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Last week, a draft surface transportation reauthorization bill started making the rounds on Capitol Hill.  The draft, which was not very informative, was then followed by a more complete (yet undated) 500-page draft called the Transportation Opportunities Act.  

��ѻ��ý will present testimony at a hearing next week before a Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee, which is looking into initiatives to reduce diesel emissions in clean air non-attainment areas.

With Congress returning from a two-week recess, the month of May has the potential to see action on a long-awaited surface transportation bill.  The chairmen of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works have both indicated they would like to have a bill completed by Memorial Day. 

With Congress on a two-week break, ��ѻ��ý and other transportation stakeholders took the opportunity to brief congressional staff on the importance of passing a surface transportation reauthorization bill.  The briefing, which was sponsored by the ��ѻ��ý-led Transportation Construction Coalition and the Americans for Transportation Mobility, provided nearly 60 staff members the basics of why a multi-year bill is critical to the health of our construction industry and our economy as a whole.

Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) is one of the key emphasis areas of Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez’s “Every Day Counts” initiative. ��ѻ��ý has a representative serving on an advisory panel established by FHWA to move this part of the initiative forward. An outgrowth of this effort is the creation of the Center for Accelerated Bridge Construction at Florida International University (FIU). The objective of the Center is to become a resource for bridge owners and bridge professionals in the use of ABC.

The budget compromise agreed to by President Obama and Congressional leadership to fund the federal government through the remainder of fiscal year 2011 is expected to be approved by the House and Senate this week. Included in the agreement are reductions in funding for several transportation programs.

Join your industry allies in Washington, D.C. on May 24-25 for the Transportation Construction Coalition’s 2011 Legislative Fly-in as we make the case that “Transportation Moves the Economy.” Your Congressional delegation needs to hear from you about the importance of transportation infrastructure investment to the nation’s economy – creating jobs while building the future.

In collaboration with the Transportation Construction Coalition and Americans for Transportation Mobility, ��ѻ��ý and the Ohio Contractors Association launched an ad campaign in Ohio Thursday to push for new federal transportation investments and legislation.

As Congress and the White House continue to debate a continuing resolution to fund the federal government for the remainder of fiscal year 2011, questions have been raised about the impact on the federal-aid highway program. If no decision is reached by Friday, April 8, most of the federal government will be shut down with employees prohibited from reporting to their work stations.

While Congress continues to debate the federal budget for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2011, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) yesterday released his blueprint for a budget resolution for fiscal year 2012 and beyond. Entitled, “Path to Prosperity, Restoring America’s Promise,” the proposal addresses every aspect of the federal budget from domestic spending to entitlement programs to taxes. For transportation, the blueprint calls for significant reductions in spending with total budget authority decreasing by 31 percent from current levels.