Michael Maloney: Debtless rail systems

Regarding Anthony Foxx’s Sept. 18 Point of View “A long overdue line” concerning the urgent need to build a Southeast corridor similar to the rail system that serves the Northeast: While his arguments for this investment seem sound, he failed to include any discussion of how this “investment” will be paid for.

State and federal governments have a severe shortfall in current transportation budgets, partially due to redirecting funding provided by gas and other transportation-related taxes and fees to budget priorities other than transportation.

The U.S. Congress has not passed a new transportation bill because of difficulties in deciding how to fund that budget. Couple this with an $18 trillion national debt, and it is obvious that we do not have the money to invest in a multibillion-dollar Southern rail corridor.

What Foxx and other politicians need to do is set state and federal budget priorities so that good investments such as what he proposes can be funded without adding to state and national debts.

This story was originally published October 3, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Michael Maloney: Debtless rail systems."