By Daniel Brock
dbrock@scbiznews.com
Published Dec. 15, 2010

Identifying infrastructure needs and finding creative ways to fund them are keys to future success for the nation and state, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said at a policy forum in Charleston this month.

”Americans can still build great things, not in spite of economic challenges, but as a means to overcome them,“ LaHood said.

The forum, sponsored by the bipartisan coalition Building America's Future Educational Fund, centered on the idea that targeted infrastructure efforts are an important way to ensure national economic competitiveness, job creation and increased safety and quality of life.

Locally, projects such as a recently funded $10 million improvement to the Septima Clark Parkway, dredging of Charleston Harbor and a possible commuter rail system were among those highlighted.

In the past, Americans built the Erie Canal, a nationwide network of railroads and the interstate highway system, LaHood said. Today, a national high-speed rail network ' for which President Barack Obama's administration set aside $8 billion in stimulus money ' and extensive road and bridge upkeep beckon.

The American Society of Civil Engineers has released estimates that called for a $2.2 trillion investment over the next five years to pull U.S. infrastructure into ”good condition.“

”We need to build infrastructure. We need to build America,“ said LaHood, one of only two Republicans in the Obama Cabinet.

But paying for billions or trillions of dollars in railroads and highways is no simple task.

”That's what the big debate will be about,“ LaHood said.

LaHood and Building America's Future are pushing for the inclusion of a subsidized bond-issuing infrastructure bank as part of a transportation bill that LaHood hopes to have in front of the president by next August.
Such a bank would be similar to the Build America Bond program, which offered taxable financing instruments aimed at reducing the cost of borrowing for governmental agencies.

The key is to select projects wisely said Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat who co-chairs Building America's Future along with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

”Voters will pay for infrastructure improvements, if they can see them and believe they're well-targeted,“ said Rendell, who made note of the recently approved penny sales tax increase for Charleston County schools.

If South Carolina wants to be part of big infrastructure projects such as a regional high-speed rail project, the state needs to get its act together, LaHood said.

”Get a plan. Become a part of region that's going to go from Canada, along the Northeast corridor, North Carolina, South Carolina, all the way to Florida,“ he said. ”That's what you want to be a part of. It's a no-brainer.“

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley said the city and state had applied for a federal rail feasibility grant. South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia received a $26 million grant in October to study a high-speed rail corridor through the Upstate.

Panel discussions held later in the morning centered on local transportation challenges and financing strategies to repair and modernize regional infrastructure.

”When regions in the country get their act together and people work together, and you have a common agenda, you'll be in the ball game,“ LaHood said. ”I don't know if I need to say anymore than that.“

Reach Daniel Brock at 843-849-3144.