a:25:{s:9:"weblog_id";s:1:"4";s:8:"entry_id";s:0:"";s:6:"sticky";s:0:"";s:14:"allow_comments";s:1:"n";s:16:"allow_trackbacks";s:1:"n";s:10:"entry_date";s:19:"2008-09-08 07:38 PM";s:15:"expiration_date";s:0:"";s:23:"comment_expiration_date";s:0:"";s:8:"category";a:1:{i:0;s:1:"4";}s:9:"author_id";s:1:"2";s:6:"status";s:4:"open";s:14:"trackback_urls";s:0:"";s:18:"versioning_enabled";s:1:"y";s:5:"title";s:65:"AGC of St. Louis Prepares for Road/Transportation  Funding Battle";s:9:"url_title";s:63:"agc_of_st_louis_prepares_for_road_transportation_funding_battle";s:6:"submit";s:6:"Submit";s:11:"field_id_26";s:65:"AGC of St. Louis Prepares for Road/Transportation  Funding Battle";s:11:"field_ft_26";s:4:"none";s:11:"field_id_31";s:1:"9";s:11:"field_id_44";s:242:"The Associated General Contractors (AGC) of St. Louis announced a new weapon in its battle for adequate funds to maintain Missouri\'s roads, bridges, and rails: affiliation with ARTBA - the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.";s:11:"field_ft_44";s:4:"none";s:11:"field_id_28";s:23:"AGC of St. Louis, ARBTA";s:11:"field_ft_28";s:4:"none";s:11:"field_id_29";s:2771:"<p>The Associated General Contractors (AGC) of St. Louis announced a new weapon in its battle for adequate funds to maintain<br />Missouri\'s roads, bridges, and rails: affiliation with ARTBA - the American Road &amp; Transportation Builders Association.<br /><br />ARTBA \"has a rifle-like focus on transportation issues,\" Len Toenjes said in announcing the affiliation. Toenjes is president of the AGC of St. Louis.<br />Noting that the national AGC already has lobbyists in Washington, D.C., Toenjes said that affiliation with ARTBA \"will multiply our voice on<br />transportation policy.\"<br /><br />The affiliation couldn\'t come at a more important time. On Friday, the Bush administration admitted that the highway funding system is in crisis.<br />Reversing policy, the Administration now supports a House plan to restore $8 billion to the highway trust fund, money that Congress had taken out of the<br />fund 10 years ago to balance the budget. The House overwhelmingly approved the plan in July by a vote of 387-37, but it has been held up in the Senate<br />by, in part, a veto threat from the President.<br /><br />T. Peter Raune, president and CEO of ARTBA, said the administration reversed itself when it saw the bills coming in from the states and realized it did<br />not have the money to pay them. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced on Friday that the highway trust fund would run out of money by<br />the end of this month unless Congress puts more money into it.<br /><br />Raune said that everyone knew this day was coming; they just didn\'t expect it to come so soon. The culprit, he said, is higher gas prices, which<br />prompted car owners to drive less and purchase less gasoline. Since the highway trust fund is funded by a federal gasoline tax, the cutback in<br />driving has meant less money going into the fund that people had expected.\"Never have we seen a cutback of this magnitude,\" he said.<br /><br />The $8 billion Congress is offering is only a band-aid, Raune said. \"Withouta [gasoline] tax hike, we\'ll be right back in the same boat in 2009,\" he<br />said.<br /><br />Even a gas-tax hike is only a medium-term solution, he added. If people continue to buy more fuel-efficient cars, electric cars, and alternative<br />fueled cars, and curtail driving, \"eventually we\'ll have to go to a fee forevery mile a vehicle travels,\" he said.<br /><br />Toenjes said the funding crisis is even greater in Missouri, because of the way Missouri paid for its recent road construction. Missouri borrowed money<br />to pay for it current road program and next year the bond payments on thatdebt come due. That, he said, will mean 50 percent less state money for road<br />and bridge repair and maintenance.<br /><br /></p>";s:10:"category_0";s:1:"4";}