Foxx: States to Delay Highway Projects Without Congressional Action on Transportation
WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said Tennessee and other states are delaying major construction projects relevant to the trucking sector because they are unsure long-term federal backing will be there to help finance their plans.
“This is a crisis that’s worse than people realize,” Foxx told the Environment and Public Works Committee on Jan. 28. “I predict that over the course of the next few months we’re going to see more state departments of Transportation start to slow or stop projects because they don’t know what’s on the other side of May 31.”
The secretary called on senators not to opt for a short-term funding fix for the federal Highway Trust Fund account. He also implored them to approve a multiyear measure that aims to modernize the country's aging infrastructure network.
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Congressional leaders have yet to propose a multiyear funding plan for the trust fund. Last July, Congress approved, and the president signed into law, nearly $11 billion to shore up the fund, which is projected to run out of money when a 2012 transportation law expires at the end of May. The trust fund is used to help states finance major road projects.
Foxx added that an update to the administration's 4-year, $302 billion transportation legislative proposal would be unveiled this year.
EPW Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and ranking Democrat Barbara Boxer of California said they are committed to advancing a long-term bill this year. “We have to get the end product done in time,” the chairman told Transport Topics. “We’re working very closely, probably closer than we normally would, with the other body. I feel optimistic about it.”
Boxer, who led the passage of a highway reauthorization bill last year when she was EPW chairwoman, called on colleagues to “have the courage to fund a multiyear bill.”
