April 27, 2006
Boston Globe -- Real relief on gas prices
According to the Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C., federal and state gas taxes ''pumped more than $54 billion into federal and state coffers last year alone." Now, it would be nice if those billions were actually used to repair and upgrade US roads and bridges. However, they seem to be going elsewhere -- maybe to Baghdad? A 2005 report card for America's infrastructure issued by the American Society of Civil Engineers found little improvement from the ''D plus" issued in 2001. It found that 34 percent of America's roads are in poor or mediocre condition and 27 percent of bridges are structurally deficient or obsolete. In Big Dig-consumed Massachusetts, 71 percent of roads are in poor or mediocre condition, 51 percent of bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
