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It’s been fun getting up early every morning to write another chapter in the never-ending saga about our dysfunctional government. But, quite frankly, it’s become a diversion of my most valuable resource–my time–that I can no longer afford, especially because I’m also responsible for the daily posting of a website that’s become a primary news and information source for editors and reporters in hundreds of newsrooms around the country.

The daily Government Policy Newslinks report is something of an Internet miracle in its own right. My staff and I monitor over 2,300 public policy-related websites every night. We collect press releases and reports and link them onto a single webpage that provides one-click access to the information. Our subscribers start their mornings with a quick scan of our report. Sometimes it’s the most important 3 or 4 minutes of their day.

I’ve given the blog a good shot since I began it last April. But, quite frankly, this blog will never attract enough readers to generate enough advertising revenues to offset the subscription fees that Government Policy Newslinks earns. After consulting with several marketing experts, I decided to focus my energies on improving Government Policy Newslinks and renewing my efforts to find new subscribers.

You are welcome to visit the webpage (http://policynewslinks.com). There you will find a link to a recent edition of our Government Policy Newslinks report. And, a form you can use to signup for a free 30-day trial subscription. You are under no obligation to subscribe, but if you are a journalist or other public policy professional, I think you will find it extremely useful.

Thank you for reading.

Edward Zuckerman, Editor, Government Policy Newslinks (http://policynewslinks.com)

The hidden cost of conserving fuel

Attn: Transportation editors

     Okay, America, you can stop taking the family gas guzzler on long road trips. But you’re gonna have to pay.

     That’s a blunt translation of the message that Transportation Secretary Mary Peters delivered last week when she announced that energy conscious Americans drove 9.6 billion miles less in May than they did the previous May.

     It’s a trend. In the seven months since last December, Americans have driven 40.5 billion fewer miles than they did during the same period of the previous year. It proves Americans are getting the message that they need to drive fewer miles in vehicles that get better gas mileage.

     But here’s a “freakonomics” twist: While driving fewer miles in more fuel-efficient vehicles achieves a national goal of reducing energy consumption, it also means less money for the Highway Trust Fund which collects 18.4-cents for each gallon of gasoline and 24.4-cents for each gallon of diesel fuel. These federal taxes are used to pay for highway and bridge construction projects.

     “By driving less and using more fuel-efficient vehicles, Americans are showing us that the highways of tomorrow cannot be supported solely by the federal gas tax. We must embrace more sustainable funding sources for highways and bridges through more sustainable and effective ways such as congestion pricing and private activity bonds,” Secretary Peters said in a press release.

     Congestion pricing? Private activity bonds? These must be euphemistic catch-phrases for collecting tolls on interstate highways and leasing highways to private tollroad companies, both ideas that Secretary Peters has supported several times in the past.

     Secretary Peters’ comments came at the same time that the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) released a report that put a $140 billion pricetag on the cost of repairing and modernizing America’s bridges.

     Bridges were built to last 50 years, and the average bridge in this country is now 43 years old and creeping closer toward the end of their useful lifespan. And, AASHTO’s report went on, about 20% of the nation’s bridges are already over 50 years old.

     This should not come as a surprise to politicians and highway officials who have been talking for several decades about the need to repair America’s infrastructure. While talking, the cost for doing the work has skyrocketed.

     “The costs of steel, asphalt, concrete, and earthwork,” the AASHTO report said, “have risen by at least 50% in the past five years, forcing delays of bridge improvements and replacements. Nearly every state faces funding shortages that prevent them from the kind of on-going preventive maintenance, repair, and replacement needed to keep their bridges sound indefinitely.”