Commissioner Murman mentioned in this Tampa Bay Business Journal article on U.S. Senate transportation bill:

Tampa Bay Business Journal by Mark Holan, Staff Writer
Date: Thursday, March 15, 2012, 2:46pm EDT

Mark Holan
Staff Writer – Tampa Bay Business Journal

With the rumble of trucks and cars on Interstate 275 in the background, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor and a bipartisan group of business and political leaders today urged passage of the Senate’s $109 billion transportation bill.

Some $2 billion is at stake for Florida road construction, public transit and even bicycle paths.
Unfortunately, Castor said, “the House is tied in knots” and failure to pass a bill by March 31 means no funding for projects such as the still-incomplete widening of I-275 in the background of her press conference.

The three-term Tampa Democrat opposes House Republican provisions that could bring offshore drilling to Florida’s coast and strip out federal funding for public transit.

Republican Hillsborough County Commissioner Sandra Murman, who also sits on the county’s bus agency board, joined Castor’s call to restore transit funding to the House bill.

Castor also was joined by Alison Hewitt, president of the Central Florida chapter of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials; Mark House managing director of The Beck Group; The Beck Group Latest from The Business Journals Slideshow: A look at First Baptist Church’s open design philosophy A look at First Baptist Church’s open design philosophy CAMLS serves up catering business Follow this company and J.C. Miseroy, chief estimator of Granite Construction; Granite Construction Latest from The Business Journals VTA closes in on contractor, moves ahead on BART project SMUD facility aims at extreme efficiency goalsDesign-build team picked for 0M Boulder Turnpike improvements Follow this company and chairman of the Florida Transportation Builders Association.

“We want more than a temporary extension,” Miseroy said. “We want to put people to work permanently.”
House said that “transportation is a key backbone to economic development.”

But the short-term crisis of passing a transportation bill is overshadowed by the long-term disaster of not having enough money to pay for transportation, Brad Plumer wrote online in today’s Washington Post:
“At the moment, it looks like the federal government will simply run out of money to fund the nation’s transportation needs. That’s because the Highway Trust Fund, which is paid for by the federal gas tax, is running out. Americans are buying more fuel-efficient cars and driving less. And the 18.4-cents-per-gallon gas tax isn’t indexed to inflation. Already, there aren’t sufficient funds to maintain transportation spending at current levels.”

“At the moment, it looks like the federal government will simply run out of money to fund the nation’s transportation needs. That’s because the Highway Trust Fund, which is paid for by the federal gas tax, is running out. Americans are buying more fuel-efficient cars and driving less. And the 18.4-cents-per-gallon gas tax isn’t indexed to inflation. Already, there aren’t sufficient funds to maintain transportation spending at current levels.”

Nobody wants to pay higher prices. But if you think roads are bumpy and the mass transit is skimpy today, getting around could become even rougher in the coming years.