President Obama pushes for transportation projects

Written by jrood

President Obama urged Congress to pass the transportation piece of the American Jobs Act, which will make an immediate investment of $50 billion in the nation's transportation infrastructure and a $10 billion investment to create a bipartisan National Infrastructure Bank. Together, these initiatives will put hundreds of thousands of construction workers back on the job rebuilding roads, rails and runways. The White House released a report to highlight the importance of rebuilding roads, bridges, railways and airports across the nation. The report states, "In order to meet the needs of a growing economy, there is an ongoing need for new investments to maintain, upgrade and expand the nation's stock of transportation infrastructure." The Administration also announced several common-sense steps it has taken to improve the process of reviewing and approving transportation projects, help cut red tape and leverage additional private sector funding in order to promote private sector growth and job creation. These steps include: • Directing the U.S. Department of Transportation to award $527 million in competitive TIGER grants by the end of 2011, months ahead of schedule. The TIGER program puts American workers back on the job by helping to rebuild the nation's roads and bridges and working on innovative projects like streetcar and light rail systems. This year, DOT received about 1,000 applications, including at least one from every state. • Directing DOT to shorten the application process for the 2012 round of TIFIA funding, which will accelerate projects and put workers back on the job more quickly. TIFIA provides up to one-third of the financing needed for bridge, tunnel, toll, transit and other large-scale transportation projects. That means the annual funding level of $110 million in TIFIA funds can support projects totaling up to $3 billion in construction. • Establishing a Transportation Rapid Response Team to expedite reviews of surface transportation projects. Co-chaired by the Council on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Department of Transportation, the team will identify and implement best practices to improve the transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of environmental review and permit decisions for transportation projects, protecting public health and putting Americans back to work.

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