FTA’s McMillan: Long-term transportation funding will stop filling potholes

Written by Mischa Wanek-Libman, editor
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Federal Transit Administration

U.S. Department of Transportation's Acting Federal Transit Administrator Therese McMillan, along with transportation infrastructure supporters across the country, highlighted the need for long-term transportation funding to support a robust and sustainable transportation system.

 

McMillan participated in Philadelphia’s “Stand Up for Transportation” rally at Dilworth Park outside City Hall, one of dozens of events held across the country on April 9 detailing the importance of investing in the nation’s transportation infrastructure.

“In the next 30 years, the U.S. will be home to 70 million more people, and public transit will provide a critical link for them to get to work, school, medical care and other vital services,” McMillan said. “With a long-term transportation bill, we will not just be filling potholes. We will foster better transit systems and transportation innovation in ways we may not have thought possible just a few years ago.”

To coincide with the rallies, the American Pubic Transportation Association (APTA) unveiled results of an analysis on the effect congressional action (as well as in action) would have on transit. According to this analysis, APTA said a proposed cut in federal funding for public transit would result, on average, in a 43-percent reduction in a community’s capital improvement funding and put more than $227 billion in economic activity over a six-year period at risk.

The current federal transportation funding bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), was originally signed into law in 2012 and its extension is set to expire on May 31, 2015. The Department of Transportation sent its suggestions for a six-year transportation bill, the GROW AMERICA Act, to Congress at the end of March.

“The lack of a long-term federal funding bill results in tremendous uncertainty for local transportation projects that otherwise would support millions of American jobs repairing and modernizing our nation’s roads, rails and transit systems,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “The GROW AMERICA Act would provide six years of funding certainty, increased investment in infrastructure and policies that streamline our processes to ensure communities enjoy the benefits of transportation improvements.”

This is the second go around for the GROW AMERICA Act, which originally debuted in 2014 and the proposal is one of several moving around Congress as it considers taking aim at a transportation bill this spring.

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