Multi-year transportation bill re-sent to Congress

By |  March 31, 2015

The Obama administration sent an update of the Grow America Act, a six-year, $478 billion highway bill, to Congress.

“All over the country, I hear the same account: the need to repair and expand our surface transportation system has never been greater, and yet federal transportation funding has never been in such short supply,” says Anthony Foxx, transportation secretary, in a statement. “Our proposal provides a level of funding and also funding certainty that our partners need and deserve. This is an opportunity to break away from 10 years of flat funding, not to mention these past six years in which Congress has funded transportation by passing 32 short-term measures.”

According to Foxx, the Grow America Act will put in place a transparent and clear permitting process to speed up project delivery; increase innovative financing by strengthening the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act and Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing loan programs; and empower local government by providing more funding to high-performing Metropolitan Planning Organizations.

“It is clear to me that transportation is still a bipartisan issue, and I am really encouraged to see members of both parties working to get something done,” Foxx says. “During these next two months, though, all of us who work in Washington need to be relentless in trying to get to ‘yes’ on a bill that is truly transformative and that brings the country together. And frankly, governors and state officials as well as mayors and local officials all over the country need to continue being relentless, too, by continuing to raise their voices in support of a transportation bill that meets both their immediate and long-term needs.”

Kevin Yanik

About the Author:

Kevin Yanik is editor-in-chief of Pit & Quarry. He can be reached at 216-706-3724 or kyanik@northcoastmedia.net.

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