For more than 50 years, the federal highway, transit, and aviation investment programs -- financed almost exclusively by fuel taxes and other fees levied on users -- have proven to be fiscally responsible while providing critical improvements to the nation's transportation infrastructure, ARTBA said.

The bipartisan commission was created by an executive order from President Barack Obama. It is charged with addressing the nation's mid- and long-term fiscal challenges and making policy recommendations to the president and Congress. The group, chaired by former Sen. Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, held a public meeting Wednesday in Washington.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates $90 billion in new revenues are needed at the federal level over the next six years just to maintain current investment levels in highway, safety, and transit programs.

ARTBA warned, however, that projected Highway Trust Fund revenues for the foreseeable future will be far short of the levels necessary to maintain those programs.

"Without additional revenues, Congress has only two options: fund the programs at the level supportable by Highway Trust Fund revenues, which would cause serious deterioration of our highways and transit systems, or close the gap with general funds, which would significantly increase the federal budget deficit," ARTBA said.

One of the most reliable ways to reduce the deficit, ARTBA says, is to assure the future budget neutrality of the federal transportation investment programs by generating additional user revenues through any of a number of options. Those include increasing federal gasoline and diesel taxes and indexing them to inflation, establishing a freight services charge on the value of transportation provided by commercial trucks to support a new goods-movement program, and creating a per-barrel tax on oil.

Expanded public/private partnerships and tolling are also additional mechanisms that would supplement the traditional means of financing transportation improvement programs, according to ARTBA.

"A safe, reliable transportation system is essential to the productivity and growth of the nation's economy," ARTBA concluded. "We urge the commission to recommend that Congress continue financing federal transportation investment through fiscally responsible and budget-neutral user taxes and levies."

The eight-page written statement submitted to the commission by ARTBA is available at tinyurl.com/ARTBA063010. The commission's website is www.fiscalcommission.gov.