Obama announces plan to bolster infrastructure
September 7, 2010President Barack Obama announced a comprehensive infrastructure plan to expand and renew the nation’s roads, railways and runways. The plan, in the next six years, aims to rebuild 150,000 miles of roads, construct and maintain 4,000 miles of rail and rehabilitate or reconstruct 150 miles of runway – while putting in place a NextGen system that will reduce travel time and delays. Obama will work with Congress to enact a new up-front investment of $50 billion in the nation’s infrastructure that would help jump-start additional job creation while also laying the foundation for future growth, the White House said. This initial investment would fund improvements in the nation’s surface transportation as well as airports and the air traffic control system.
The plan also calls for the creation of a permanent infrastructure bank to fund national and regional projects. The money to fund the plan would come from increased taxes on oil and gas companies.
According to NSSGA, it is uncertain whether this is a preview of the administration's long-awaited six-year reauthorization of the highway program that expired last year or a separate one-shot measure intended to boost highway funding levels.
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