A Call for Highway Funding

At the recent dedication ceremony for the Veterans' Glass City Skyway in Toledo, Ohio Senator George Voinovich was the only politician of many speaking at the ceremony that touched on the need to work toward our next big projects by reopening the Highway Bill. This is an open letter to the Senator. I encourage you to do the same.

Senator George Voinovich
Washington, DC Office:
524 Hart Senate Office BuildingWashington, DC 20510

Dear Senator:
I would like to thank you for attending the dedication ceremony of the Veterans’ Glass City Skyway on Saturday June 23, 2007. It is a special time in Toledo to finally open as a reality a dream that so many have had for so many years.

I am a local civil engineer that had the privilege of serving on the Project Management team for seven years. As a life long Toledoan who has always dreamed of building roads it was truly an opportunity of a lifetime. It is also the reason I write to you today as an unemployed civil engineer.

You touched on it nicely during your speech. The realities of rising costs of fuel and steel have made the increases in funding proposed in the last transportation bill inadequate to cover the double digit inflation levels in the construction industry. Projects are getting delayed as the bids are coming in well over the amounts budgeted for them. The more critical item for people in the engineering field are that fewer projects are going to design as more projects are left on the shelf waiting for construction dollars to come available.

Engineering firms all over Ohio are suffering from this slowdown. We all know that there are needed projects all over Ohio that need to be addressed. A lack of funding for these projects is leaving them on the sidelines while the engineers of Ohio wait to make them happen.

As stated by Becky Schultz in Equipment Today, “Over the past 25 years, vehicle miles traveled in the United States have doubled, and truck travel has increased at an even faster rate. Yet, lane-mile capacity has increased by only 5.2%. What's worse, freight tonnage shipped by truck is projected to double by 2035”. As costs and needs continue to rise, the federal gasoline tax that funds these projects has remained flat since 1997.

It is critical to our economy to keep the engineers of Ohio working. Congress must reopen the highway bill and enact legislation that is indexed to the rising costs of construction. .