U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA), the Chairman of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, members of Congress from Georgia, GDOT, and local employers gathered Tuesday to discuss the need for legislation that improves the nation's aging transportation systems.
The forum was a repeat performance in many ways for Shuster, who visited the campus in September 2013 for a discussion about the nation’s severely backlogged transportation and infrastructure needs. No bill to meet those long-term needs has emerged since then.
“The condition of our system has been deteriorating greatly over the last couple decades,” Meg Pirkle, the chief engineer for the Georgia Department of Transportation, told the panel. “The money we received this year from our state Legislature is pretty much a Band-Aid on an open wound. We have to have consistent, reliable transportation funding.”
as the national freight network and Atlanta’s role in that network; the federal role in ensuring a cohesive, efficient, national transportation network; and how the federal government can improve and streamline infrastructure programs to help ensure the transportation network meets the needs of our economy. The Transportation Committee continues to develop legislation to fund highway, bridge, and transit improvements; a bill to modernize the U.S. aviation system; and other infrastructure initiatives for Congressional action later this year.
Congress is trying to find a way to keep money flowing into the highway trust fund, the primary source of federal aid for major transportation projects. The fund is supported by a national fuel tax of 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel fuel.
But its revenues are dwindling because Americans are driving more fuel efficient vehicles. So the federal government is on track to spend more money than it’s taking in.
Credit: Andria Brooks
Credit: Andria Brooks
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