Funding and Managing the U.S. Inland Waterways System: What Policy Makers Need to Know What Policy Makers Need to Know (2015) / Chapter Skim
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6 Conclusions
6 Conclusions
Pages 158-168
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From page 158... ...
The National Research Council's Committee on Reinvesting in Inland Waterways: What Policy Makers Need to Know examined the role of the inland waterways in the nation's freight transportation network and identified issues that policy makers need to consider in decisions about funding for the system. (See Chapter 1 for the committee's statement of task.)
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From page 159... ...
Today, 11,000 miles of the inland waterways are subject to a federal fuel tax paid by the barge industry via the Inland Waterways Trust Fund to cover up to 50 percent of the cost of construction and major rehabilitation of lock and dam infrastructure. The federal government pays 50 percent of construction costs from general revenues and 100 percent of the cost of O&M (by budgetary definition, O&M includes repairs up to $20 million; repairs that exceed $20 million and meet other criteria are considered major rehabilitation and classified as a capital expenditure)
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From page 160... ...
USACE does not have established systemwide guidance and procedures for the assessment of inland waterways infrastructure and the prioritization of maintenance and repair spending for reliable commercial navigation. In view of stagnant federal appropriations, system users have recognized that they need to pay more and supported an increase in the barge fuel tax by the 113th Congress.
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From page 161... ...
Annual trends in inland waterways shipments show that freight traffic is static or declining. Overall demand for the inland waterways system is static, whereas demand for the rail and truck modes is growing.
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From page 162... ...
moves on just 22 percent of the 36,000 inland waterway miles. About 50 percent of the inland waterway ton-miles moves on six major corridors -- the Upper Mississippi River, the Illinois River, the Ohio River, the Lower Mississippi River, the Columbia River system, and the Gulf Intra coastal
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From page 163... ...
Commercial navigation users, the primary identifiable beneficiaries of the system, pay a share of the construction costs through a barge fuel tax, but none of the costs of O&M. A system more reliant on user payments would provide needed revenue for maintenance and promote economic efficiency.
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From page 164... ...
Direct administration of the trust fund would allow the spending of O&M funds as needed to provide reliable freight service and avoid the increased costs associated with deferred maintenance. Because of constraints on its budget, USACE has already begun identifying waterways and facilities where commercial navigation is essential to national freight transportation or where significant commercial traffic continues.
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From page 165... ...
The economic value of parts of the system to commercial navigation beneficiaries would need to be identified, and a systemwide assessment of the assets required to achieve a reliable level of freight service would need to be made (see next conclusion)
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From page 166... ...
An asset management program focused on economic efficiency, fully implemented and linked to the budgeting process, would prioritize maintenance spending and ascertain the funding levels required for reliable freight service. A well-executed program of asset management would promote rational and data-driven investment decisions based on system needs and minimize the broader influences that affect the budgeting process.
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From page 167... ...
Once an asset management approach was fully developed and applied, it could be used to prioritize allocation of resources for O&M and indicate areas where major rehabilitation or other capital spending should be considered. Several elements of the USACE framework would need further attention for implementation (as discussed in Chapter 4)
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From page 168... ...
This would allow USACE to have the greatest impact on the reliability of freight service given the immediate conditions. Funds would still be disbursed through the appropriations process.
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