By PHIL BATT
It's frustrating when it takes 40 minutes to drive to work from eight miles away. We need more arterials and more freeway lanes.
And it's hard on the car when the roads are filled with pits and potholes. We're overdue for a new roadbed in a lot of places throughout the state.
And it sure would be nice if we had a super highway to North Idaho and a road up to Midvale that bypassed that winding canyon along the Payette River.
But don't hold your breath while waiting for these improvements to take place. The reality is that it will require a massive change in funding our highway program to make any substantial progress on Idaho's roads.
I know it's a poor time to talk about increasing the cost of operating a motor vehicle. But we have always had more needs than money regarding our transportation system within our beloved state. The picture has never been more bleak than today. But financial sacrifices for transportation have been required since territorial days and each generation has responded with increased funding. It doesn't make sense that we now say, "We won't face the music—make our kids and grandkids pay."
A brief look at history makes clear that the problem has always been with us. The intractable topography of territorial days presented a nightmarish mobility problem. The saving grace was that there were no motor vehicles then.
The original Idaho Territory comprised most of the northwestern United States. Then Oregon and Washington split off, followed by Montana and finally Wyoming. Idaho, then and now, was left with a wonderfully diverse piece of geography, but with a colossal headache in getting from one place to another.
The territorial government soon declared county boundaries; they, in turn, established road districts. Primitive roads were built, almost exclusively with private funds, and tolls were charged. Sometimes the fees were exorbitant. To take a single burro over some passes cost $1. That would be about $50 today.
Some of the delegates to the Idaho territorial government lived in what is now Montana. History does not record how they managed to cross the mountains to get to the Lewiston Capitol. Maybe they went clear around the southern part of the state.
Economic opportunities dictated where the earliest roads were established. The Gold Rush of 1861-65 brought hundreds of prospectors into Orofino and the Boise Basin.
They blazed all kinds of trails, and paid through the nose for their supplies. An Idaho City feed yard charged $13.60 for feeding two mules 34 pounds of hay.
There was quite an extensive toll road system by that time and the toll operators effectively squelched any attempts at building public roads. Toll franchises were eagerly sought and were mostly granted to friends of those in power. In the early days of statehood, counties and highway districts subsidized state efforts with loans derived from property taxes. There was also a $3 local road tax on able-bodied men. A full day's work (mostly with pick and shovel) could be given in lieu of the head tax. The state was severely limited in its ability to raise transportation taxes.
Idaho did levy a tiny property tax but it took many years to repay its debts to the counties and highway districts. The state finally repealed its own property tax levy for roads in about 1925 and went to other sources.
Throughout our state's history, requests for roads have exceeded available funds by four to 20 times. That's still the case. But the difference today is that we don't seem to have the will to do anything about it.
Registration fees were instituted in 1913, and ranged from $15 to $40. They were reduced to a flat $5 during the Depression. They are now $54, far below the average of other states. This evidently isn't much of a burden as specialty license plates abound, for which people voluntarily throw in another $35 to $70 to get the tag they want.
The first state fuels taxes were levied in 1923. The gas tax was 2 cents per gallon; in 1925, 3 cents, and in 1929, 5 cents.
It was 14.5 cents in 1986 and was raised periodically until it reached 25 cents under my administration in 1996. The purchasing power of our gas tax has declined with inflation and the cost of construction. It would take more than twice the tax rate to buy the same amount of construction and maintenance we could in 1996. We haven't raised gas taxes since then.
The problem is acute and will get worse fast if we don't face up to it and raise some more highway funds. Gov. Otter is doing a good job of pointing out the urgent need for additional funds. Idaho citizens and Idaho legislators need to listen and respond with action.
Phil Batt is the former governor of Idaho.
