Bud Wright served as Executive Director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), a non-profit, non-partisan association that supports and represents the interests and missions of state DOTs, since 2012. He recently retired at the end of 2018, with a career in transportation spanning over 43 years.
Wright was a transportation policy consultant prior to his appointment in 2012 to lead AASHTO. He served as Executive Director of the Federal Highway Administration from 2001 to 2008, assisting the Administrator in establishing policies, programs, and priorities for the $40 billion annual Federal-aid highway program. As FHWA’s chief operating officer, he was also responsible for a workforce of more than 2,500 transportation professionals and an annual operating budget of $400 million.
Among other current affiliations, Wright is a member of the Transportation Research Board Executive Committee, the ITS America Board of Directors, the ITS World Congress Board of Directors, and chairs the United States National Committee to the World Road Association.
The National Divide Over Infrastructure Policy
…both with the Trump administration and certainly with the Congress, there’s an acknowledgment that we need to do more, that infrastructure is the backbone of a thriving economy…Now, the differences begin pretty soon after you get past that statement, because I think there is great division in the country about whose responsibility it is. The Trump administration has sought to incentivize state and local governments in the private sector…I think state and local governments, certainly the members of our association, AASHTO, the state Departments of Transportation, see the federal component of investment in transportation infrastructure as critically important because it really is the foundation upon which state DOTs build to provide for the transportation investment needs within their states or within their communities.
States Are Raising the Stakes
…states are beginning to invest more. We’ve seen 31 states over the past five years who have upped the ante. They’ve found a way to increase the revenues that are flowing to transportation investment, even though we bemoan the fact that there’s not enough investment occurring at the federal level. In fact, with regard to transportation investment, we are at a record high level right now. We just saw an additional $10 billion of infrastructure investment provided last year by the Congress to supplement the underlying federal aid highway and transit programs and other federally administered programs. Is all of that answering the big picture problem? We haven’t gotten there yet, but I would say that there have been earnest efforts made at the state level, in particular, to acknowledge that we need to do more to find a way, to find the political will to increase revenues and to increase investment.
The Federal Government Needs to Be a Reliable Partner
One of the things that we have stated very loudly to this administration and to others is that while they’re talking about ratcheting back the federal role in providing for transportation investment, the reality today is that the federal government is only providing about 20% of the resources that flow into highway transportation investment in this country, and a slightly larger percentage in transit investment…The rest of it is coming almost exclusively from state and local governments and small but slightly increasing share from the private sector. Should the federal contribution be zero or should it be more than 20%? I don’t know that anybody is advocating that it be 50% or 80% or more of the total. I think it’s that the federal government be a reliable partner and continue to invest at a greater level but continue to invest their share relative to what state and local governments have historically been willing to do.
Engaging Citizens to Vote for Infrastructure
I think one of the things that we have not done as good a job of as we could in the public sector is reminding citizens of that continuing investment. Just as we invest in our homes, we must continue to invest in our infrastructure or else it’s going to reach a state of disrepair of the sort that we’ve been dealing with in recent times. Having that citizen understand the significance of transportation infrastructure in their lives, and the importance of continuing to invest, I think, is absolutely critical. That said, asking a citizen to pay a higher tax in order to achieve a stronger infrastructure is a different question. Honestly, I would say that the results in recent times have been mixed on that question…There’s not a magic formula that says if it’s a local government or if it’s the state government asking their citizens to increase taxes, that that’s an automatic. I think there’s a lot more to it. There has been relative success in many places around the country but, unfortunately, it’s not universal.
Tags: AASHTO American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Bud Wright, Frederick G. "Bud" Wright, Frederick Wright
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