Maintain or Expand

My limited experience serving on town government committees demonstrated to me that governments are more likely to build a new project rather than spend the money necessary to maintain their existing projects.  This tendency seems to hold when it comes to our highways.  Federal government analysts, taxpayer advocates and transportation experts have warned for at least a decade that many states were spending too much on building highways and too little on fixing them, and that their maintenance costs would skyrocket if they didn’t change course.  For example, in 2004 Pennsylvania was spending about as much of its federal funding on expansion as it was on maintenance.   By 2011, the state was spending about four times as much on repairs, and it was still struggling to keep up.  Our highway system has reached the end of the line in the eyes of many.   We've seen bridges collapse, highways constantly being repaired.  

The federal gas tax has not been increased in twenty years.  The 18.4 cents tax has lost a third of its purchasing power.  And still we do nothing but borrow $50 billion every year from the Treasury rather than the Highway Trust Fund.

Maintenance is a good investment.   According to the National Center for Pavement Preservation, a research lab for road-building materials at the Michigan State University engineering school, every dollar spent to maintain a road in the first 15 years of its life saves $6 to $14 in maintenance costs after 20 years.