Arguing that rebuilding America’s roads, bridges and transit systems will do far more for the flailing economy than the $300-$1,200 family tax rebates included in the recently passed $168 billion stimulus package, 15 governors from a non-partisan coalition called on the federal government last month to dramatically boost infrastructure spending.

The Building America’s Future coalition, chaired by Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, was established to serve as a “repository of best practices on infrastructure funding issues” according to a press release issued at the National Governors Association (NGA) meeting on Feb. 24. New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine is also a member of the coalition. Speaking at the NGA meeting, Corzine told the audience, “We need a national program. We need federal help.”

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, national infrastructure needs will top the $1 trillion mark over the next five years. Locally, NYSDOT Commissioner Astrid Glynn has estimated New York’s transportation needs at $175 billion over the next 20 years. But while many states are ready to spend money for big projects, federal support has waned.

The formation of this new coalition, which follows just months after the tragic Minnesota bridge collapse serves to remind the public and their elected officials of the country’s pressing infrastructure needs. While the Bush administration soundly rejected the coalition’s calls for including infrastructure funding in a federal stimulus package, saying bridge, road and transit projects take too long to get going, coalition members are hopeful that the presidential candidates are listening. And indeed Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama seem to be at least talking the talk (the Campaign couldn’t track down John McCain’s platform on infrastructure spending).

This conversation is particularly timely as policy makers begin to think about reauthorizing SAFETEA-LU, the federal transportation legislation which is set to expire at the end of September 2009. Glynn and other officials have argued that reauthorization should include a change in the formula the federal government uses to distribute transportation funding. Currently, federal transportation funds are distributed primarily based on state gasoline receipts, which penalizes states for reducing automobile dependence.

The bigger hurdle, however, is how to pay for an Eisenhower-esque transportation spending program, something the Building America’s Future coalition didn’t really touch on, except to say that Congress should cut back on earmarks.

The Highway Account of the federal Highway Trust Fund is expected to fall into the red by the end of fiscal year 2009. And things look even bleaker in the long run. A federally-convened, bi-partisan commission recently called for a 25- to 40-cent gasoline tax increase to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent and maintain and improve the nation’s surface transportation system. But the commission’s report hasn’t been talked about much since the initial anti-tax flurry it sparked.

Certainly a federal gas tax increase is a hefty political lift. But 15 years after the last gas tax increase, it’s high time we started talking about it. As the New York Times editorialized two weeks ago, “The next president will have to show a lot more leadership if there is any hope of reversing the damage from decades of underfunding and inattention.”