While we celebrate the opening of a portion of the Route 495 bridge, along with a refreshing mid-summer drop in gas prices, it is also time to reflect on a lost opportunity.
Thanks to election year politics and other factors, the General Assembly took tiny steps toward dealing with the gap in transportation funding. The issue could be revisited next year, but ground has been lost in the battle to deal with an aging highway system and growth-related needs in Kent and Sussex counties.
It is likely that the prevailing sentiment would favor other ways to fund transportation that would include an I-95 toll increase and higher registration fees. Neither would be adequate.
It may have been that Gov. Jack Markell may have been too bold in his 10-cent- a-gallon proposal. It is clear that a 3-cent increase in the gas tax would not have been felt, had it gone into effect this month.
It is also time to look at a rolling gas tax increase that goes up when gas prices go down, with a trigger that cuts the tax when gas prices spike. There are hurdles, but in this digital era, it is something that could work. A related move would be to ensure that funds raised in this method are not subject to transfers to the general budget and remain in the transportation trust fund.
Other options are also worth considering. It is of vital importance that the business community take the lead in speaking in favor of adequate funding.
