By Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

Federal transportation funding is on the brink of a crisis that could cripple our economy for years to come. The Highway Trust Fund faces insolvency as gas tax revenues, the primary source of replenishing the trust fund, continue to decline. Massachusetts could lose almost a billion dollars in funding next year, and the Greater Boston region alone could lose $335 million in transportation funding according to a report released last week by nonprofit Transportation for America. Congress has a number of options to choose from that could rescue the Highway Trust Fund and the projects that keep our economy growing, but our leaders in Washington must act quickly and decisively if our nation is to remain competitive in the 21st century global economy.

Massachusetts is already ahead of the curve, passing a transportation finance reform bill last summer that dedicates $600 million a year to transportation over the next five years. A MassDOT report released last year showed that we need $1 billion a year over the next ten years to maintain and upgrade Massachusetts’ current transportation systems, and last year’s reform bill is a much-needed step toward preventing the kind of insolvency that now faces the Highway Trust Fund. And this spring, Gov. Deval Patrick, signed a 10-year transportation capital improvement plan of $13 billion that will improve our roads, bridges and public transportation, rethink how we move people around, and make our transportation network safer, more reliable and more accessible.

But our forward-thinking plans in Massachusetts are absolutely dependent upon federal money to either match or supplement our local and state funding. Our state legislators passed last year’s reform bill and this year’s capital improvement plan because they understand that funding our transportation system impacts us directly at the local level and is about what we value: providing critical services, improving quality of life and helping new businesses open, flourish and create new jobs.

Somerville’s own investments into better roadways and bike and pedestrian access have not only earned us recognition as one of the most walkable, bikeable and transit-accessible cities in the nation. They have helped lead to 73 net new businesses opening in the city between 2010 and 2013. In Assembly Square, we invested $130 million in city, state and federal funds, most of it into new roadways for Somerville’s newest neighborhood. That investment in turn leveraged $1.5 billion of just initial private investment that is expected, over the next 10 years, to create 23,000 new jobs and add hundreds of millions of dollars annually to the Massachusetts economy.

The Highway Trust Fund was critical in making our plans for Assembly Square and so many of the transportation projects that make Somerville an economically thriving city a reality.  If we are going to continue our success, we can’t do it alone. Without a partnership at the federal level, we can’t make it happen, Massachusetts will not be able to make it happen and much of the country will not be able to make it happen. The loss of these funds will have a deleterious impact on our quality of life, on the economy and jobs. That federal partnership is important so our city can not only provide critical services and the quality of life we need for our residents, but so that Somerville can fulfill its role in the greater regional economy. Our cities and towns, no matter what state they are in or what region, are the fuel that feeds our regional and national economies. Every job has a hometown.

Congress has options to raise the revenue needed to rescue the Highway Trust Fund from insolvency—indexing the gas tax to inflation, enacting a sales tax on gasoline or imposing a per-barrel oil fee are a few examples that Transportation for America lists in its report. Implementing policies that increase the revenue coming from taxpayer’s pockets to the government is often an area that makes legislators wary and taxpayers skeptical at first, but what people really want to know is that their investment is going to yield a return that is consistent with their values. Last year, according to Transportation for America, 73 percent of local transportation ballot measures passed. That number should send a clear message to Congress: People want investment in transportation infrastructure, because they understand the return they get—a direct investment into our quality of life, our environment, and to our economy and jobs.

If we fail to make these critical investments in infrastructure, we are not going to be competitive in the 21st century global economy. People get that and understand that. Congress needs to get it too. The federal government doesn’t just have a role to play—it has the critical role to play in all our projects. Every major roadway project we have done in Somerville, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars, had significant financial support from the federal government. Without those investments, our local, regional and state economics would be crippled. We cannot do it alone. If Congress is serious about remaining competitive in the global economy, they must act to save the Highway Trust Fund.