President Obama signed a short-term version of the highway bill as Congress works to get him the full legislation to fund federal transportation programs through September 2014, the Associated Press reported.

Congress finally has managed to come to grips with a bill that extends funding for highway and other transportation programs beyond the next few months.

Congress was set last week to pass new transportation legislation authorizing highway spending through September 2014, after House and Senate negotiators agreed on a bill that included a mandate for electronic onboard recorders for trucks and a study of the 34-hour restart provision in driver hours-of-service regulations.

Days before all federally funded transportation projects could be forced to shut down, House and Senate negotiators were trying late last week to come up with a long-term reauthorization bill or another temporary extension.

WASHINGTON — House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica said he opposes a measure to curb the leasing of highways to private investors that is being discussed by the House-Senate conference committee on transportation reauthorization.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn announced Monday a major reconstruction project to add “much-needed capacity to the Circle Interchange in the heart of Chicago.”

Let’s hope that the current congressional recess gives several members of the House of Representatives an opportunity to rethink their positions on the nation’s infrastructure and leads them to help forge a strategy to fix our ailing roads and bridges.