Transportation Funding: What’s Local is National. What’s National is Local.

With just two months remaining before IBTTA members meet in Washington, DC for the association’s 2016 Transportation Policy and Finance Summit, a crucial theme already leaps off the pages of the preliminary conference program:

When it comes to the policy and funding framework that will be needed to sustain a safe, efficient highway system, what’s local is national.

Oh, and by the way, what’s national is local.

And the underlying storyline for the Summit? The tolling industry in the United States made great progress in 2015. But there’s lots of work ahead of us for 2016.

The Year That Was: We Have a Highway Bill!

2015 ended with a victory that some transportation watchers thought was beyond our grasp: for the first time in a decade, the U.S. Congress and the President approved a long-term highway bill.

The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act provides certainty and stability across the U.S. highway system, some new opportunities for tolling, and some serious, continuing challenges for tolling agencies, state departments of transportation, and the driving public. It’s a five-year, $305-billion commitment, and welcome as it is, those numbers tell a large part of the story: against the scale of a massive repair, maintenance, and reconstruction backlog, states will still have to deploy all the available tools in the highway funding toolbox to deliver the safe, reliable mobility their voters expect and deserve.

As the first event in IBTTA’s 2016 conference series, the policy and finance summit will give participants a deep dive into the FAST Act and its implications on the ground. Veteran Congress-watchers and government relations specialists will point to the most important areas of advocacy as the highway bill goes into full-scale implementation. “Attendees will gain a grasp of what issues to track and how to engage in the policy-making process in the aftermath of this major congressional action,” the conference program states.

The Year Ahead: All Transportation is Local

Legendary U.S. House Speaker Tip O’Neill said it best when he observed many years ago that “all politics is local.” There’s no indication that O’Neill was referring specifically to transportation. But if he had been, he would have been spot-on.

“Transportation infrastructure is inextricably tied to global economic prosperity,” the summit program notes. But when it comes to highway and transit funding in the U.S., “policymakers are turning to states for solutions, finding that state leaders can make a better case for the importance of infrastructure investments and find more innovative vehicles to fund those projects.”

Tolling agencies have been ready to answer that call because they know their success depends on satisfied customers and thriving communities. And they know what customers are looking for.

Reliable, driveable local roads.

Seamless connections between highways and transit.

The ability to drive a wider variety of toll roads with a single toll transponder.

And, just over the horizon, access to connected and autonomous vehicles that will transform the mobility experience, one vehicle owner at a time.

They’re all outcomes that depend on smart policy and adequate funding. Which is why the session on local politics and local solutions will be a highlight of this year’s Washington summit.

Real Challenges, Real Solutions

The summit theme—Real Challenges, Real Solutions—is as timely as today’s headlines. State and local government have a menu of funding and policy tools at their disposal. But with all its strengths and limitations, the net result of the FAST Act is that durable mobility solutions will still have to come from the levels of government that are closest to highway users and voters.

“We have many things to think about in running our toll facilities—operations, throughput, customer loyalty, political realities and much more,” the summit program states. “We’re looking for case histories and real life examples from toll industry heroes who have found new and creative ways to increase the bottom line, with a view towards the policy implications of various tolling programs.”

That focus on practical, day-to-day realities will make the 2016 Transportation Policy and Finance Summit an important and uniquely timely event—and a great chance to get ahead of the policy challenges your agency will face in the course of the year.

Click here for more on IBTTA’s 2016 Transportation Policy and Finance Summit, March 13-15, 2016 in Washington, DC.