SAN JOSE, Calif. - The U.S. transportation network continues to be funded by a fee designed in the era of the Model T as it is now in the era of the Dreamliner.

In a policy summit sponsored by the Norman Y. Mineta Transportation Institute of San Jose State University, there was a uniform call for a new funding system to support diverse elements of the transportation network, including mass transit.

"We are at the point where the means and method are going to have to change the way we fund transportation,” said Mortimer Downey III, president of PB Consulting and a former deputy secretary of transportation.

"Our needs are way out of sync with our funding. The gas tax was designed to help fund farm-to-market road to get those early cars out of the mud. It has now paid for, maintained and is called upon to rebuild the interstate highway system."

A small portion of the federal gas tax is now used to help fund transit capital improvements.

A mindset change is needed, Downey said. Capital spending for transportation needs to be viewed as an investment - not a cost. With the investment mindset, he said, the challenge will be to create the climate for the private sector to invest in infrastructure.

The public, at least in California, may be willing to pay more tolls and higher fees to finance transportation improvements, according to a poll conducted by the Mineta Institute. Only 11 percent of the public oppose some form of public-private partnership to build and operate transportation facilities, said Asha Weinstein, an assistant professor at San Jose State.