OP ED

Arizona’s roads are dangerous, thanks to feds' neglect

Kevin Adam
AZ I See It
A collapsed section of the bridge that shut down Interstate 10 for days, cutting off a critical artery between Arizona and California.
  • Time for Arizonans to tell Congress to take seriously the need to fix our rural roads .
  • Only about a third of Arizona's transportation infrastructure needs are being met.
  • Traffic crashes and fatalities on rural Arizona roads are significantly higher than all other roads in the state.

A dramatic situation like the Interstate 10 bridge collapse highlights the importance of the quality of our highways and bridges.

However, lawmakers in Washington continue to allow partisan gridlock to rule the day and continue to duck their responsibilities including the provision of long-term, ongoing funding for Arizona’s — and all of America’s — highways, bridges and transit systems.

Back in May, they passed the 34th short-term funding bill since 2009, providing funding only through July 31 and barely paying for the upkeep of this infrastructure. And on July 29, the 35th short-term bill passed limiting these federal transportation programs and their funding to another three months.

With the pace at which Congress is seeking to “fix” our ailing transportation systems, you would think everything is fine, but actually, it’s far from it. The “Rural Connections: Challenges and Opportunities in America’s Heartland” report recently released by non-profit transportation research group TRIP and other organizations such as AAA, the American Farm Bureau Federation, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and U.S. Travel Association, evaluated the safety and condition of the nation’s rural roads and bridges and found Arizona’s to have significant deficiencies.

The TRIP report determined that traffic crashes and fatalities on rural Arizona roads are significantly higher than all other roads in the state. In 2013, non-interstate rural roads in Arizona had a traffic fatality rate of three deaths for every 100-million vehicle miles of travel, the fifth highest rate nationally and more than two-and-a-half times the traffic fatality rate of 1.1 deaths per 100-million vehicle miles of travel for all other Arizona roads.

The federal surface transportation program — on which Congress has punted — is a critical source of funding for rural roads and transportation infrastructure nationwide. With all of their other priorities, the organizations involved in this report seem an unlikely coalition to advocate for rural roads. Here’s why they did:

AAA said: “The 61 million people who live in America’s rural heartland deserve a transportation system that is safe, efficient and reliable. It is up to Congress to pass a fully funded, long-term bill to improve our nation’s rural roads before the Highway Trust Fund runs out of money this summer.”

The U.S. Travel Association said, “As conditions deteriorate, people are going to be less likely to travel. Additionally, if every traveler made just one fewer trip because of substandard roads, the cost to the economy would be $23 billion.”

Kevin Adam is the rural transportation liaison at the Rural Transportation Advocacy Council, a coalition representing all of greater Arizona.

And the view of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which also leads the Americans for Transportation Mobility Coalition: “Years of inadequate transportation funding have left a deficient rural transportation network that does not meet present-day demands. Improving the transportation system will create jobs today and leave a lasting asset for future generations.”

Only about a third of Arizona's transportation infrastructure needs are being met. Inadequate and deteriorating highways and roads are hindering our economic and job growth; impacting our cost of living and quality of life; and creating increasingly dangerous driving conditions.

Arizona’s, and all of America’s rural areas are highly dependent on the quality of the rural transportation infrastructure. However, urban areas are also far from immune from rural highway conditions as they are heavily reliant on the movement of goods to and from urban markets, including the urban food supply.

It’s time for Arizonans to tell Congress to take seriously the need to fix our rural roads — and all of our transportation infrastructure. No more delays, no more excuses.

Kevin Adam is the rural transportation liaison at the Rural Transportation Advocacy Council, a coalition representing all of greater Arizona.