July 11, 2017
Last week, the U.S. Water Alliance, of which ASCE is a member, held their annual One Water Summit in New Orleans, Louisiana. The summit’s themes included collaborating across and beyond water by leveraging effective partnerships across the water industry; financing and delivering water projects that maximize economic, environmental, and community benefits; communicating the value of......
Infrastructure in the News: Let’s Hear it for Investment
June 30, 2017
Our country’s underinvested infrastructure is not a secret—but some weeks it’s more obvious than others. This is one of those weeks. Transit failures of our nation’s largest subway systems and continued dissatisfaction with surface transportation infrastructure makes Americans more willing to invest. Tuesday’s derailment of the NYC subway was a brutal wakeup call for how......
FAA Reauthorization Bills Released
June 23, 2017
With just over three months to go before the Federal Aviation Administration’s authorization expires, and a “D” grade for aviation in the 2017 Infrastructure Report Card, the House and Senate committees released their bills yesterday to reauthorize the agency. The House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee’s bill, H.R. 2997, will be the more controversial of the......
States Wrap Up 2017 Legislative Session
June 15, 2017
Many state legislatures have already adjourned their session until 2018 while others are nearing the halfway point. Now is a good time to review what progress has been made on infrastructure issues. Despite mixed outcomes, transportation was once again at the top of the “to do lists” of many legislative chambers in 2017. Five states......
Majority of House Signs Letter Asking to Fix the Highway Trust Fund
June 13, 2017
Yesterday 253 congressmen sent a letter to the leadership of the House Ways & Means Committee asking that a long-term fix for Highway Trust Fund be included in their tax reform efforts. “As the Committee on Ways and Means continues to work toward a much-needed update of the U.S. tax code, you have an opportunity......
President Trump Announces “Massive Permit Reform” Push
June 09, 2017
Capping off his Administration’s ‘Infrastructure Week,’ President Trump held an event this morning on permitting reform at the U.S. Department of Transportation. President Trump, joined by Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao and Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke, met with heads of state departments of transportation and then addressed a group of transportation officials and stakeholders.......
President Trump Highlights Need for Investments in Inland Waterways Infrastructure
June 08, 2017
Last month President Trump released a $1 trillion infrastructure plan that calls for leveraging $200 billion in direct federal spending over the next decade with state and private sector funding. As a follow up, the White House spent this week rolling out details of the plan in what they referred to as “infrastructure week.” On......
June 06, 2017
On June 5, 2017, the World Wildlife Fund, the Coca-Cola Company, and the World Water Council co-hosted “Sharing Water,” an all-day conference in Washington, D.C. focused on sharing water across people, governments, businesses, and nature. This event, which featured D.C. Water’s CEO George Hawkins, Mayor Dr. Karen Weaver of Flint, Michigan, and speakers from the......
Sens. Hoeven and Wyden Reintroduce Move America Act
June 05, 2017
Sens. John Hoeven (R-ND) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) recently re-introduced their Move America Act to expand the availability of tax-exempt bonds and create a new tax credit, bringing more private capital into infrastructure and giving states more flexibility to pursue infrastructure projects. The legislation creates Move America Bonds, expanding private activity bonds, which encourage private......
Legislation to Create National Infrastructure Bank Reintroduced
June 02, 2017
Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Roy Blunt (R-MO), along with seven other bipartisan cosponsors, recently introduced S. 1168 – BRIDGE Act to establish a national infrastructure bank to give state and local governments another tool in the toolbox for financing infrastructure projects. The bank would help state and local governments better leverage private funds to......