Moving Forward

Driving Louisiana Forward is moving into its third year and remains committed to improving the way Louisiana’s transportation infrastructure is funded.  While the campaign made good progress in the 2008 legislative session – thanks to the Legislature, the governor and our statewide public support – we still have work to do.

Louisiana continues to face a $14 billion backlog in unmet construction needs, and our current road, bridge and port funding simply does not work. In addition, according to the Reason Foundation, Louisiana’s transportation system has dropped to a ranking of 40th in the nation, and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) remains drastically underfunded.

On a positive note, there were a number of successes in the recent legislative sessions, including speeding up the shift of $40 million from truck registration fees and the phase-in of vehicle sales tax revenue to the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF). The Legislature also appropriated $600 million in one-time surplus funds to transportation projects and removed the responsibility of $40 million in payments for state police traffic control from the TTF.

DLF’s goal is to generate about $600 million each year to ensure adequate, long-term and reliable funding for the state’s transportation system without increasing state taxes or fees.  Our specific proposals include:

• Accelerating the shift of vehicle sales taxes into the TTF - $259 million over seven years


• Moving DOTD employee benefits out of the TTF - $85 million


• Creating a Windfall Highway and Infrastructure Protection Fund using excess mineral revenue dollars - $120 million


• Using additional one-time appropriations from the state surplus to fund transportation projects.

DLF will be discussing these legislative proposals with the governor’s office, members of the Legislature and businesses and citizens across the state. The DLF campaign will also be supported by a paid advertising campaign.

Properly funding our transportation infrastructure is critical to our state’s economic development, and it will take a commitment from our leaders to support solutions to keep Louisiana moving forward.