Jobs and Transportation
Obama Sends Jobs Plan to Congress; Wants $60 Billion for Transportation
President Barack Obama sent Monday a $447 billion jobs package to Congress. It includes $60 billion for transportation investments and creation of a national infrastructure bank.
"We've got roads that need work all over the country," Obama said Monday during a 12-minute speech Monday in the White House Rose Garden while surrounded by construction workers and other Americans who stand to benefit if Congress enacts the proposal. "Our highways are backed up with traffic. Our airports are clogged. And there are millions of unemployed construction workers who could rebuild them. So let's pass this bill so road crews and diggers and pavers and workers -- they can all head back to the jobsite. There's plenty of work to do. This job -- this jobs bill will help them do it. Let's put them back to work. Let's pass this bill rebuilding America."
Section 241 of the president's American Jobs Act would make available $27 billion for highway restoration, repair, and construction projects -- as well as passenger and freight rail transportation projects -- distributed via traditional formulas (the federal share of project costs would be 100%); $6 billion for capital projects to modernize existing fixed-guideway transit systems and to replace and rehabilitate buses and bus facilities; $4 billion for projects to improve the nation's existing intercity passenger rail network and develop new high-speed-rail corridors; $3 billion for transit capital projects, particularly for the purchase of new buses and for the repair and rehabilitation of existing rail and bus systems; $2 billion to Amtrak for the repair, rehabilitation, and upgrade of the railroad's assets and infrastructure, including rolling stock; $2 billion for airport development grants; and $1 billion to conduct research and development and demonstrations and to acquire, establish, and improve FAA air navigation facilities, systems, and procedures to advance NextGen.
The president's proposal also includes $5 billion to award grants on a competitive basis for projects across all surface transportation modes that "will have a significant impact on the nation, a metropolitan area, or a region," similar to the existing Transportation Investment Generating Economy Recovery (TIGER) program.
Section 245 would establish the American Infrastructure Financing Authority as a wholly owned government corporation that would provide direct loans and loan guarantees to facilitate investment in economically viable infrastructure projects of regional or national significance. Eligible projects for this national infrastructure bank, which the president wants funded at $10 billion, would include highways, roads, bridges, mass transit, inland waterways, commercial ports, airports, air-traffic-control systems, passenger rail, freight rail, wastewater treatment facilities, stormwater management systems, dams, solid-waste disposal facilities, levees, open-space management systems, pollution-reduced energy generation, transmission and distribution of energy, storage of energy, and energy-efficiency enhancements for buildings.
In addition to his remarks Monday, Obama sent a memorandum urging adoption of the bill. The American Jobs Act transportation provisions are similar to the one Obama made last year to "jump start" a multiyear, $556 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill by frontloading $50 billion in the first year. (see Sept. 10, 2010, AASHTO Journal story) Congress never acted upon that proposal.
North Carolina Transportation Secretary Gene Conti said state transportation departments are excited about the opportunities to do even more projects as a result of the president's proposal, including the additional investment proposed for intercity trains.
"We states have a track record of creating jobs and improving communities through the ongoing investment in passenger rail," Conti told the AASHTO Journal. "We've already shown what can be done in North Carolina with our investments throughout the state. These are very localized job impacts that support real families."
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials last week endorsed Obama's call for additional transportation investment, noting that it would help the nation's economic recovery and create jobs.
AASHTO Executive Director John Horsley said that states, counties, and cities demonstrated the last time Congress targeted extra funds to transportation -- $48 billion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 -- that transportation infrastructure can quickly create jobs in every corner of the country.
"We hope that the president, Senate, and House can reach bipartisan agreement on how to create jobs through an increase in transportation investment," Horsley said. "We applaud the president for his proposal to boost transportation investment."
LaHood Appears with Bellamy at Bridge Site to Call for Jobs Bill's Passage
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood last Friday joined with District of Columbia officials and construction industry leaders at the site of the 11th Street Bridge Project. LaHood called on Congress to pass the American Jobs Act, which Obama unveiled to Congress on Sept. 8 during an address to a joint session. (see Sept. 9 AASHTO Journal story) D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, D.C. Department of Transportation Director Terry Bellamy, and Associated General Contractors CEO Steven Sandherr appeared with LaHood at last Friday's event.
"We've got unemployed construction workers standing by, ready to roll up their sleeves right now," LaHood said, according to remarks released by the U.S. Department of Transportation. "This is the moment for Congress to set aside the politics and partisanship, to pass the American Jobs Act, and to put America back to work."
Washington's 11th Street Bridge Project is expected to reduce congestion by replacing two existing bridges with three new bridges and improving interchanges for local and freeway traffic. By 2030, these bridges will serve a forecast 180,000 vehicles every day. Scheduled for completion in 2013, the $300 million project is being completed with $189 million in federal aid.
LaHood posted a blog entry this week citing an example of why investing in America's roads and bridges is so important. Last Friday, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels was forced to shut down a major Ohio River crossing on Interstate 64 just because of a large crack that threatens the critical load-carrying element of the bridge. (see related story)
"Closing the Sherman Minton Bridge will put a big crimp into interstate commerce and getting people to their jobs and home again," LaHood wrote. "The bridge carries 75,000 cars, trucks, and buses each day, and these vehicles now must be rerouted onto alternate routes, which are already congested and not designed to handle this extra capacity. This will slow things down considerably for tens of thousands of commuters and for tens of thousands of truck drivers trying to deliver the goods that keep our economy going."
Modernizing the half-century old Sherman Minton Bridge is long overdue, LaHood contends.
"President Obama has a plan -- the American Jobs Act -- to help Indiana, Kentucky, and other states' critical roads, bridges, and transit systems across the country," he wrote. "As we see in Indiana today, our infrastructure is falling apart in too many places. Over the past 60 years, we built a tremendous interstate highway system, the envy of the world. But along the way, we have failed to devote appropriate resources to maintaining these roads and bridges."
A 41-page analysis of the American Jobs Act is available from the White House at 1.usa.gov/AJA41. The full 155-page text of the president's bill is available at 1.usa.gov/AJA155.
Questions regarding this article may be directed to editor@aashtojournal.org.
President Barack Obama sent Monday a $447 billion jobs package to Congress. It includes $60 billion for transportation investments and creation of a national infrastructure bank.
"We've got roads that need work all over the country," Obama said Monday during a 12-minute speech Monday in the White House Rose Garden while surrounded by construction workers and other Americans who stand to benefit if Congress enacts the proposal. "Our highways are backed up with traffic. Our airports are clogged. And there are millions of unemployed construction workers who could rebuild them. So let's pass this bill so road crews and diggers and pavers and workers -- they can all head back to the jobsite. There's plenty of work to do. This job -- this jobs bill will help them do it. Let's put them back to work. Let's pass this bill rebuilding America."
Section 241 of the president's American Jobs Act would make available $27 billion for highway restoration, repair, and construction projects -- as well as passenger and freight rail transportation projects -- distributed via traditional formulas (the federal share of project costs would be 100%); $6 billion for capital projects to modernize existing fixed-guideway transit systems and to replace and rehabilitate buses and bus facilities; $4 billion for projects to improve the nation's existing intercity passenger rail network and develop new high-speed-rail corridors; $3 billion for transit capital projects, particularly for the purchase of new buses and for the repair and rehabilitation of existing rail and bus systems; $2 billion to Amtrak for the repair, rehabilitation, and upgrade of the railroad's assets and infrastructure, including rolling stock; $2 billion for airport development grants; and $1 billion to conduct research and development and demonstrations and to acquire, establish, and improve FAA air navigation facilities, systems, and procedures to advance NextGen.
The president's proposal also includes $5 billion to award grants on a competitive basis for projects across all surface transportation modes that "will have a significant impact on the nation, a metropolitan area, or a region," similar to the existing Transportation Investment Generating Economy Recovery (TIGER) program.
Section 245 would establish the American Infrastructure Financing Authority as a wholly owned government corporation that would provide direct loans and loan guarantees to facilitate investment in economically viable infrastructure projects of regional or national significance. Eligible projects for this national infrastructure bank, which the president wants funded at $10 billion, would include highways, roads, bridges, mass transit, inland waterways, commercial ports, airports, air-traffic-control systems, passenger rail, freight rail, wastewater treatment facilities, stormwater management systems, dams, solid-waste disposal facilities, levees, open-space management systems, pollution-reduced energy generation, transmission and distribution of energy, storage of energy, and energy-efficiency enhancements for buildings.
In addition to his remarks Monday, Obama sent a memorandum urging adoption of the bill. The American Jobs Act transportation provisions are similar to the one Obama made last year to "jump start" a multiyear, $556 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill by frontloading $50 billion in the first year. (see Sept. 10, 2010, AASHTO Journal story) Congress never acted upon that proposal.
North Carolina Transportation Secretary Gene Conti said state transportation departments are excited about the opportunities to do even more projects as a result of the president's proposal, including the additional investment proposed for intercity trains.
"We states have a track record of creating jobs and improving communities through the ongoing investment in passenger rail," Conti told the AASHTO Journal. "We've already shown what can be done in North Carolina with our investments throughout the state. These are very localized job impacts that support real families."
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials last week endorsed Obama's call for additional transportation investment, noting that it would help the nation's economic recovery and create jobs.
AASHTO Executive Director John Horsley said that states, counties, and cities demonstrated the last time Congress targeted extra funds to transportation -- $48 billion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 -- that transportation infrastructure can quickly create jobs in every corner of the country.
"We hope that the president, Senate, and House can reach bipartisan agreement on how to create jobs through an increase in transportation investment," Horsley said. "We applaud the president for his proposal to boost transportation investment."
LaHood Appears with Bellamy at Bridge Site to Call for Jobs Bill's Passage
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood last Friday joined with District of Columbia officials and construction industry leaders at the site of the 11th Street Bridge Project. LaHood called on Congress to pass the American Jobs Act, which Obama unveiled to Congress on Sept. 8 during an address to a joint session. (see Sept. 9 AASHTO Journal story) D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, D.C. Department of Transportation Director Terry Bellamy, and Associated General Contractors CEO Steven Sandherr appeared with LaHood at last Friday's event.
"We've got unemployed construction workers standing by, ready to roll up their sleeves right now," LaHood said, according to remarks released by the U.S. Department of Transportation. "This is the moment for Congress to set aside the politics and partisanship, to pass the American Jobs Act, and to put America back to work."
Washington's 11th Street Bridge Project is expected to reduce congestion by replacing two existing bridges with three new bridges and improving interchanges for local and freeway traffic. By 2030, these bridges will serve a forecast 180,000 vehicles every day. Scheduled for completion in 2013, the $300 million project is being completed with $189 million in federal aid.
LaHood posted a blog entry this week citing an example of why investing in America's roads and bridges is so important. Last Friday, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels was forced to shut down a major Ohio River crossing on Interstate 64 just because of a large crack that threatens the critical load-carrying element of the bridge. (see related story)
"Closing the Sherman Minton Bridge will put a big crimp into interstate commerce and getting people to their jobs and home again," LaHood wrote. "The bridge carries 75,000 cars, trucks, and buses each day, and these vehicles now must be rerouted onto alternate routes, which are already congested and not designed to handle this extra capacity. This will slow things down considerably for tens of thousands of commuters and for tens of thousands of truck drivers trying to deliver the goods that keep our economy going."
Modernizing the half-century old Sherman Minton Bridge is long overdue, LaHood contends.
"President Obama has a plan -- the American Jobs Act -- to help Indiana, Kentucky, and other states' critical roads, bridges, and transit systems across the country," he wrote. "As we see in Indiana today, our infrastructure is falling apart in too many places. Over the past 60 years, we built a tremendous interstate highway system, the envy of the world. But along the way, we have failed to devote appropriate resources to maintaining these roads and bridges."
A 41-page analysis of the American Jobs Act is available from the White House at 1.usa.gov/AJA41. The full 155-page text of the president's bill is available at 1.usa.gov/AJA155.
Questions regarding this article may be directed to editor@aashtojournal.org.
Comments