This a major finding, as reported by the Washington Post based on literature released yesterday from a three-day summit in September 2009 at the University of Virginia, attended by about 80 transportation experts, including former secretaries of transportation Norman Mineta and Samuel Skinner.

The key, according to the report, is to create new, long-term sources of funding as a replacement for federal and state gas-tax revenue, which is on the decline. (The federal gas tax has remained unchanged since it was increased to 18.4 cents per gallon in 1993.) A bump in gas tax could be a good short-term solution, but in order to keep up with the massive public transit expenditures by major players such as China and Russia, Americans may have to eventually get used to paying a fee for every mile they drive. According to the report: "A fee of just one penny per mile would equal the revenue currently collected by the fuel tax; a fee of two cents per mile would generate the revenue necessary to support an appropriate level of investment over the long term."

Americans will no doubt have a hard time coming to terms with a per-mile fee -- even if they're seeing some the benefit over the long term with fast, efficient public-transit systems. Still, according to Skinner: "We've got to look at this as an investment, not an expense."