In all, 33 states fall short of the funding needed to maintain their bridges and roads over the next 10 years, according to a report by the Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonpartisan research group.
Michigan has the nation’s largest funding gap at $15.8 billion. In the Mountain West, New Mexico faces a funding gap of $2.9 billion, and Colorado has a shortfall of $1.4 billion.
“That means your residents are driving on roads and bridges that are crumbling or potentially unsafe,” said David Draine, a principal officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts and the report’s lead author. “And so, it's both a fiscal matter, and it's also, are your policy objectives being met?”
Meanwhile, several Mountain West states are on track to meet their funding goals for bridges and roads, including Nevada, Idaho, Montana and Arizona. Utah and Wyoming did not have adequate data, according to Pew.
For states with funding shortfalls, Draine said there are ways to help bridge the gap, such as increasing gasoline and diesel taxes, using general fund revenues, and prioritizing roadway maintenance and preservation over new construction.
“If states are putting off important repairs, the need to make those repairs doesn't go away,” he continued. “It comes due later, and it can crowd out budgets and make it hard for other important spending priorities to be made.”
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
