Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Ken Arnold's “PAY FOR ROADS – NOT CONSTRUCTION” ACT White Paper
The “PAY FOR ROADS – NOT CONSTRUCTION” ACT
THE BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM:
Americans are besieged with roadway potholes. These road hazards put at physical risk everyone who travels our roadways; costs countless hundreds of millions a year in suspension / tire / and other auto repairs; and, adds to our commute times because of slower traffic and vehicles that are broke down.
This problem of poor highway condition has been a long and growing one. Such roadway conditions affect local, State, and Interstate highways throughout the nation – but most notably in northern climates having frequent “freeze/thaw” cycles. And Illinois is perhaps one of the most affected States in this “freeze/thaw” cycle problem.
The problems of roadway conditions will only get worse due to the continuing age of our roadways along with our current budgetary constraints. Since the burst of the Interstate Highway System primarily built from the late 1950s until the early 1970s, these roadways are now between 35 and 50 years old. And while government conducts repaving/rebuilding efforts on a limited basis relative to the total miles of paved roads, it all too often appears to be not of high and long lasting quality. All too often, in just three or four years, potholes once again appear on our resurfaced roads.
THE ANALYSIS AND SOLUTION:
In roadway resurfacing/repaving, State and Federal governments get deeply involved in the TECHNOLOGY and PROCESS used for such road reconstruction/repaving. It is part of their bidding process. Government bureaucrats specify whether it should be asphalt or cement, what texture of asphalt should be used, how deep, and other items to the minutest detail. Government, when doing so, can easily get stuck in the mode of not being incented to innovate and to reward the firms that they have most used over many years. In short…conducting the same old business.
With the problems of road and bridge conditions becoming acute, and the inability for States simply to raise tax revenues to pay for the status quo manner of road maintenance/reconstruction, there requires a new thought – a “third way” to performing this vital task.
Candidate Ken Arnold proposes just such innovative, “third way” to this problem. It is an innovation that’s been started recently in very limited fashion elsewhere – but must be applied quickly and in large scale before our entire roadway infrastructure disrepair gets away from us and even more serious problems result.
The solution is to step back and ask:
“What are citizens really wanting and willing to pay for in roadways?”
The answer is that citizens aren’t asking to use this material, or that technique, etc…they are asking to have smooth roadways that are safe and efficient to travel upon.
Asking and answering the question above: Should we not employ the marvelous mechanisms of the free and competitive market to help supply the specified demand citizens have for our roadways? Should we not unleash such private sector firms to satisfy our real desire and do so in the most innovative and cost-effective manners possible?
The answer to the above question is obviously: “YES!” Taxpayers should unleash the private sector to provide the REAL product that citizens demand – smooth and safe roads. How can that be done? By enacting at the Federal level, for Interstate Highways and highways having any Federal cost shares, legislation that would do the following:
1) Structure road repair/resurfacing/renovation contracts to not so much specify the detailed material and technology to be applied but to allow the private sector companies to innovate and determine what technologies they wish to employ on a particular project given the contractual objectives.
2) Specify within every contract that the road surfaces are to be free from any potholes for X years and only have, 10 potholes every Y miles at Z years after the project’s completion. (Items X, Y, and Z can be determined and specified by government road builders).
3) Such successful bidders would be required - at the time of winning the bid - to have an escrow amount equal to 15% of all monies otherwise owed them at the completion of all work set aside. These monies would be used to defray any costs taken on by government to promptly repair such roadway should there be a failure in the roadway earlier than contractually agreed upon that the bidder fails to promptly repair.
4) At the initial period of “no potholes” (i.e. X years after completion of the project), the bidder receives 5% of the initial bid amount held in escrow with interest as specified in the escrow account. Should there be potholes, no such remittance is made and all funds continue to be held until the end period of the contract (i.e. Z years after project completion).
5) During the entire contractual time period (to period Z), the costs of all pothole repairs not promptly performed by the original bidder goes against the escrow account’s balance.
6) At the end of the contract period (i.e. at point Z), all NET proceeds are then remitted to the bidder.
THE ADVANTAGES:
The above initiative interjects the private sector’s marvelous ability to innovate and employ the latest technology. The private sector’s intent is to maximize their profit by minimizing their costs (in this case, not the cost of mere materials and labor – but the costs of having a safe and smooth roadway for the life of the entire contract, likely between 15 and 20 years). It eliminates bureaucratic behaviors of “playing it safe”, “doing what we’ve always done”, and “rewarding our long established providers” who keep practicing the status quo of road repair and resurfacing.
In addition to the above, such innovations will help our physical safety and economic system by greatly enhancing the quality of our roadway systems. It will do so by reducing traffic deaths, avoiding traffic tie ups from blockages and lane closures to avoid such hazards, and speeding traffic along for both convenience and commerce. And the innovations may have additional and unexpected payoffs. One example is a road building technique used in Europe of using ground up auto tires within the asphalt mixture laid down. Not only does it greatly increase the life of the roadway (due to the road surface being more pliable in the “freeze/thaw cycle” of roads) – but it is found to significantly cuts down on roadway noise. And all that benefit in addition to avoiding such auto tires finding their way to landfills! This is one such innovation that can be applied by the private sector.
The same old ways of laying asphalt every few years (if you’re lucky) must end. Motorists have no interest in how often asphalt is laid – they simply wish to have a smooth and safe roadway! And citizen’s pocketbooks can no longer afford such mindless activity that ends up more benefiting the politically connected few, rather than the traveling many. We must escape bureaucratic stagnation and unleash the private sector upon our roadway systems. Doing so will save lives, save time, add to our economy, and save taxpayer monies.
It truly an idea whose time has surely come…
Ken Arnold – Republican Candidate
U.S. Congress – 8th District of Illinois
Ken@Arnoldforyou.com
March 14, 2006
ARNOLD FOR CONGRESS
“ Strong, Creative Leadership . . . for the 21 st Century ! “
THE BACKGROUND AND PROBLEM:
Americans are besieged with roadway potholes. These road hazards put at physical risk everyone who travels our roadways; costs countless hundreds of millions a year in suspension / tire / and other auto repairs; and, adds to our commute times because of slower traffic and vehicles that are broke down.
This problem of poor highway condition has been a long and growing one. Such roadway conditions affect local, State, and Interstate highways throughout the nation – but most notably in northern climates having frequent “freeze/thaw” cycles. And Illinois is perhaps one of the most affected States in this “freeze/thaw” cycle problem.
The problems of roadway conditions will only get worse due to the continuing age of our roadways along with our current budgetary constraints. Since the burst of the Interstate Highway System primarily built from the late 1950s until the early 1970s, these roadways are now between 35 and 50 years old. And while government conducts repaving/rebuilding efforts on a limited basis relative to the total miles of paved roads, it all too often appears to be not of high and long lasting quality. All too often, in just three or four years, potholes once again appear on our resurfaced roads.
THE ANALYSIS AND SOLUTION:
In roadway resurfacing/repaving, State and Federal governments get deeply involved in the TECHNOLOGY and PROCESS used for such road reconstruction/repaving. It is part of their bidding process. Government bureaucrats specify whether it should be asphalt or cement, what texture of asphalt should be used, how deep, and other items to the minutest detail. Government, when doing so, can easily get stuck in the mode of not being incented to innovate and to reward the firms that they have most used over many years. In short…conducting the same old business.
With the problems of road and bridge conditions becoming acute, and the inability for States simply to raise tax revenues to pay for the status quo manner of road maintenance/reconstruction, there requires a new thought – a “third way” to performing this vital task.
Candidate Ken Arnold proposes just such innovative, “third way” to this problem. It is an innovation that’s been started recently in very limited fashion elsewhere – but must be applied quickly and in large scale before our entire roadway infrastructure disrepair gets away from us and even more serious problems result.
The solution is to step back and ask:
“What are citizens really wanting and willing to pay for in roadways?”
The answer is that citizens aren’t asking to use this material, or that technique, etc…they are asking to have smooth roadways that are safe and efficient to travel upon.
Asking and answering the question above: Should we not employ the marvelous mechanisms of the free and competitive market to help supply the specified demand citizens have for our roadways? Should we not unleash such private sector firms to satisfy our real desire and do so in the most innovative and cost-effective manners possible?
The answer to the above question is obviously: “YES!” Taxpayers should unleash the private sector to provide the REAL product that citizens demand – smooth and safe roads. How can that be done? By enacting at the Federal level, for Interstate Highways and highways having any Federal cost shares, legislation that would do the following:
1) Structure road repair/resurfacing/renovation contracts to not so much specify the detailed material and technology to be applied but to allow the private sector companies to innovate and determine what technologies they wish to employ on a particular project given the contractual objectives.
2) Specify within every contract that the road surfaces are to be free from any potholes for X years and only have, 10 potholes every Y miles at Z years after the project’s completion. (Items X, Y, and Z can be determined and specified by government road builders).
3) Such successful bidders would be required - at the time of winning the bid - to have an escrow amount equal to 15% of all monies otherwise owed them at the completion of all work set aside. These monies would be used to defray any costs taken on by government to promptly repair such roadway should there be a failure in the roadway earlier than contractually agreed upon that the bidder fails to promptly repair.
4) At the initial period of “no potholes” (i.e. X years after completion of the project), the bidder receives 5% of the initial bid amount held in escrow with interest as specified in the escrow account. Should there be potholes, no such remittance is made and all funds continue to be held until the end period of the contract (i.e. Z years after project completion).
5) During the entire contractual time period (to period Z), the costs of all pothole repairs not promptly performed by the original bidder goes against the escrow account’s balance.
6) At the end of the contract period (i.e. at point Z), all NET proceeds are then remitted to the bidder.
THE ADVANTAGES:
The above initiative interjects the private sector’s marvelous ability to innovate and employ the latest technology. The private sector’s intent is to maximize their profit by minimizing their costs (in this case, not the cost of mere materials and labor – but the costs of having a safe and smooth roadway for the life of the entire contract, likely between 15 and 20 years). It eliminates bureaucratic behaviors of “playing it safe”, “doing what we’ve always done”, and “rewarding our long established providers” who keep practicing the status quo of road repair and resurfacing.
In addition to the above, such innovations will help our physical safety and economic system by greatly enhancing the quality of our roadway systems. It will do so by reducing traffic deaths, avoiding traffic tie ups from blockages and lane closures to avoid such hazards, and speeding traffic along for both convenience and commerce. And the innovations may have additional and unexpected payoffs. One example is a road building technique used in Europe of using ground up auto tires within the asphalt mixture laid down. Not only does it greatly increase the life of the roadway (due to the road surface being more pliable in the “freeze/thaw cycle” of roads) – but it is found to significantly cuts down on roadway noise. And all that benefit in addition to avoiding such auto tires finding their way to landfills! This is one such innovation that can be applied by the private sector.
The same old ways of laying asphalt every few years (if you’re lucky) must end. Motorists have no interest in how often asphalt is laid – they simply wish to have a smooth and safe roadway! And citizen’s pocketbooks can no longer afford such mindless activity that ends up more benefiting the politically connected few, rather than the traveling many. We must escape bureaucratic stagnation and unleash the private sector upon our roadway systems. Doing so will save lives, save time, add to our economy, and save taxpayer monies.
It truly an idea whose time has surely come…
Ken Arnold – Republican Candidate
U.S. Congress – 8th District of Illinois
Ken@Arnoldforyou.com
March 14, 2006
ARNOLD FOR CONGRESS
“ Strong, Creative Leadership . . . for the 21 st Century ! “
Labels: 8th Congressional District, Kden Arnold
# posted by Cal Skinner : 7:00 PM
