FAST Act Summary Part Two: Highways
December 09, 2015
This is the second in a series of summaries over the next few weeks on the contents of the newly-passed five-year federal surface transportation authorization law, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The first part explored the law’s funding and the future fiscal health of the Highway Trust Fund. The next sections will focus on......
FAST Act Summary Part One: The Funding
December 06, 2015
This is the first in a series of summaries over the next few weeks on the contents of the newly-passed five-year federal surface transportation authorization law, Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The next sections will focus on policy changes to highways, transit, and federal passenger rail programs. The backbone of federal transportation funding is......
Infrastructure in the News: Infrastructure on the FAST track to improvement
December 04, 2015
The bipartisan Congressional approval of the FAST Act (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation) and the release of Hilary Clinton’s infrastructure proposal make this week a busy one indeed. After numerous short-term transportation bill patches and long hours of negotiating, Congress has finally approved a five-year, $305 billion highway, transit and railway authorization bill that President Obama......
Obama Set to Sign 5 Year, $305 Billion Transportation Bill
December 04, 2015
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate both approved a five-year, $305 billion highway, transit and railway authorization bill. The overwhelming, bipartisan vote was 359-65 in the House and 83-16 in the Senate. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law later on today. Thank you, infrastructure supporters, for contacting your......
Conference Committee Meets on Highway & Transit Bill
November 19, 2015
Yesterday, the joint House & Senate conference committee on the surface transportation authorization legislation met in what will likely be its only public meeting before the looming December 4 deadline to finalize work on a bill. The conference committee chairman, Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA) kicked-off the meeting by stating, “There is plenty of common ground......
Tell Congress to Go Big on Transportation
November 17, 2015
The House and Senate are currently meeting to decide a big question when it comes to the future of the nation’s surface transportation program: Should funding levels be increased in order to improve and modernize the nation’s roads, bridges and transit system, or should funding levels stay flat for the next six years while the......
Five Year Highway & Transit Bill with Funding Increases Better Option
November 16, 2015
Last week, transportation stakeholders sent a letter to the House and Senate surface transportation conference committee in support of a robust five year highway and transit bill that would increase investment levels. The House-passed bill includes a $40 billion offset which could help increase investment levels if the duration of the bill were reduced from......
Infrastructure in the News: Innovation and Investment
November 13, 2015
With one week left until the House and Senate must negotiate on a compromise between the two pending transportation bills, the DRIVE Act and the Surface Transportation Reauthorization & Reform Act (STRRA), our infrastructure’s future continues to take center stage. ASCE and a group of 39 other transportation groups and unions wrote a letter to......
House Passes Six-Year Highway & Transit Bill
November 06, 2015
Yesterday, newly-minted House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) shepherded through his first piece of major legislation with bipartisan passage of a six-year, $325 billion surface transportation reauthorization bill. The Surface Transportation Reauthorization & Reform (STRR) Act of 2015......
Hidden, But Not Forgotten: The Engineering Role in Legacy Site Remediation
November 05, 2015
Ever since the Gold King mine accident this August in Colorado, public interest has grown – with Congress following suit – in the murky environmental legacy issue of abandoned mines that are pervasive across the American landscape. Often unbeknownst even to nearby neighbors, abandoned mines represent a pastime of American history that drove Western development......