The Theodore Roosevelt Expressway Association held its annual membership information meeting Wednesday in Williston and heard a variety of speakers explain the importance of the TRE and Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor Coalition.

Wednesday's keynote speaker was Jack Schenendorf, a federal consultant for the Ports-to-Plains Corridor Coalition. Schenendorf was in Williston from Washington, D.C., and gave a presentation about the critical condition the nation's transportation system is currently in.

Schenendorf said it's vital to maintain the country's national transportation system and expanding it to meet the nation's needs to compete in the 21st century global economy. He said that's why corridors such as the Ports-to-Plains, of which the TRE is a piece, are important to reaching those goals.

"We need to make sure our rural communities are part of this federal system. You can't have a first-rate economy without having a first-rate transportation system," said Schenendorf.

He said the ability for people to move around cities, states and the country, as well as freight traffic being able to move about, are extremely important. He said organizing and trying to recruit the help and support of local, state and federal elected officials is key to achieving such goals. "This corridor is a great example of that," said Schenendorf.

Schenenedorf, a federal consultant who has worked on transportation legislation in Washington for years, said there are two major problems identified in a report released by the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission. He helped with this report that identified the aging system and its capacity to handle the traffic load as key issues.

"Our generation was handed a brand-new transportation system. But I think it's gotten off track since the system was created. We can't wait any longer; we need to start making changes today, not 10 years from now. We simply can't allow our existing infrastructure to crumble from under us," said Schenendorf.

Schenendorf said funding has been a problem for decades and is in need of radical reform and increases. He presented a slide showing annual federal funding for transportation currently comes to $87 billion each year. He said the study recommends to properly repair our current infrastructure and to begin adding more to it, there needs to be annual funding of about $225 billion.

"An example of how costs have risen, take the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Washington, D.C. It was built for $14 million in the 1960s and was recently replaced at a cost of $2.8 billion," said Schenendorf.

Schenendorf said budgetary issues have become so serious that in virtually all communities, highway and public works departments are forced to pick projects each year and prioritize them. Because of this, many roads crumble waiting for their turn and the problem is only getting worse.

"Is it surprising that we're seeing bridges collapse in Minneapolis? Is it surprising to see total gridlock in our major cities? Not at all," said Schenendorf.

He said repairing or expanding current routes such as the TRE and adding new infrastructure require reform in how revenue is gathered. He added the ways recommended in the report are not popular in Washington.

"An increase in the (federal) gas tax is the only option to get these dollars raised in the short term and foreseeable future," said Schenendorf.

He said an increase of 5-8 cents per gallon in the federal gas tax and allowing major metropolitan areas a greater ability to have toll booths are major ways to increase revenue.

He said raising the gas tax always is politically unpopular and is a divisive issue when discussing transportation. He said Republicans have politicized the issue and would vote against it, while the Democrats are stuck because if they were to vote for it, they'd be in trouble in the next election.

"However, I find it ironic that the gas tax has only been increased twice, and it was done both times by Republicans -- Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan. If Eisenhower and Reagan could support investing in America's transportation infrastructure, why can't these current Republicans also support it?," said Schenendorf.

Schenendorf said no matter what happens in the near term with the next Transportation Bill being crafted in Congress, the TRE and Ports-to-Plains corridor is going to be a long-term project. He said it's great there were so many people in the room working to gain support of their state and federal officials through their local government. The work, he said, takes many years, but needs the ongoing support it has now.

He said the work and support of everyone in the room to get the project done in some form ultimately reflects on them to future generations.

"Are we going to be looked at as the generation that squandered Eisenhower's legacy, or the generation that created the system for us to compete in the 21st century?"

Schenendorf is a federal consultant with the Ports-to-Plains Corridor Coalition. He spent nearly 25 years on the staff of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving as chief of staff from 1995-2001.

He has been described as a powerful staffer in Washington and has played a key role in every major piece of transportation legislation in the last decade.

The proposed Theodore Roosevelt Expressway runs from Rapid City to Canada through the Port of Raymond in Montana and runs through North Dakota.

For more information on the TRE, visit its Web site at www.trexpressway.com.