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President's Message
Rebuilding America's transport infrastructure
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Tony DeNovellis
President and CEO
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This year's golden anniversary of the Interstate Highway System provides an opportunity to reflect on how critical transportation and mobility are to everything Americans want or need to do. The 46,000 miles that make up the Interstate Highway System are the workhorse of our complex transportation system, a system that's now showing the pains of middle age.
The combination of a growing population, increased congestion, deferred maintenance, and reluctance to boost transportation investment dollars are on a collision course. While we applaud the advancements and freedom of mobility that the first 50 years of the Interstate brought us, it's time to rethink what we expect of our transportation system and then determine how we pay for it.
Looking ahead, AAA intends to focus its time and resources on the future, working to ensure that the voice of the motorist is not an afterthought as new transportation policies and funding proposals are put on the table for discussion. Over the next few years, we'll see more tense debates in Washington, D.C. and within state legislatures as the struggle to maintain and improve transportation receives more and more
attention.
Motor fuel taxes, which you pay every time you fill up at the gas pump, built the Interstate system and fund much of the transportation infrastructure we see today. But the long-term viability of this tax is eroding as more fuel-efficient vehicles enter the marketplace and the cost of infrastructure maintenance and construction increases. All the experts tell us that fuel taxes alone will not keep pace with the demand we're placing on the system.
In the years to come, motorists will be asked to reach deeper into their wallets to pay for new financing alternatives. Whatever those alternatives prove to be, those who use the system must have a voice from the beginning, asking whether the additional money achieves the desired goals and serves the public's interest with a strong, viable transportation system. When the public can see evidence that projects advance real goals, they will be more receptive to solutions advanced by their elected officials.
Americans cherish their mobility, and transportation is a quality-of-life issue. The future of the transportation system cannot be taken for granted — or left to others to plan for us. The public has a responsibility to become informed and engaged in this important discussion. AAA will bring these issues to your attention and will be the motorist's voice as the debate moves forward.
Tony DeNovellis
President and CEO
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