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Tell Congress to Go Big on Transportation
November 17th, 2015 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
The House and Senate are currently meeting to decide a big question when it comes to the future of the nation’s surface transportation program: Should funding levels be increased in order to improve and modernize the nation’s roads, bridges and transit system, or should funding levels stay flat for the next six years while the conditions of our aging infrastructure only further deteriorate? ASCE’s answer is pretty clear in a letter we sent to Capitol Hill today: Congress has the means and capability to increase funding levels and they should not squander this opportunity.
While we disagree with his hesitancy to hold a vote in the House on increasing the federal motor fuels tax – the correct way to fund the current highway and transit bill – credit goes to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) for working to include a provision in the House bill that provides an additional $40 billion to the program. ASCE, along with other groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, believes that the additional money should go towards crafting a five-year program that includes significant funding increases, rather than a six-year bill that only maintains the status quo.
Status quo funding:
• Is what results in our nation’s roads and transit systems receiving a “D” grade and our bridges receiving a “C+”;
• Costs the average American family $1,060 per year each year until at least 2020 due to inadequate roads, bridges and transit systems; and
• Will cost the American economy more than 876,000 jobs, and suppress the growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $897 billion in 2020.
Funding increases would allow the House and Senate to produce a bill that would:
• Maintain a strong TIFIA program that can help leverage billions of dollars in private sector capital for investment in our nation’s infrastructure;
• Create a dedicated freight program to help ensure federal investments are targeted at improving U.S. economic competitiveness;
• Improve innovation, which is vital to extending the life cycle of infrastructure assets and making our transportation infrastructure more efficient; and
• Deliver some of the major infrastructure projects that have currently been sitting on the sidelines due to a lack of funding.
The time is now to send a message to Congress regarding the need for increased investment. Call your House member and Senators, and use the hashtag #FixTheTrustFund on social media to urge them to increase funding for transportation in the coming days.
Five Year Highway & Transit Bill with Funding Increases Better Option
November 16th, 2015 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Last week, transportation stakeholders sent a letter to the House and Senate surface transportation conference committee in support of a robust five year highway and transit bill that would increase investment levels. The House-passed bill includes a $40 billion offset which could help increase investment levels if the duration of the bill were reduced from six years to five. A budget analysis conducted by the Eno Center for Transportation estimates that if the money is evenly distributed between highway and transit programs, that a five year bill with a seven percent funding increase in fiscal year 2016 and a three percent annual funding increase thereafter would be the result. On Monday, ASCE along with a larger coalition sent a letter to conferees in support of increase funding for the federal TIFIA program. The TIFIA program provides federal credit assistance in the form of direct loans, loan guarantees, and standby lines of credit to finance surface transportation projects of national and regional significance. The Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Innovative Program Delivery notes that for every dollar in federal investment through TIFIA, the program can deliver ten dollars in credit assistance which can be leveraged into thirty dollars in overall transportation infrastructure investment. The House and Senate have named most of their conferees, with the remaining House members likely to be named by the time the first public conference committee meeting takes place this week. Monday, the House unveiled a two week extension of the current law until December 4 to allow the conference committee time to complete their work. Until the conference committee produces a final bill, ASCE remains engaged in a targeted advocacy push to educate member of the committee on ASCE’s key positions. Please continue to check this blog regularly for issue updates over the coming days.House Passes Six-Year Highway & Transit Bill
November 6th, 2015 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Yesterday, newly-minted House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) shepherded through his first piece of major legislation with bipartisan passage of a six-year, $325 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill. The Surface Transportation Reauthorization & Reform (STRR) Act of 2015 cleared the House by a vote of 363-64. A last-minute amendment was added to STRR that secured an additional $40 billion in revenue from an unused Federal Reserve account. This means that while the House bill is now funded for a full six-years, it still does not increase highway and transit funding levels over the current amount.
Following the bill’s passage, ASCE President Mark W. Woodson, P.E., F.ASCE, released a statement saying, “While the House-passed bill provides six years of stability for the nation’s road, bridge, and transit programs, it fails to increase funding to levels that are adequate to properly maintain our infrastructure.” Mark went on to state that, “ASCE is disappointed that House leadership prevented a vote on raising the federal gas tax – a policy solution that would have provided long-term funding and certainty that states desperately need to move forward with their transportation projects.” ASCE endorsed multiple amendments that were offered to raise the gas tax, including one by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), however none of those amendments were allowed to receive a full vote on the House floor.
An amendment that was defeated, which ASCE weighed-in against, was a sense of Congress resolution introduced by Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) in support of the concept of devolving the federal transportation program to the states.
Some highlights of the House bill include:
• Multi-year program certainty that will help states and localities better plan and deliver projects;
• Accelerated project delivery reforms aimed to improve collaboration between agencies and create deadlines for agency action(s);
• Providing grants to states for continued and expanded pilot testing of future road user fee collection systems;
• A new competitive grant to address bus and bus facility needs;
• Increased focus on funding for roadway safety infrastructure and on the safety needs of rural roads; and
• An option for localities to bundle small projects such as bridges to increase efficiency.
The House vote follows previous Senate action in July on its surface transportation bill, which provided only three years of funding although at much higher levels. Now the House and Senate will work to negotiate a compromise before the looming November 20 deadline. ASCE will be reviewing the House and Senate bills to determine which provisions we favor to be included in any final agreement. On funding, ASCE urges a final bill be multi-year with sizable funding increases for highway and transit programs. Be sure to check this blog regularly in the coming days and weeks to get more updates on how you can help our advocacy effort to #FixTheTrustFund.
House Readies for Action on Surface Transportation Bill
October 29th, 2015 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Yesterday, Congress enacted a short-term extension of current highway and transit program authority before the looming deadline of October 29. The current authorization and solvency of the federal Highway Trust Fund will now expire on November 20, which gives Congress about three more weeks to conclude a few important remaining steps in the process of completing work on a surface transportation bill:
- Next week the House will take-up and likely pass its own six-year transportation bill which provides flat-line funding for the next three years;
- Immediately thereafter, the House and Senate will convene a conference committee and work quickly to produce a compromise bill;
- The House and Senate will then have to pass an identical bill through each chamber before it can be sent to President Obama for his signature, hopefully before the November 20 deadline.
House Unveils Surface Transportation Bill
October 19th, 2015 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
On Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Transportation & Infrastructure Committee unveiled a six-year surface transportation reauthorization bill. The bipartisan legislation, titled, the Surface Transportation Re-authorization and Reform Act (STRRA) of 2015, contains three years of flat-level funding for highway and transit programs and will be marked-up by the committee this Thursday. In rolling out their bill, legislative sponsors have stated the importance of its provisions to reform existing programs, refocus those programs on national priorities, provide more flexibility and certainty for state and local partners, and emphasis on transportation innovation.
ASCE believes that status quo funding levels for surface transportation, as is provided in STRRA, are inadequate. Currently this underinvestment costs the average American family about $1,000 from their budget each year from now until 2020 due to the current road, bridge and transit conditions. ASCE believes that members of the House should utilize every available opportunity to attempt to increase funding levels for highway and transit programs beyond where they currently exist in STRRA.
Despite the inadequate funding levels, STRRA does contain policy items that ASCE supports, including:
- Multi-year program certainty that will help states and localities better plan and deliver projects;
- Accelerated project delivery reforms aimed to improve collaboration between agencies and create deadlines for agency action(s);
- Providing grants to states for continued and expanded pilot testing of future road user fee collection systems;
- A new competitive grant to address bus and bus facility needs;
- Increased focus on funding for roadway safety infrastructure and on the safety needs of rural roads; and
- An option for localities to bundle small projects such as bridges to increase efficiency.
It’s Off to the Races on a House Highway & Transit Bill
October 14th, 2015 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Today, the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Bill Shuster (R-PA) announced that his committee would be holding a mark-up of a surface transportation authorization bill on October 22. The bill, text of which has not yet been finalized is titled, the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015. In making the announcement, Shuster noted that the bill would, “reform programs, refocus those programs on national priorities, provide more flexibility and certainty for state and local partners, and welcome innovation.” The markup is set to begin at 10:00AM ET next Thursday and will be livestreamed here .
The announcement comes after legislative progress this summer by the U.S. Senate which passed the DRIVE Act that provides three years of increased funding and six years of policy for federal road, bridge and transit programs. This funding increase is supported by a large majority of Americans as demonstrated in a recent public survey by the motor club AAA. The survey found that 70% of respondents believed that the federal government should invest more than it does now for roads, bridges and mass transit systems. The survey also found that only 38% of Americans believe that Congress is taking the necessary steps to ensure that our roads, bridges and transit systems will meet the needs of the nation.
Please let your House members know you support them moving forward quickly on legislation that provides multi-year certainty and increased funding levels for highway and transit programs.
New York Infrastructure Receives C- Report Card
September 29th, 2015 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
In the inaugural 2015 Report Card for New York’s Infrastructure released today, the state received an overall grade of “C-” from the New York Council of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Assessing nine categories, the report finds that the state’s roads and bridges are among the categories most in need of repair, receiving grades of “D-” and “D+” respectively because of their state of deterioration and lack of adequate funding to improve conditions. In addition, wastewater received a low grade of “D.” The category of parks and solid waste both earned the highest grade of “B-.”
New York’s infrastructure faces several challenges and, in its current condition, the infrastructure system is a drag on the state’s economy. These challenges are highlighted in the Report Card:
- The three airports servicing New York City account for a majority of the nation’s airport delays. By the year 2030, JFK is expected to exceed its current traveler capacity by 30%, and ten other commercial service airports in New York will also exceed 60% of the current capacities.
- Of New York’s more than 17,000 bridges, the majority were built in the 20th century, with over 50% of bridges over 75 years old. Nationally, the average age of a bridge is 42 years.
- The average New York City area commuter, which accounts for half the state’s population, wastes 53 hours per year sitting in traffic.
- Poor road conditions and traffic congestion cost motorists a total of $6.3 billion statewide—an average of $477 per Syracuse motorists.
- The State of New York is only spending 20% of what is needed to modernize the wastewater system.
- One in every four of New York’s wastewater facilities are operating beyond their 30-year useful life expectancy.
- Create a prioritization program to assess the state’s transportation infrastructure needs starting from existing bridge asset management programs and based on accepted standards.
- Develop more consistent funding sources of funding for dams and support the creation of dam rehabilitation funding legislation at the federal and state levels for public and private owners of high hazard and intermediate hazard dams.
- As infrastructure is being rebuilt, make it more resilient and sustainable.
View the full report here.
Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers represents more than 145,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America’s oldest national engineering society. ASCE’s 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, graded America’s cumulative GPA for infrastructure at a D+. The Report Card app for Apple and Android devices includes videos, interactive maps and info-graphics that tell the story behind the grades, as well as key facts for all 50 states.Highway Fund in Trouble by November 20th
September 23rd, 2015 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
GRAPH: Cash balance estimates of the Highway Account of the federal Highway Trust Fund; courtesy of the Federal Highway Administration
- October 29, which, following a July extension, is the new date to pass a renewal of the HTF authorization; and
- November 20, which is the projected date when federal funding will slow and be reduced to states.
Secretary Foxx to Congress: Raise Your Sights
September 9th, 2015 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx speaks at the National Press Club; 9/9/15 – Photo by ASCE
#Game Changer Trend – Accelerated Bridge Construction
September 2nd, 2015 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Accelerated bridge construction We all know the feeling of frustration when traffic slows to a crawl as you see the telltale signs of traffic cones and reduced lanes up ahead. Large bridge replacement or rehabilitation projects mean that disruptive construction zones can last months into years. Accelerated bridge construction is a design and construction method that uses prefabricated materials and other strategies to minimize traffic disruptions and reduce onsite construction time. As many components of the bridge as possible are constructed ahead of time so that road closures are required only when moving the elements into place. For projects that do not require custom engineering, movable bridges and accelerated bridge construction can greatly decrease construction disruptions without sacrificing quality. Standardized approaches streamline the activities required to get bridge replacement systems designed and built in less time -sometimes installed in hours or days, rather than weeks or months. Keep the Work Off the Road – Kittery, Maine The Kittery Route 1 Overpass bridge was over 70 years old and located in a tourist destination area. Using accelerated bridge construction saved the Maine DOT in construction costs and shaved significant time off the project. The precast concrete elements were delivered on time, and the town of Kittery was pleased with the results. The closure of Route 1 lasted less than a month, and the closure of Route 236 lasted only 11 hours. Overall, it took less than a year between when the project was advertised and final construction was complete. Slide Into Place – Phoenix, Arizona In the Gila River Indian Community south of Phoenix, they employed a “bridge slide,” the first of its kind in Arizona, to place the pre-manufactured sections of bridge in position. It was done with minimal traffic disruptions and shrunk the construction period from four months to nine days. The previous 140-foot bridge was built in 1961 and the location sits over a riverbed, which had been known for water spilling over the bridge decks during flood events. During construction, the old structure remained open to traffic almost the entire time. At the final stage of the project, the old structure was demolished and two girders and bridge decks were slid together to form the new bridge. Jointless Construction – Defiance, Ohio The Federal Highway Administration worked with officials in Defiance County, Ohio, on a form of accelerated bridge construction that uses geosynthetic-reinforced soil. Rather than drilling a deep foundation, the reinforced soil method builds up the substructure in a faster, simpler way, described as akin to building a layer cake. For this type of bridge, there is a smooth transition from the roadway to the superstructure, resulting in a jointless bridge system. With this approach, the County’s first project, the Bowman Road Bridge, was built in just six weeks saving about 25 percent compared to their conventional bridge construction. They not only succeeded in building a bridge for less money and time, but the County went on to rebuild 25 additional bridges in this same manner. Every day, new Infrastructure #GameChangers are changing how we build and use infrastructure. ASCE collected these game changing trends in energy, freight, transportation and water infrastructure into an interactive, web-based report at ASCEGameChangers.org. Find out more here, share these trends on social media using #GameChangers, or submit your own #GameChangers project!
