Our transportation network is the backbone of the economy. To keep that network strong, we must modernize and maintain our roads, bridges, and other transportation networks. However, we’re 
still driving over potholes, seeing the aftermath of a water main break, and sitting stuck in traffic for hours—42 hours a year in fact. We can no longer afford to wait to fix our transportation networks. American families are losing $3,400 a year in disposable income due to outdated, unreliable infrastructure systems. Failing to act also puts at risk $4 trillion in U.S. GDP, 2.5 million jobs, and $7 trillion in business sales, as ASCE Senior Managing Director Casey Dinges stated in a recent interview on Fox Business. It is time for our leaders to renew their commitment to our transportation infrastructure and turn discussions into action.
That’s why the Transportation Construction Coalition (of which ASCE is a part) and the U.S. Chamber of Congress-led Americans for Transportation Mobility have launched an advertising campaign, targeting Congressional members and President Trump, and expresses the urgent need to fix the Highway Trust Fund and secure a new transportation infrastructure package that modernizes and invests in our nation’s infrastructure.
Here’s how it works: social media and grassroots organizing. By using “Conversation Cards” targeted at the followers of key House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committee members – those responsible for developing the funding mechanisms for surface transportation or an infrastructure package – followers can send a message like this:
Our national transportation infrastructure is severely underfunded, which is crippling our economy and endangering lives. The time for Congress to fix this is now—ask @_____ to start work today to get our nation moving in the right direction again.”
Additionally, digital and Twitter ads will also be running, and these ads are aimed at members of Congress as well as their staff and other policymakers. The ads highlight the impacts of traffic congestion on families and the U.S. economy and investing in aging infrastructure. These ads then drive target audiences to a recent opinion editorial in Politico that states two key priorities:
Job 1: Provide a permanent, dedicated, growing, user-fee based HTF (Highway Trust Fund) revenue stream to support the increased transportation investments advocated by President Trump and members of Congress from both parties.
Job 2: Ensure expanded HTF resources in a transportation infrastructure package are dedicated to projects that will facilitate long-term regional and national growth while creating new jobs.
The TCC and ATM ads will run throughout the remainder of June and during July.
