AASHTO Journal, 1 March 2013
Rep. Tom Petri (R-WI), chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, spoke to transportation officials and participants of the AASHTO Washington Briefing Wednesday regarding the challenges that lie ahead for transportation policy as well as an announcement regarding MAP-21.
The Highways and Transit Subcommittee will meet March 14 to discuss MAP-21 implementation. Petri announced four U.S. Department of Transportation administrators will discuss their experiences with MAP-21. Focus areas of the hearing will examine the streamlining of project delivery, program consolidation, and performance measurement.
“We want to make sure this process is moving forward constructively.” Petri said.
Petri used local experiences to emphasize the importance of investment in freight rail. When describing out-of-state impacts on Wisconsin’s economy, Petri use the rail hub of Chicago as an example. By investing in the hub infrastructure, goods can be easily moved to his home state of Wisconsin as well as other destinations across the region.
“Current infrastructure is built for a different generation, we need to modernize and upgrade” Petri said.
The investment in a national freight network was a provision in MAP-21. Petri said he was confident Congress and the transportation community could come together and invest in our nation’s infrastructure.
View Petri’s entire address to Washington Briefing attendees at TransportationTV.org.