WASHINGTON — The absence of funding certainty at the federal level has hindered small business operators’ ability to plan long-term for construction projects that utilize trucks and equipment supplies, a group of stakeholders told a House panel June 3.
“One thing that’s become very clear in this discussion today and the discussion that’s led up to today is that every level of government has to play a role in this," Matt Davis, director of Build Our New Bridge Now Coalition, a group looking to replace the Brent Spence Bridge, told members of the Small Business Committee. "Federal government must play a leading role in the development of public good. The state governments ... they receive their gas tax dollars back, they need to find a way to program those through a set of priorities.”
Davis added, “I think a discussion needs to happen between federal governments and state governments to say, ‘We’re all in this together.’ Infrastructure is not just important for everybody going to a ribbon-cutting, but it has a tremendous effect on our quality of life, has a tremendous effect on economic development.”
Davis said long-term federal funding assistance backed by user fees or other financing tools would help authorities revamp the Brent Spence Bridge, which connects northern Kentucky and Cincinnati across the Ohio River.
The bridge is more than half a century old, and nearly 180,000 vehicles cross it daily — double its intended capacity. Building a new bridge would cost about $2.7 billion. Federal officials have told Davis and other stakeholders funds are not available to build the new structure.
In the Senate, transportation policy leaders plan to take up a six-year highway bill June 24. Their House counterparts haven't said when they would mark up their version. Transportation funding authority expires at the end of July, and several observers say they expect Congress to be unable to adopt a long-term funding plan and will have to opt to extend highway funding authority through the end of the year.
