Get Out The Vote (for Infrastructure Initiatives)
November 05, 2012
Voting is the most important part of the election process. On Election Day, elected officials find out if their constituents believe they’re doing a satisfactory job, or not. This year on Election Day make sure you get out to vote. On November 6, as you cast your vote for public officials at the national and......
October 18, 2012
The Clean Water Act is 40 years old this week, and we are all so much better for it because it. As we near the end of 2012, we can look back and say we’ve made remarkable progress on cleaning up the nation’s waters. Forty years ago, people were afraid to swim or fish in our......
Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority Up For Renewal on November 6th
October 15, 2012
On November 6th, our country will face many difficult decisions about its future. However, one issue in Colorado Springs, CO is not difficult whatsoever: the renewal of the Pikes Peak Rural Transportation Authority (PPRTA). Question 5A asks voters in El Paso County, Colorado to approve the extension of the PPRTA, a one percent tax to......
$4 Billion in State Bond Issues Up in General Election November 6
October 10, 2012
That $4 billion dollar figure is up from the $1.9 billion in infrastructure bonds that were on the ballot just 2 years ago according to the National Conference of State Legislators. From transportation bonds in Alaska to a dam repair initiative in Hawaii to a clean water question in Rhode Island, infrastructure has come back......
New Mexico Releases New State Infrastructure Report Card
October 01, 2012
On September 21, the New Mexico Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers released the 2012 Report Card for New Mexico’s Infrastructure(Report Card). In its newest report, the New Mexico Section graded the state’s infrastructure a C overall, with aviation, rail, road, and solid waste infrastructure worsening since the last report in 2005. The......
Senate Passes Temporary Spending Bill
September 26, 2012
Early last Sunday, the Senate voted to pass a continuing resolution (CR) that funds the government for the first half of Fiscal Year 2013, which begins October 1. The bill expires March 27, 2013 and will provide $1.047 trillion in discretionary spending, which matches the cap set in the Budget Control Act (BCA) signed in......
Check Out Our New “Failure to Act” Economic Report!
September 17, 2012
Last Thursday, ASCE released its latest “Failure to Act” report on the economic impact of underinvestment in America’s infrastructure. In the report, we’ve projected a significant gap between planned investment and spending needs for the nation’s airports, marine ports, and inland waterways. With ports and inland waterways critical to our nation’s global competitiveness, the report......
Congressional Budget Office Shows Concern for HTF
September 04, 2012
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts both accounts of the Highway Trust Fund will go broke sometime in FY 2015 unless Congress acts to shore up the fund that pays for surface transportation projects. According to a CBO chart obtained, the highway account will end FY 2012 with $8.7 billion and the transit account with......
ASCE Makes The Case For Infrastructure at NCSL
August 15, 2012
Legislators from around the country gather every year at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Legislative Summit to talk about policies that work in the real world. State legislators are literally hunting for ideas they can bring home to their communities to help them bolster their local economies and create jobs. Among the key......
Dam Rehab Bill Introduced in House
August 10, 2012
Representatives Russ Carnahan (D-MO) and Steve LaTourette (R-OH) introduced H.R. 6254, the Dam Rehabilitation and Repair Act of 2012, before Congress left for the August work period. The legislation would establish a program within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to fund dam rehabilitation and repairs and would award grants for assistance to publicly-owned deficient......