North Dakota's transportation system is arguably its most important infrastructure, yet it's often taken for granted by the public.

One of the many workshops being offered by the North Dakota Association of Counties during its annual convention being held here in Bismarck this week was "Making the Case for Road Funding."

The Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute led the Monday morning workshop which played to a room packed with county officials. But while the workshop outlined the necessity and value of a good road system, it had little to offer in solutions for ever escalating costs associated with building and maintaining those routes.

"Mobility is often misunderstood," said the institute's director Gene Griffin. "When a person gets in a car they usually aren't thinking about how the road got there and what's being done to keep it here. They take it for granted."

There are some basic tenants of society, according to Griffin. A system to provide food, adequate health care, defense and security, a system of justice, education, commerce, communication and mobility.

Since 1960, the number of passenger vehicles has grown from 74 million to 231 million. In 1990, 68 million paratransit trips providing transportation for seniors and the handicapped were made; in 2004 there were 114 million trips.

"Transportation has become more vital to our society and the trend will continue," Griffin said. "But there are political elements that feel the federal government shouldn't have much of a role in transportation, turning it back to the states for them to handle."

Denver Tolliver, associate director, said the studies done by the institute show that increased funding of highways has a positive cost/benefit ratio. The North Dakota Legislature requested the study of the institute. The institute is mainly funded by the state through the North Dakota Department of Transportation, though there are some federal funds involved.

Some the benefits that can be derived from a road system involve safety, travel time, fuel savings and emissions reduction. Well-maintained roads reduce vehicle operation costs and public frustration.

"There are a lot of issues facing local and county roads,"associate research fellow Allan Dybing said. "Through the benefit/cost ratio, we can see clearly that what a dollar bought two years ago is far from what it buys today."

Four issues are putting a lot more strain on farm to market roads and other country roads, according to Dybing: Rail abandonments, truck configurations, shuttle elevators and the biofuel facilities.

More than 1,000 miles of track have been abandoned in the past 35 years and the result of that is additional truck trips.

"When rail is abandoned, elevators either run without rail or close. This means a greater number of truck trips and/or longer trips," Dybing said.

There also is a trend to use larger trucks on farms as they get larger. In 1995, 57 percent of grain traveled on single axle vehicles and 3 percent on tandem axle. In 2005 single axle is about 32 percent and tandem axle 36 percent.

The new ethanol plants are having a huge impact on country roads. The new plant at Richardton has a capacity of 17.5 million bushels of corn annually. Based on 50 percent of the corn being delivered by truck, means that nearly 12,000 trucks will make the trek to the plant each year. Other plants being planned have twice the capacity of the Richardton operation.

Stark County officials said they weren't ready for the additional stress being put on the roads that are used for the ethanol plant, and they are going to need help to meet the demands put on the road system.

Dybing said that over the past several years, federal and state funding have remained about the same, but construction costs involving materials and labor have skyrocketed, leaving counties to fund the additional cost.

The institute's program director Gary Berreth said from 2003 to 2006 there has been a 46 percent increase in steel, concrete, fuel and asphalt costs. The increase is nearly all attributed to the petroleum industry.

Government regulations often become unfunded mandates that divert county funds from other areas, Berreth said.

Berreth said he didn't have the answers that the county officials are looking for when it comes to finding revenue for road infrastructure. He said that county officials have to take a hard look at existing infrastructure and determine what they would need in the future with roads having a basic life of 20 years and bridges 50 years.

Berreth said there is a need for maintaining existing roads and the need for county officials to differentiate between the wants and needs of their constituents.

"If you don't adequately maintain your roads, you can expect to spend four to 10 times more later. It's the best investment you can make,"Berreth said.

Berreth said he doesn't foresee a downturn in road construction costs in the future.

"I don't ever see it going down. There may be slight decreases, but if it goes down it won't be very much," Berreth said.