January 05, 2016
As civil engineers, ASCE works with federal lawmakers to pass legislation that will improve the nation’s “D+” infrastructure. In 2015, the federal government passed several notable pieces of legislation that will increase investment into our nation’s infrastructure and also prepare the next generation of civil engineers through STEM education. Here’s a review of the accomplishments.......
FAST Act Summary Part Four: Rail
December 16, 2015
This is the fourth and final in a series of summaries posted over the past two weeks on the contents of the newly-passed five-year federal surface transportation authorization law, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The first part explored the law’s funding and the future fiscal health of the Highway Trust Fund. The second part......
Infrastructure in the News: Infrastructure on the FAST track to improvement
December 04, 2015
The bipartisan Congressional approval of the FAST Act (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation) and the release of Hilary Clinton’s infrastructure proposal make this week a busy one indeed. After numerous short-term transportation bill patches and long hours of negotiating, Congress has finally approved a five-year, $305 billion highway, transit and railway authorization bill that President Obama......
Conference Committee Meets on Highway & Transit Bill
November 19, 2015
Yesterday, the joint House & Senate conference committee on the surface transportation authorization legislation met in what will likely be its only public meeting before the looming December 4 deadline to finalize work on a bill. The conference committee chairman, Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA) kicked-off the meeting by stating, “There is plenty of common ground......
House Passes Six-Year Highway & Transit Bill
November 06, 2015
Yesterday, newly-minted House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) shepherded through his first piece of major legislation with bipartisan passage of a six-year, $325 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill. The Surface Transportation Reauthorization & Reform (STRR) Act of 2015......
It’s Off to the Races on a House Highway & Transit Bill
October 14, 2015
Today, the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Bill Shuster (R-PA) announced that his committee would be holding a mark-up of a surface transportation authorization bill on October 22. The bill, text of which has not yet been finalized is titled, the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act......
Congress’ Infrastructure To Do List for Fall
September 03, 2015
Summer comes to an end next week as Congress returns to the Capitol after a five-week recess. Deadlines will be the theme this fall, with the first being the Oct. 1 funding deadline to keep the government open. The second important deadline for ASCE is Oct. 29, when MAP-21, the surface transportation bill, expires. With......
Despite Senate Transportation Action, House Stymies Progress
July 30, 2015
During the last two months, the Senate made good use of its time to craft a multi-year surface transportation bill with an increase in funding. As is often the way for Congress, it still came down to the wire. For over a week, the U.S. Senate has been in a mad dash to complete its......
New Game Changers Report Identifies Top Trends Shaping Infrastructure
July 23, 2015
The challenges our infrastructure faces are chronicled frequently on this blog and in the media. The Highway Trust Fund heading toward insolvency (again). Water main breaks occurring every two minutes. Congested roadways causing us each to lose time and waste gas. But that’s only half the story. Today, we released our new Infrastructure #GameChangers report,......
Five (More) Myths About the Highway Trust Fund
July 15, 2015
1. Devolving the federal program to the states is a viable option Devolution is the idea of eliminating the federal government’s ability to collect the current 18.4 cents per gallon in federal gasoline taxes (absent a few cents to remain dedicated toward maintaining the Interstate Highway System) and transferring all authority over these programs to......
America Scores a D+
@YourCongressPerson
The 2017 Infrastructure Report Card gives our nation a D+ across 16 infrastructure categories #InfrastructureMatters
Fix the Trust Fund
@YourCongressPerson
#FixTheTrustFund to put us on a road to better transportation! #InfrastructureMatters