Posts Tagged "fix-it-first"
UPDATED: Amendment to the House’s INVEST Act *will* close the repair loopholes
UPDATE: This vital amendment to strengthen the repair provisions in the bill was approved. Read more.
The House bill needs some changes to make repair the number one priority
The House’s new INVEST Act made a strong effort to prioritize maintenance, but there are still loopholes that can allow states and metro areas to avoid the legislative intent of a real, concrete focus on repair first. Here’s a run down on our concerns with the repair provision and how it could be strengthened in next week’s markup in the House transportation committee.
Laser focused on repairing our bridges
Despite advances in technology, the standard practice for evaluating a bridge’s maintenance needs is a visual inspection, just as it was a half-century ago. To address our nation’s huge backlog in structurally deficient bridges in a more accurate and fiscally responsible way, the federal government should evaluate and speed the adoption of available technologies.
Explaining our three principles for transportation investment
Today, T4America is releasing a new set of three concrete, measurable principles for transportation investment.
Rep. Bill Shuster’s infrastructure proposal scores 50 percent
On Monday, July 23, the Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Bill Shuster, released his proposal to reform transportation investment. While there are some novel ideas in the proposal, it ultimately scores a 50 percent based on our four guiding principles for infrastructure investment.
The infrastructure plan that cuts infrastructure funding
After the release of the Trump administration’s long awaited infrastructure plan yesterday (along with the administration’s FY19 budget request), Beth Osborne, vice president of technical assistance at T4America, joined CBC News to talk about some of the issues with the plan in particular.
Transportation for America’s guiding principles for an infrastructure plan
As we continue to await either broad principles or specifics of the Trump’s administration much-anticipated infrastructure plan, T4America has released these four simple guiding principles to inform and evaluate any such future plan.
A broke Highway Trust Fund means job losses equal to Denver’s population, President Obama warns
Speaking today at the Key Bridge in Washington, DC, President Obama called on Congress to save the Highway Trust Fund from its pending insolvency, and to adopt a long-term transportation bill on the scale of his proposed four-year, $302 billion program. [Full text here.] In doing so, he retraced the bipartisan history of transportation funding […]
One in 9 bridges still “structurally deficient” as average age nears 50 years
One in nine of the bridges and overpasses American drivers cross each day is rated in poor enough condition that some could become dangerous or be closed without near-term repair, according to our new 2013 report on the nation’s bridges. Lay them all end-to-end and you could drive from Mexico to Canada across the US on one long deficient bridge. Don’t miss our new 2013 report and interactive map.
About those 66,000+ deficient bridges: What did last summer’s transportation law change?
With the second collapse of an Interstate bridge in six years, Americans might expect Congress to leap into action to ensure adequate funding for bridge rehab and replacement. But as we have reminded numerous reporters since an I-5 bridge dropped into Washington’s Skagit River, federal lawmakers instead took a gamble and eliminated the nation’s dedicated bridge repair fund last summer.
It’s past time to elevate the national conversation about infrastructure beyond just the price tag. Learn more about T4America's three simple principles for federal transportation investment.
Read our new principles