AAA: 51 Percent Surveyed Willing To Pay For Better Roads

Cameron Aubernon
by Cameron Aubernon

As those inside the Beltway debate how best to fund their responsibility for the nation’s transportation infrastructure, a AAA study finds most Americans would pay more taxes for better roads.

Autoblog reports 67 percent of the 2,013 surveyed by AAA want the federal government to get it together and put more money into maintenance, with 52 percent in support of an increase in fuel taxes. Further, 51 percent surveyed would go as far as supporting a candidate who would support increases in funding for road maintenance and construction.

AAA CEO and president Bob Darbelnet added that many Americans were “willing to pay a little more” in taxes if the result led to “better roads, bridges and transit systems,” having become “fed up with record-long commutes, unsafe highways and never-ending potholes caused by political inaction.” In turn, the organization claims drivers would save $324 annually on road-related repairs for their vehicles.

AAA’s call to action comes under the potential threat of road work delays when the Highway Trust Fund — whose replenishment depends on the 18.3-cent/gallon gasoline and 22.4-cent/gallon diesel taxes that last saw an increase over 20 years ago — runs out of funds sometime this August. The Obama administration and a few members of Congress have offered solutions to the funding problem, but nothing more as come of them thus far.


Cameron Aubernon
Cameron Aubernon

Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.

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  • Jim brewer Jim brewer on Jun 12, 2014

    I'd say 51 percent is pretty low. People like the status quo. Most places, it would take roughly a 40 cent per gallon tax increase to make roads self-suffcient in their current state of slow deterioration. For 50 cents (and indexation against construction costs) you could begin to make some progress. Its not necessarily true that a gas tax increase overall comes out of our pockets. Remember, our roads are now heavily subsidized by general revenues. Those funds could be diverted to doubling the child tax credit, for example, which would neatly compensate overall, economically speaking, for the increase. Or, we could give the tax cut to the plutocrats. The deficit wouldn't be helped, but we would have rationalized a big chunk of our transportation infrastructure.

  • CJinSD CJinSD on Jun 13, 2014

    I live in southern California. We already pay $0.713 a gallon in gas taxes and $0.74 a gallon in diesel taxes. We have no weather to speak of. Our roads will rip the wheels out from under your car if you don't pay attention to the pavement surface at all times. People that think that paying more taxes will get them better roads probably also think giving more money and power to the teachers' unions will educate their children.

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    • Thelaine Thelaine on Jun 13, 2014

      @jkross22 +1.

  • Cls12vg30 Cls12vg30 on Jun 13, 2014

    I'm not surprised that most people would say this. It's refreshing to think we might actually see some tangible benefit to our tax dollars, as opposed to considering our taxes as money thrown down a black hole, never to be seen again.

  • Old fart Old fart on Jun 14, 2014

    Gas is high enough already, make the tax (if you have to have one ) income based . Of course that'll never fly .

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