AASHTO Journal, 2 May 2014
This week, President Obama and U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx released the administration’s four-year, $302 billion surface transportation reauthorization measure. The bill comes months after Foxx announced the administration would be drafting a bill and sending it to Congress while speaking at AASHTO’s Washington Briefing in February (see related AASHTO Journal story here).
Dubbed the Grow America Act, the bill would allocate $199 billion for highways and road safety, and increase highway funding by about 22 percent over fiscal year 2014 enacted levels. The plan also calls for more than $72 billion for the Federal Transit Administration (an increase of 69 percent over the FY 2014 level), $5 billion for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants (up 108 percent from the FY 2014 level), $3 billion for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (up 32 percent from the FY 2014 level), about $3.7 billion for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (up 12 percent from FY 2014), and $19 billion for the Federal Railroad Administration (an increase of 243 percent, due to $9.5 billion set aside for a new Rail Service Improvement Program, which received no funding in FY 2014).
According to USDOT, the bill also aims to cut project delivery timelines without compromising the environment, emphasizes safety across all transportation modes, and creates “incentives to better align planning and investment decisions to comprehensively address regional economic needs while strengthening local decision-making.”
“I visited eight states and 13 cities as part of my Invest in America, Commit to the Future bus tour this month and everywhere I went, I heard the same thing—people want more transportation options and better roads and bridges to get them where they need to go,” Foxx said in a statement. “Failing to act before the Highway Trust Fund runs out is unacceptable—and unaffordable. This proposal offers the kind of job creation and certainty that the American people want and deserve. I have been pleased to see that members of both parties are already working together to solve these challenges, and I look forward to continuing our discussion and to supporting and building on the good work that’s already been done.” See additional coverage on Foxx’s bus tour here.
AASHTO Executive Director Bud Wright said that he was happy to see the process moving along.
“We are pleased that the Administration has submitted legislation to Congress that emphasizes the urgent need to invest in America’s infrastructure,” Wright said. “We have stated previously that we support the policy framework established in MAP-21 and that we should implement the provisions of that law before making significant, new programmatic changes. We support finding a long-term, sustainable source of revenue to support surface transportation investment. While we may not agree with all aspects of the Administration’s proposal, we look forward to the continuing dialogue with Congress and the Administration on charting America’s transportation future.”
House and Senate leaders said this week that they will be unveiling their own bills ahead of current surface transportation bill MAP-21’s expiration at the end of September.
The administration’s four-year transportation bill is available here. Various fact sheet summaries on the measure are available here.