Monday, May 11, 2015
Contact: Office of Public Affairs
Tel: 202-366-4570
WASHINGTON – With federal
surface transportation funding set to expire on May 31, thousands of
stakeholders will rally together for Infrastructure Week to urge Congress to
say “no” to more short-term measures and “yes” to a long-term funding solution.
In support of the third annual Infrastructure Week, U.S. Transportation
Secretary Anthony Foxx is participating today in kick-off events in Washington
and will then head out to meet with state and local leaders, business leaders,
and academics in Tennessee, California, and Iowa.
“Our nation’s economy and the way
we live both depend on having strong infrastructure,” Secretary Foxx said. “But
the truth is that our current levels of investment are falling short of what is
needed just to keep our existing system safe and in good condition. To make
matters worse, over the past six years, Congress has passed 32 short-term
measures that have stripped away the ability of state and local governments to
complete big projects.”
Today, Secretary Foxx also sent
letters to State Transportation leaders to notify them that all federal
participation in highway transportation infrastructure construction will stop
after May 31 if the current federal funding authorization is allowed to expire.
Without authority to continue funding agency operations, States will not be
reimbursed for construction costs or receive technical support and will have to
shoulder the burden themselves. Click here
to see a copy of the letters.
Throughout the week, Secretary Foxx
will highlight an alternative to that funding shortage, which is the Obama
Administration’s GROW AMERICA Act, a surface transportation bill that would
provide six years of funding certainty and grow overall investment by 45
percent. The $478 billion proposal would increase funding in our roads,
highways and transit systems, and for the first time would provide dedicated
funding for passenger rail, rail safety, and a national freight program.
Secretary
Foxx’s trip will begin in Tennessee, a state that has a $6 billion backlog in
highway projects, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
He will visit two projects that would improve safety for drivers
and reduce traffic congestion, but both are delayed due to inadequate federal
funding. On Tuesday, May 12, in Knoxville, Secretary Foxx will meet with Mayor
Madeline Rogero and the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization
to discuss the proposed Alcoa Highway project. Later in the morning, the
Secretary will hold a media availability with Knoxville Mayor Rogero, Knox
County Mayor Tim Burchett, and, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson at the Knoxville
Convention Center. He will then travel to Memphis where he will be joined by
Mayor AC Wharton, and the Memphis Urban Planning Organization to discuss the
Lamar Avenue project.
On Wednesday, May 13, Secretary
Foxx will visit Delphi Labs in California’s Silicon Valley to announce new
connected automation safety initiatives. This visit will build on the national
conversation he launched earlier this year with the release of Beyond Traffic,
a report that examines how new technologies and public policy will shape U.S.
transportation systems to enable new safety, mobility, growth, and economic
benefits for our future.
The next day he will travel to Los
Angeles to join Mayor Garcetti at the construction site of the
soon-to-be-finished Division 13 Bus Maintenance and Operations Facility. The
project was funded by the Federal Transit Administration and demonstrates the
potential of increased transit investment to create jobs and greener
infrastructure.
Secretary Foxx’s Infrastructure
Week tour will conclude Friday, May 15, in Des Moines, Iowa, with a visit to
the Southeast Connector Project, which is a crucial element in a series of
infrastructure enhancements that will revitalize industrial areas, create jobs,
and improve road safety.
“When you have had 32-short term
measures in six years, any funding bill put forward that is actually big enough
to meet the country’s challenges will be labeled by some as unrealistic,”
Secretary Foxx said. “But I also think it is unrealistic to think that if we
continue underinvesting in infrastructure that we will be able to meet the
needs of 70 million more people in 30 years. We are in a big ditch, and we have
to take some bold steps forward and solve it with a big solution.”
Infrastructure Week has nearly 80
affiliate organizations in business, labor, and advocacy, including the
National Association of Manufacturers, American Society of Civil Engineers,
AFL-CIO, Brookings Institution, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Building
America’s Future. More than 40 events will be held to highlight the need and
benefits of modernizing America’s infrastructure.