
That kind of aggressive pursuit of market opportunities isn't typical of state or federal governments - for good reason. One wouldn't want monopolistic taxing entities, for example, to be influenced by profit motives.
However, the state quarters project demonstrates capitalism and government can occasionally combine to benefit taxpayers.
Rep. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, is hoping to create a similar opportunity for Idaho.
Hagedorn, 53, grew up on a farm near Moscow. His folks and a sister still live in the area. He graduated from Potlatch High School, but it was working for the Potlatch Corp. lumber mill that changed his life.
"That's what made me decide to join the Navy," he said. "I was working the line next to guys who were missing two or three fingers, and the highlight of the night was when we'd throw knots at each other. I told myself I had to go somewhere."
Hagedorn retired in 1994, after 20 years in the service. Now, during his second term in the Legislature, he's hoping to turn Idaho into the U.S. Mint of commercial truck license plates.
Unlike personal vehicles, commercial trucks and tractor-trailers can be licensed and registered in any state, regardless of where a company is based. That, to Hagedorn, creates a marketing opportunity. He introduced a bill earlier this session that would encourage trucking firms to register their fleets here.
"I've been working on this for a few years," he said. "My objective is to find a resource the state has that would help relieve the tax burden on citizens, without competing with private businesses - and this is a great opportunity."
Idaho already offers a permanent plate that doesn't require yearly registration renewals. For a company like Wal-Mart, which has more than 50,000 tractor-trailers, eliminating paperwork and the need to match specific trailers with specific renewal stickers represents a substantial cost-savings, Hagedorn said.
Idaho law, however, currently requires out-of-state truckers to pay sales tax on the price of the trailer before they can buy the permanent plate. That makes it cost-prohibitive.
Hagedorn's bill would remove the sales tax requirement. Moreover, it authorizes the creation of special "business logo" license plates - meaning Wal-Mart or UPS or any other company could design their own plates, complete with corporate logo and marketing slogan.
"Everyone is looking to save a buck," Hagedorn said. "We can make this simple for corporations and help save them money just by changing state law. It costs $3 to make a license plate, and we'd sell them for $112. There are 5.6 million semi-trailers in the United States. That's a $627 million market."
Add in Canadian trucks, he said, and the market potential climbs to $1 billion.
"Imagine if we get just 10 percent of that," Hagedorn said. "In the past, we've looked at taxpayers within our border (to generate state revenue). This could bring in revenue from outside the state. There are opportunities out there. We just need to find them."
Hagedorn's bill is scheduled for a floor vote in the House this morning. If approved, it will move on to the Senate.

House bill H226 is now awaiting scheduling to be heard in the Senate Transportation Committee. It went through the House State Affairs and Transportation and Defense Committees as well as the House floor with out a single "nay" vote. I believe this is a great tool and could bring in millions that could off-set taxes we now pay.

Your thoughts?

Roads and the Franklin & Eagle "Lifestyle Center"...

In early November, the Idaho Statesman printed an opinion on the development that will be happening on the NE corner of Franklin and Eagle. They seemed to have a concern regarding the developer paying for the infrastructure improvements in return for payback via lower sales taxes until his investment has been paid off. They questioned if using the recently approved STAR program that allows government and business partnerships for large infrastructure projects was a good deal for Idahoans.

I submitted an opinion piece shortly thereafter that I had coordinated with many other legislators in our valley that were aware of the new STAR legislation and supported it. This legislation, passed in our 2007 session, allows the use of developers funds to build out the infrastructure as part of their development with engineering oversight from ITD. That editorial, although verified by the paper to be valid, has never been printed in the Statesman (but it has in other local publications), so I thought I would share it with you here in the case you didn't see it in any of the other publications that printed it:

"Use of the STAR program is right for Meridian's growth

Recently there has been discussion about the proposed expansion of Eagle Road using the funding mechanism known as STAR. As a member of the Idaho State Legislature who voted for this bill, I wanted to share my thoughts about this funding mechanism, this road widening project, and the subsequent development.

As a funding mechanism, this legislation, which passed the House by a vote of 68-1-1 and the Senate by 24-10-1, is a way to bring needed new money into our road building process. The STAR legislation provides a tool to local officials who may be looking for a way to pay for a needed road improvement.

It requires substantial investment by a single entity - and does not open up coffers to every road project. Yes it does require the developer to be paid back over time. But, not unlike ACHD road projects being built in Meridian, it allows a project to get built by a public/private partnership with a developer fronting the money. This means that we all see the road improvement sooner, for less money, and before the project impacts an area using today's dollars.

Eagle Road is the most heavily traveled highway in Idaho. As North Ada County continues to develop - Eagle, Star, Meridian, and West Boise - Eagle Road will have greater demands placed on it until alternate transportation corridors like Highway 16 are built. With the time frame for Highway 16 still undetermined and the Ten Mile Interchange not scheduled to begin construction until 2009, this project will provide immediate capacity improvements to this roadway.

There are also a number of other benefits that will be a result of the Eagle Road widening and the subsequent development. Projects such as the proposed "Lifestyle Center" are designed to get vehicles off of the road. Rather than driving from store to store to store, they provide an environment where people will go to one place with multiple retailers and amenities to spend their days and evenings. This will reduce trips throughout the valley, help improve our air quality, and save fuel for those who may not wish to travel to other parts of the valley for their shopping needs.

It also brings jobs to the area: over 3,000 construction jobs and an estimated employment of 2,500. This will increase our community's tax base; it will generate sales tax and income tax - items that benefit everyone in Idaho. The property tax generated by this "Lifestyle Center" in the future will have a much larger impact than just the sales tax that is generated.

While the State will receive 40% of sales tax initially, after the funds are repaid the State will collect 100%. We must look at the long-term benefits when examining a project like this "Lifestyle Center" that has such a great return on investment for our State.

As Idahoans we are concerned about sprawl, traffic congestion, quality jobs,
and quality of life. No matter what your views are, we all know that the
property located at Eagle and Fairview would not remain undeveloped forever, with or without road improvements. The current grass fields create little tax revenue for the state. State funded transportation improvement in this area would be years away without this sort of local government and business partnership enabled by the STAR program.

At a time when transportation related matters are at the forefront of issues in the Treasure Valley and before the State Legislature, I am excited to see our efforts to provide alternative funding for transportation projects being put to good use. "

Your thoughts?...

Info on Studded Tire Damage to our Roads...

It's not hard to find, just Google "studded tire damage" and up will pop a number of studies regarding the damage caused to our highway system by studded tires.

One of many such reports have been done by Washington state that shows clearly the damage that's accomplished by this old technology. I have written previously on this damage after reading reported spending on studded tire costs of mitigation that estimated western states spend between $20M to $50M a year re-lining, re-covering or refurbishing our roadways. Studies from Alaska to California all come to the same conclusion: studded tires are costly to tax payers! Today, while coming back from Marsing, snapped some pictures that I knew I could compare to the study done in WA:

The above picture out of the WA study clearly shows the types of damage from studded tires vs. the damage caused by heavy trucks to asphalt roads.

The following two pictures I snapped today on I-84 between Nampa and Meridian, note any commonality?

(note, the rutted tracks don't match the truck wheels?)

(note how this Pontiac Gran Prix wheel width matches those ruts?)

I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out that we are paying a ton of money re-lining and re-paving our roads every year when their life cycle is being cut to shreds by our continued over use of studded tires. Some folks do need more traction, but those folks are causing a ton of damage to our roads that all the rest of us must pay for.

When we are scratching for transportation Dollars, I have to ask why we have not had a recommendation from ITD regarding either adding a highway maintenance surcharge on studded tires or even limiting the months they can be used. It's time to do something different.

There are alternatives to studded tires that cause much less road damage as well as reduce noise and air pollution (Air pollution? Where do you think all the asphalt and concrete that is worn away goes to? It becomes airborne dust...). These newer technology tires do provide equal or better traction when compared to studded tires. I've used many alternatives to studded tires and actually like them better.

Those that insist on running the little "road grinders" or need them to get around in their area, need to start paying their fair share for the road maintenance that is required due to their choices of winter tires.

Your thoughts?

Roads... Poor planning or booming econimic byproduct

We've all driven the I-84 "Oregon Trail" ruts between Meridian and Nampa. I remember not long ago when it was resurfaced where the asphalt used the first go-round didn't harden correctly and we had cars and trucks driving with 2" of asphalt stuck to their tires... seems this track of road just seems doomed to issues!

One might note when driving the rutted interstate, that the ruts line up with car tires and not truck tires, yup those ruts are made by our cars and not that truck traffic.

As you know, it is hard to get any more cars on that road during rush hour. Add some construction and we tend to mess up that commute even more. Notice as well, that Meridian is also not exempt from traffic issues... There are days, I just hate to go outside my subdivision here in Mallard Landing to go anywhere... I just dread the bumper to bumper traffic to get to the hardware store or to go out for a cup of good coffee. There is no doubt that we have traffic issues everywhere here in the valley, but what the heck happened to cause all these issues? Poor planning or something else?

Idaho has grown so quickly that we were 5th in the Nation last year for growth. The US Census Bureau has estimated Idaho's population as of July 1, 2006 to be almost 1.5 million... a gain of 2.6% over the numbers from 2005. Idaho non-farm employment growth has accelerated every year since 2002 with momentum pushing that growth to 4.6% in 2006. This is the strongest economic growth in our great state in over 12 years!

Is it a wonder that the population and traffic is exploding? We have jobs and are attracting employers to Idaho at an unprecedented rate... "If you build it, they will come" seems to hold true for Idaho. We have built good business tax advantages, broadband, transportation infrastructure and have an education system that has been meeting the requirements of those employers (we will discuss the Community College issue in a later blog). These things attract business and they have come. Our economic estimate is up from last year as expected because of this growth... State income as of the end of March was $1.809 Billion, where the estimated budget we used during the session expected $1.829 Billion.

Yes, there are a number of folks moving to Idaho and as the population grows, so does the traffic. I believe a little of both have had a compounding impact on how we can get around. The primary funds used for maintenance and repair are tax dollars received from fuel sales (both Federal and State). Even though the number of vehicles have gone up, the fuel used per vehicle has reduced over the years so the tax dollars received per vehicle has also been reduced at the same rate. Increased traffic with less dollars to maintain the roads, compounded by increased costs of maintenance is the recipe for what we are experiencing today.

As we experience the byproduct of our success to stimulate business and growth, we have to ask what the heck do we do now? We have many choices before us, I see few that will be a comfortable choice for any of us, but some must be made. Here are a few of the choices I see today:

1. Reduce ITD (ID Transportation Dept.) maintenance costs: (brainstorming here)...

ACHD, is it a value added organization or just a fluffy "middle man"? Should ITD provide road funds directly to the cities in Ada county for management of their road systems? Funds are allocated from ITD to ACHD for Ada county maintenance functions. Would we be better off cutting out some of the middle man infrastructure or would those costs just be duplicated in infrastructure Boise, Meridian and Eagle?

Studded tires, many of us used studded tires way longer than we really need to. Studs become little road grinders when we don't have ice on the roads... causing ruts, noise and dust pollution. Is there an alternative? OR and WA have completed studies that indicate they spend between $12M and $50M every year in studded tire mitigation and repair (ruts, new lines, noise and dust control). Does Idaho need to spend more money studying the fact that studded tires cause damage that requires extra maintenance costs annually? I believe we can safely assume that our annual maintenance costs fall within the $12 to $50 million dollar range as well (inclusive of city and county costs).

Public Transportation that would really reduce traffic. Adding more buses that have very low ridership doesn't seem to be the answer, they just add to the congestion. Would light rail that could be used all over the Treasure valley help reduce maintenance and growth costs by reducing the number of cars that travel on the roads?

... just a few thoughts here, any other ideas? I've asked ITD to look at some things that could reduce costs as well as increase revenue...

2. Increase Revenue: (again, Brainstorming here...)

Create an annual Studded Tire excise tax? These funds would be dedicated to the extra maintenance requirements caused by the damage done by studded tires or could be used to partially fund public transportation to help reduce local traffic and the damage caused by studded tires.

Increase taxes on fuel to help off-set some of those reduced taxes coming in per vehicle due to better fuel economy? That's a hard thing to do with fuel prices the way they are now. There are some folks that are stretched to purchase fuel to get to work as it is. (...and I hate to see any increased taxes)

Increase registration fees? Again, I hate to see us increase those fees and the Idaho Constitution keeps us from using all of those fee increases for just road maintenance. This action would likely need some sort of Constitutional amendment to re-apply some of the fees that were already increased for registration fees.

Increased Signage fees? Most will ask, "what the heck are you talking about?". ITD charges vendors for those little signs along the highways that point you to their business (lodging, meals, fuel... little blue signs with the vendors emblem on them). There are quite a number of these signs along the roadways and Idaho controls the rate of the fees paid for these signs. I have no idea about what type of revenue this could generate, but it's currently VERY cheap advertising for vendors (less than an ad in the yellow pages of your local phone book).

Is there a way to allocate revenue to where the traffic is while still taking care of the rural roads in Idaho that don't have the traffic to support their maintenance for public safety? Is there some sort of revenue stream that we haven't found to help with our road maintenance issues?

Our state's prosperity and growth allows us to enjoy many things here in the valley that 30 years ago, many of us couldn't even imagine. And for those visionaries that did imagine that prosperity and growth, it appears we missed planning for some of it's side effects...

Cheers,

Marv

Studies completed by our neighbors in Oregon and Washington:

Washington State Study

Oregon State Study