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As politics and benefits to the American public both go, the bipartisan $1.2 trillion Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act (IIJA) is a win-win. Passed at the end of 2021, it is the largest investment in America’s infrastructure since the Interstate Highway System was built more than a half of a century ago. 

Ed Mortimer is the former Executive Director of the Americans for Transportation Mobility (ATM) Coalition and currently Vice President of Government Affairs for NextNav. It is a geolocation company that provides complementary, next-generation Global Positioning System (GPS) for clients with communications systems which rely on GPS signals. NextNav’s technology is more ground- than satellite-based, and is currently being used in the public safety space, by telecommunications companies, and for electric vertical take-off and landing and drones.

Even in his current role, Mortimer’s job involves working with federal officials on infrastructure modernization, so he sat down with No Time For Delays to talk about the status of America’s infrastructure. Despite the passage of IIJA, Mortimer emphasizes that federal leaders have yet to determine a long-term and sustainable Highway Trust Fund (HTF) revenue solution.

Mortimer notes that these are fiscally strained times, but says the IIJA is doing its job and modernizing a beleaguered multimodal system to safely connect states and regions to economic development, children to schools, America to the global market, and people and families to jobs, travel and recreational opportunities. 

Through discretionary grants that are competitive, the Federal Highway Administration (FWHA) recently awarded $295.7 million from the law’s Bridge Investment Program. The second-largest grant is $72 million to the Washington, D.C. Department of Transportation (DOT) to rehabilitate the northbound Interstate-395 bridge across the Potomac River. 

“That’s just one project of many that’s getting done. I think we’re off to a very good start to modernize America’s infrastructure, but we still have got a long ways to go,” says Mortimer. “Taking a road, bridge or offering complementary GPS services and explaining to the public that what it means is economic opportunity and improved quality of life and telling that story is important, instead of just talking about how much it costs, what is the materials part, and the technical side. Our advocacy campaign through ATM — working with business and labor to promote getting a major infrastructure bill done — really was able to bring it home to what it meant to people, to their lives, and to talk about the opportunities it could provide to enhance their communities.” 

Mortimer says it no longer suffices just running an advertisement one month before a major vote in Congress. He says messaging campaigns now run over several years, with grassroots components and geo-targeted ads, to ensure the passage of new laws.

“When I first got into this line of work, it was really about burning shoe leather on Capitol Hill. It was very inside the Beltway, and I think COVID played a large part of changing this. And I also think, over the last 15 years, we’ve seen that engaging the American people and utilizing communications vehicles — such as social media, podcasts and videos, having people go to an action website, promoting new content through an e-mail newsletter and telling the infrastructure story — explains what infrastructure investment is about. Instead of backroom deals, things are much more open and transparent. … It’s caused us in the lobbying-advocacy world to change the tools, to control the narrative. Now it’s about engaging communities around the country to talk to their lawmakers about projects that need to get done,” explains Mortimer. 

But Mortimer says that America’s federal policymakers know that the IIJA will not remedy all of the nation’s infrastructure issues. Indeed, the law includes a number of pilot programs to test specific concepts and strategies to help move away from the federal gas tax being the primary source of revenue, the Bipartisan Policy Center reports. Two pending programs that relate to infrastructure financing are the National Motor Vehicle Per-Mile User Fee Pilot, and the Transfer and Sale of Toll Credits Pilot Program.  

In 1990, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) began a program to report on government operations identified as “high risk.” Funding the Nation’s Surface Transportation System was put on that list in 2007.  

Regardless of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), it remains on that list.   

“The revenues supporting the HTF are eroding,” the GAO says. “For example, the 18.4 cents-per-gallon federal tax on gasoline … has about half of the purchasing power relative to its value when federal motor fuel taxes were last raised in 1993. Moreover, the growing adoption of fully electric vehicles (EVs) may further reduce revenues available from motor fuel taxes. … Congress has cumulatively transferred about $273 billion in general revenue to the HTF over 10 occasions from 2008 through 2021, including $118 billion under IIJA. These transfers each represented a one-time infusion of funding instead of a sustainable long-term source of revenues.” 

IIJA provided approximately $541 billion in funding for surface transportation for fiscal years 2022 through 2026. This encompassed $158 billion appropriated from the General Fund and $383 billion authorized to be appropriated from the HTF.

Nonetheless, there are pressing issues that impact the BIL. 

* New data shows that the cost of building and maintaining highways has risen 50 percent since December 2020. Higher asphalt prices (tied to the price of crude oil) and expensive grading and excavation (deeply dependent on diesel fuel costs) affect bidding on a job because inflation drives up costs and results in job estimates being “woefully outdated,” according to ForConstructionPros.com. 

* Infrastructure advocates continue to focus on workforce development. The Brookings Institution reported that 79 percent of the funding it identified will go directly to states through formula programs and they are a “major lever to improve recruiting, hiring, and training practices.” 

* The National Governors Association notes that the IIJA includes new provisions that provide flexibility for governors and workforce development and education policymakers to tap four FHWA programs, which originated in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.

* Partisan views on the value of infrastructure spending persist. Last month, Republican policymakers sent letters to the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urging improved communications and demanding oversight. The lawmakers noted that DOE had set up new IIJA programs but only a small portion of funding had been awarded.  

Mortimer agrees that lawmakers want to see what is being delivered. He adds, “We need to update the law in less than three years and making sure we clearly articulate what has been delivered with the investments that Congress made in the bipartisan infrastructure bill is critical. We need to tell the story of what it means to real people when the nation invests in infrastructure, because we can’t expect government officials to tell those stories. I think there was incredible value in the Coalition of business and labor who worked so hard to get the bill done and this strategy will have value again. … ATM had a modern website that allowed stakeholders and advocates to participate actively in the debate. We focused, for example, on almost 30 states where we told a story about projects and the needs of those communities. So, from my perspective, we cannot rest on our laurels. We have to continue to sell what’s being delivered, how it’s being delivered, the benefits to the economy, and the benefits to every American’s quality of life.”

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