The agency notes that, since 2012, other states have addressed funding problems by increasing their gas taxes and diesel taxes, expanding highway tolls, creating a hotel tax and even imposing fees for electric and hybrid vehicles. “If the state fails to rise to these challenges, citizens can expect a pattern of stagnation — deteriorating highways and bridges, ever greater congestion and lost work time, insufficient rail service that fails to address the growing congestion, disconnected bus systems, and constant emergency ‘Band-aid’ fixes to try to keep a declining system operating,” says the long-range plan.
