Infrastructure costs are getting increasingly higher due to a multitude of factors. Some of these factors are self-inflicted, which this proposal is meant to address.
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End the FHWA requirement for Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) participation in federally funded projects.
The federal government is currently requiring state DOTs to incentivize DBE participation in heavy civil infrastructure construction projects. The intentions are good, but it comes at a cost. DBE companies are now turning down profit in order to maintain their DBE certification. Companies are certified as DBE if 51% or more of the company is owned by a racial minority or female, and makes under a certain dollar amount in profit each year. The program unfortunately results in keeping DBE companies from becoming critical players in the construction field due to an incentive to not lose their DBE certification by making increased profits. Furthermore, it dedicates an entire sub-department within the DOTs to manage the program, and results in higher construction bids because contractors are forced to go with higher bids for the same work, if the bid comes from a DBE company. Eliminating the DBE program all together would drive down construction costs and incentivize woman and minority-owned companies to compete with non-dbe companies and turn larger profits. This would benefit taxpayers and construction workers, and would create more jobs. -
Eliminate unique engineering for small items of work on construction projects by allowing like-items to be bid in place.
Far too often contractors are forced to bid on items of work that an engineer drew up without considering what is already available in the market. One example of this is pedestrian bridge railing: An engineer would run some calculations on what type of mesh inlay they would need on pedestrian bridge rail, and then post it for bid. A contractor would need to have the mesh inlay specifically fabricated for the project, resulting in enormous costs by literally reinventing the wheel. This is all too common. If a contractor could bid the next most available product already produced in large quantities by manufacturers, you would see significant cost reductions in infrastructure projects- which would reduce tax payer costs. -
Require a nationwide uniform format for material quality acceptance and standard specifications.
Currently each state has their own format for material and quality acceptance, doing work in multiple states is often challenging because of this. For example, in Illinois, the DOT has an entirely different nomenclature and gradation requirements for sand, gravel, and riprap/stone, than Michigan. Therefore, an aggregate pit in Illinois cannot sell to contractors working in Michigan because they cant meet the other states’ requirements simultaneously. The Michigan contractor would then have to find a source within Michigan, and oftentimes the next closest source is 4 or more hours away, despite the Illinois aggregate source only being 30 minutes away. This drives up material cost due to increased freight costs, and delay in timely completion. A uniform specification system would eliminate these additional costs that occurs in a wide array of materials. I propose the federal government assess each state’s standard specification and choses the superior one to implement nation wide. Of course you will still need special provisions for unique cases due to climate differences between the states. -
Infrastructure funding reform at the federal level.
Currently, the United States federal excise tax is 18.4 cents per gallon and 24.4 cents per gallon for diesel fuel (in addition to any state and local gas tax that exists). With the rise in Electrical Vehicles (EVs), those driving fossil fuel-run vehicles are the only ones paying for our infrastructure. I propose we do away with the gas tax all together at the federal level, and instead fund our federal infrastructure with combined sponsorship programs and a mileage tax. Businesses can promote their companies by funding highways, roads, and bridges and in-turn would have the road, bridge, or highway named after them, including advertisement signs along the roadway or bridge they partially funded. They would also be able to take part in innovative ideas to upgrade our infrastructure (such as solar powered roadways, glow-in-dark pavement markings, porous asphalt, etc) as a co-owner. Roadways connected to businesses of high traffic- such as casinos, sport complexes, etc would be required to participate in this for adjacent roads within 5 miles.
In addition to this, registered vehicles would pay a mileage tax at every registration renewal at a rate of $0.007 to 0.009 / mile for privately owned vehicles and $0.009 - 0.013/ mile driven for commercial vehicles. Rates range to accommodate different vehicle weight ratings. Commercial vehicles would pay additional fees at weigh stations for load weights.
The funds for each of these would be required to be used in infrastructure only. States have the right to also raise funding in addition to this how they see fit, but should be required to propose tax laws that include vehicles of all types of fuel, including EVs. -
End the Green New Deal policies.
A major increase to infrastructure costs occurred after congress and the Biden administration passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 which included parts of the ‘Green New Deal’. One example of these increased costs is the new regulations regarding cement types. States, like Michigan, utilized Type 1 cement in their concrete because it was relatively inexpensive to produce and was sourced locally in abundance. After the passing of this bill, only type 1L cement was allowed to be used. Shortly after , the market experienced a shortage of concrete, and inflated costs in concrete. In some areas, concrete costs went from $135/ cubic yard to $215 / cubic yard. In 2023 alone, the United States used 400 million cubic yards of concrete in their tax funded projects; that’s a cost increase of $32 billion in one year on concrete alone! This policy needs to end.