AASHTO Journal, 21 June 2013
Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), ranking member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, joined Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WS) to introduce a bill this week that would provide $5.5 billion for state transportation departments to address the 150,000 or so structurally deficient bridges across the nation.
“Congress simply cannot keep hitting the snooze button when it comes to needed investment in our nation’s bridges or think that these aging structures can be rehabilitated with rhetoric,” Rahall said in a statement. “Providing the means for safe and reliable transportation is one of the core functions of our government and this legislation helps fulfill that responsibility.”
H.R. 2428, or the SAFE Bridges Act, would authorize $2.75 billion in both FY 2013 and FY 2014 for states to either replace or rehabilitate their structurally deficient, functionally obsolete, and/or fracture-critical bridges. Funding would be first given to the U.S. Department of Transportation, which would then distribute that money among states through a “needs-based” formula, determined by each state’s share of deficient bridges. The funding would not be allowed to be diverted elsewhere and could only be used for bridge repair.
“AASHTO supports Congressmen Rahall, DeFazio, and Larsen’s commitment to meeting our nation’s critical infrastructure needs,” said American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Executive Director Bud Wright. “We look forward to continuing to work with them and other congressional leaders as we seek to find a sustainable, long-term source of funding for important transportation infrastructure investment.”
The draft of H.R. 2428 is available here. A summary of the bill can be found here, while a state-by-state breakdown of the estimated funding from the SAFE Bridges Act is available here.
