"If Maine's economy is going to thrive in the coming century, state leaders must recognize the benefits of a safe and efficient transportation infrastructure and invest to protect those benefits."

With those words, former state economist Laurie Lachance, now president and CEO of the Maine Development Foundation, introduces a new report titled "The Difference is Night and Day: Why Investing in Highways and Bridges is an Investment in Prosperity."

The report succinctly makes the case that Maine's ongoing inability to maintain its transportation infrastructure places roadblocks in front of current efforts to reinvigorate the state's sluggish business climate, while at the same time threatening to wash out any hope for long-term economic vitality.

It juxtaposes the negative consequences that result from the state's failure to allocate adequate funding for basic upkeep on the Maine highway system with a list of likely dividends that would derive from greater investment in road and bridge maintenance.

The most striking negatives attributed to Maine's crumbling roads include added repair costs and accelerated depreciation of vehicles, compromised public safety and economic obstacles.

Noting that the Federal Highway Administration posits that every $1 million spent on road work creates 35 new jobs, the report argues that investing more in transportation infrastructure will benefit all sectors of Maine's economy and, in turn, elevate our quality of life.

As obvious as the findings in the Maine Development Foundation's report seem, Maine's lawmakers in recent years have been unable to settle on a logical strategy for maintaining Maine's roads. As recently as last week, the Legislature's Transportation Committee walked away from the table without a plan to pay for basic upkeep of roads and bridges, adding a prophetic note to the cliché "You can't get there from here" in a state where the overwhelming majority of residents have no other transportation options.

The politicization of transportation infrastructure funding must cease. Those who oppose paying to keep Maine's roads and bridges passable with taxes or bonds (the long-standing formula) should present an alternative now. Should we privatize the state's highway system? Is there an entrepreneur out there who, driven by the profit motive, could devise a business formula that improves upon the existing federal-state partnership? That would seem to align with the "government can't get it right" philosophy.

But if Maine follows the privatization route on transportation, it seems logical to assume that - as is the case with health care, electricity and other utilities delivered by private entities - the residents of this remote, rural state will pay more than consumers in most other states.

Conversely, if lawmakers choose to adapt the current funding model, they should mandate five-year transportation bonding commitments that will be less prone to election year grandstanding.

Given the fluctuations in the oil market and the push for alternative fuels, reliance on a gasoline tax - indexed or not - seems shortsighted. A modest vehicle registration surcharge dedicated exclusively to road maintenance, coupled with a fuel tax and toll increases at the state's borders, would more fairly and consistently draw maintenance revenue from those who use Maine's roads.

In any case, idling is not an option, because the roads are crumbling beneath us.