Tag: infrastructure spending: Page 2

Business

Vermont Senator introduces $1 trillion infrastructure spending bill

A U.S. senator from Vermont has filed a bill that would designate $1 trillion over the next five years to transportation and infrastructure spending, according to a report from The Hill. Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders calls his bill the “Rebuild America Act,” noting in an op-ed piece also published by The Hill that, “a $1 trillion investment […]

January 28, 2015

Business

Obama urges Congress to focus on improving infrastructure rather than Keystone XL in State of the Union

President Barack Obama in his sixth State of the Union address made little mention of issues related directly to construction and transportation, which has in years past come in the form of the president pushing Congress to do more to fund highways and other transportation infrastructure. Unlike recent years, however, the president only briefly addressed transportation infrastructure […]

January 21, 2015

Business

More reasons not to build toll roads

As a follow up to my earlier post on the Texas SH 130 toll road, I wanted to elaborate on another reason why I think toll roads are a bad idea: elitism. Tolls for me, free for thee Most of the sophisticated toll systems today photograph your license plate or read an RFID transponder in […]

January 19, 2015

Business

AASHTO: Annual road investment of $120 billion needed to keep up with demand

Next year will be a critical year for America’s surface transportation infrastructure, according to a just released report from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. In addition to getting highway legislation beyond the short-term mindset (a current extension ends in May), an annual investment of $120 billion for highways and bridges between 2015 and […]

December 24, 2014

Business

Congress passes $1.1 trillion spending bill; cuts $5 billion from federal construction accounts

Two days after the legislation was passed by a tight vote in the House, the Senate passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill Saturday night that includes both good and bad news for federal construction accounts in 2015. The bill keeps the government funded through September, when the fiscal year ends. The Senate passed the spending […]

December 15, 2014

Business

Alabama has no plans to raise gas tax; state will rely on next year’s bond issue for road projects

Gov. Robert Bentley says he has no plans to ask the Alabama legislature to raise the state’s 16-cent-per-gallon gas tax, responding to emailed questions submitted by The Tuscaloosa News. Instead, Alabama instead will look to a $508.5 million highway bond issue to finance highway projects, bonds that last week received a AAA rating from Standard […]

December 15, 2014

Business

AGC economist forecasts strong construction growth thanks to ‘shale gale’, Panama Canal expansion

The morning after Republicans won back the U.S. Senate, Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, said that conservative majorities in both houses of Congress are unlikely to spend money to improve the the country’s infrastructure, but that private construction will be robust. The keynote speaker Wednesday at the 2014 Association […]

November 6, 2014

Business

Former DOT Sec. LaHood: “We need a big pot of money” to fix America’s roads and bridges

Continuing his “America is one big pothole” theme, former U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood used an appearance at a Caterpillar press event Wednesday night to lambast the present direction of U.S. transportation policy. Calling the 2-year transportation bill passed in 2012 “chintzy,” LaHood called upon Congress to think as roads as economic corridors. […]

October 30, 2014

Business

Road builders, construction groups oppose bill to lower gas tax, surrender federal highway authority to states

Construction groups and transportation interests have written Congress to express opposition to the so-called “devolution” of the federal highway program and the proposed Transportation Empowerment Act. The bill, introduced in the House and Senate last fall, transfers almost all authority over federal highway and transit programs to the states over a five-year period. It would […]

September 18, 2014

Business

Senate passes highway bill with reduced funding; sends vote back to House with pressure for long-term solution

On Tuesday the Senate voted to pass a bill that would stave off the looming insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) after making key changes to the legislation that will send it right back to the House for another vote. The HTF is the primary source of federal funding for road construction and repairs. The […]

July 30, 2014

Business

Dire States hits the road to drum up support for Texas highway construction initiative

Nearly 180 years ago the toughest hombres ever to ride a horse and carry a rifle blazed a trail across Texas, conquering impossible odds to turn that hardscrabble land into one of the country’s most prosperous states. Today, if there are any hombres left, they’re probably stuck in traffic. One person who is helping build […]

July 15, 2014

Business

Obama signs water projects reauthorization bill into law

President Barack Obama signed the $12.3 billion Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA) into law on Tuesday, marking the first water projects reauthorization in seven years. The House and Senate both passed the bill last month. Known as the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA), the bill authorizes funding for water infrastructure projects. It […]

June 11, 2014