Manzo: Motor fuel tax adjustment is paying dividends

There has been a lot of media coverage lately about the annual inflation adjustment to Illinois’ motor fuel tax, which increased by 1.5 cents per gallon on July 1.

But it is especially important to understand this policy and how it affects our state.

Maintaining a safe and effective transportation system is the lifeblood of our economy. It enables workers to get to their jobs. It ensures that businesses can get their products to market and that domestic supply chains can function unimpeded. It connects us to medical facilities, schools, recreational and cultural opportunities, and so much more. It is about our quality of life.

Yet when Gov. J.B. Pritzker took office in 2019, Illinois’ infrastructure system was falling apart. Years of gridlock in Springfield and kicking the can down the road had left our state facing an estimated $41 billion maintenance backlog.

The motor fuel tax, which comprises 52% of all funding for the state’s transportation system, hadn’t been increased since 1993. Inflation and vehicle fuel efficiency gains had combined to create a shrinking pool of revenues, compounding the deferred maintenance backlog. And making matters worse, Illinois politicians regularly had raided the limited transportation revenues we did have to pay for non-transportation programs.

Research at the time showed that the shoddy condition of our state’s transportation system already was costing commuters as much as 61 hours per year in traffic gridlock, and more than $600 per year in preventable vehicle maintenance repairs. Every year of inaction meant that more of our roads and bridges fell into a state of disrepair. News reports of crashes, dangerous bridges, and other safety problems became commonplace.

Before politicians acted, Illinois voters took the first corrective step. In 2016, the Safe Roads Amendment (also called the “Lockbox Amendment”) was passed, which wrote a ban on the diversion of transportation dollars for anything other than the transportation system into our state constitution. It meant that if lawmakers finally could reach consensus on funding repairs to our deteriorating roads and bridges, we could rest assured that it wouldn’t be spent on anything else.

Then, Pritzker and a bipartisan majority of state lawmakers took the next step in passing the historic Rebuild Illinois program, a $45 billion multiyear public works effort to modernize our state’s roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure. One of the principal financing mechanisms was an initial increase in the gas tax to make up for three decades of rising costs, followed by small future annual adjustments pegged to new inflation.

Five years later, there is real evidence that these investments are paying off. The latest state roadway condition report reveals that the share of our roads in poor condition has plummeted by 12% over the last five years while the number of roads in good or excellent condition sharply increased (by 9%). And data from both IDOT and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that safety outcomes on Illinois roads are improving.

Equally important, the large-scale projects supported by Rebuild Illinois have put thousands of people to work — both directly in construction zones and as a result of increased investments in our communities. Construction apprentices have grown by 23% since 2018.

Illinois now is highlighted as a rising star in the race to attract corporate investment, with our infrastructure winning especially high marks.

To be sure, getting here took hard work and broad sacrifice — a fact we are reminded of in July of every year with each motor fuel tax adjustment. But with that adjustment should come a recognition of what we’ve gained: safer commutes, a more reliable supply chain, thousands of quality jobs, more businesses looking to invest here, and a structurally sound transportation funding mechanism that won’t be eviscerated by inflation or political gamesmanship.

In short, we are making real progress on the infrastructure that our economy needs to grow and that our communities need to thrive.

• Frank Manzo IV, MPP is an economist at the nonpartisan Illinois Economic Policy Institute.