American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) President and CEO Pete Ruane released the following statement regarding the State of the Union address:
“Transportation investment has been emerging in recent days as one of the areas where Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill can find common ground.
“It is commendable that President Obama once again used his State of the Union address to talk about the need to repair the nation’s transportation infrastructure. Now we would like to see specific plans about how Congress and the President plan to tackle the underlying problem - the need for new, long-term revenues.
“Time is of the essence. The federal Highway Trust Fund - the source of 52 percent of all state highway and bridge capital investments - will be unable to support any new improvements in fiscal year 2015, unless the President and Congress act this fall. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx put it best January 15 when he said ‘the Highway Trust Fund will start bouncing checks as soon as August.’"
“Future U.S. economic competitiveness, mobility and hundreds of thousands of American jobs are at stake. Our message to Congress and the Administration is simple: fix the Highway Trust Fund as soon as possible.”
