May 25 is the day, 11 a.m. is the time. Don’t bring pitchforks and torches, just your conviction that we need to do something more than we have been doing to get Congress off their assumptions and do the right thing for our industry.
The “Rally for Roads” will take place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. (contact information below). The goal is to bring attention to the critical need for Congress to develop and pass a well-funded, multiyear highway reauthorization bill. The Rally for Roads will be held in East Seaton Park at 3rd Street, NW (between Madison Drive, NW and Jefferson Drive, SW.) Organizers are asking company executives to bring not only themselves but also employees (in hard hats and their usual work clothes) and equipment which can serve as an excellent backdrop for the event.
The event coincides with the Transportation Construction Coalition Fly-In on May 24 and 25. The Fly-In brings together industry allies to first discuss the problems within the industry, then march, well, walk, up to Capitol Hill to meet with as many members of the 112th Congress as possible. In those face-to-face meeting industry representatives this year will continue to hammer out the message that we desperately need a new highway bill, and a good one at that, and without it damage is done daily to the industry.
But in the past couple of years the message has fallen on willfully deaf ears. Our representatives in both houses concede the need but don’t feel pushed hard enough to have to act. Hence the Rally. A really strong showing might just provide enough extra force to dislodge some of the roadblocks to a new bill
Organizers say the rally will feature employees from all facets of the road-construction industry. Sponsors of the rally include the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association, the American Concrete Pavement Association, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, the Associated Equipment Distributors, the National Asphalt Pavement Association, the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, the Portland Cement Association, the American Council of Engineering Companies, then Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute and the International Safety Equipment Association.
The rally is being coordinated for by Bonner and Associates. Contact is Lynn Stone at 202-463-8880 or toll-free at 877-898-2612.
