It is easy to forget transportation’s role in our economy and way of life; without our highways, airways, waterways, pipelines and rail lines, we wouldn’t be able to get our products to market, heat our homes, get to work, or enjoy a trip to visit family.

Yet, our transportation network is constantly aging, and lost productivity from congestion is constantly growing, making investments and innovation an imperative process to ensure safe mobility.

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, failure to properly invest in our infrastructure could cost the U.S. $1 trillion in business sales and 3.5 million jobs every year. With roads, bridges, and other important infrastructure barely receiving passing grades across the U.S., we must reverse these trends to impose new innovative solutions, which maximize both economic returns and infrastructure safety for our roads, bridges, utilities, airlines, and railroads.

By encouraging innovative solutions, we can build a lasting transportation network.

In 2019, approximately 46,154 bridges were classified as structurally deficient by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the American Road and Transportation Builders Association. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave U.S. infrastructure a D+ mark on its infrastructure report card. The Highway Trust Fund is nearing insolvency, potholes are ubiquitous, and fears of spy trains built by China wrack the public nerve.

Our nation leveraged its resources from local to federal entities to build the Interstate Highway System, then virtually abandoned the completed project without a comprehensive and deliberate maintenance plan. The dedicated fund has routinely been raided for other projects, and the revenue intake supporting it has not kept pace with inflation, or more critically, innovation. The gas tax is ill-equipped for the current reality as fuel efficiency makes enormous strides and the road is increasingly filled with hybrid and electric vehicles. The funds must be shored up and the conditions on the ground must be addressed for the sake of economic vitality and public safety.

Another challenge is the constant battle for progress in lowering accidents, leaks, and derailments in the rail network and hazardous material transport industry. While pipeline enjoys a 99.999% effective rate in petroleum transit, the rare spills can be devastating. We must constantly reevaluate our safety measures and techniques to ensure safer transit of freight and hazardous material by rail, road, waterway, and pipeline.

American infrastructure is the unique product of our innovative people, robust competitive and dynamic market, and system of government. To bring our transportation infrastructure into the future and ensure it works for every person, we must tap into each of these resources.

Where the Highway Trust Fund is concerned, a few solutions are clear – lower spending, increase revenue, or both. The fuel tax is no longer a useful proxy for mileage and road use. For drivers to pay their fair share for the wear and tear they produce, new innovative funding is needed. Tolls, while politically odious, have seen a resurgence as toll tags and passes have made the process more efficient. Tolls may not be the answer, but highlighting the innovation in this revenue technique is important. Other solutions range from legal measures to prevent the HTF from being tapped for other projects, recalculating the formula for state and federal funding of projects, mileage-based taxes, and more.

Other issues find their origin and solution in slightly different areas of policy. A current debate exists over allowing Chinese railcar manufacturers access to federal tax dollars. Here, transportation policy overlaps with national security and economics. In addition to digital and cybersecurity risks, there is legitimate concern that it may result in market disruption and supplanting domestic industry. The proposed solution is not in highway or rail legislation, but a reauthorization of the National Defense Authorization Act, including language known as the Transit Infrastructure Vehicle Security Act.

The manifold challenges America faces extend far beyond its Interstate and urban rail. In most cases, safety and efficiency strides are made by relying on data and technological innovation. In rail, this comes in the form of Positive Train Control or continuous track geometry monitoring. For pipeline, it is constant monitoring and remote shutoff.

The world is constantly changing. We must ensure our regulatory and legal mindset is ready to adapt, welcome innovation, and promote cooperation and public safety.