Washington, DC – Today, Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio (D-OR) highlighted the American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s (ARTBA) newly-released analysis that shows 230,000 U.S. bridges are in need of repair and 46,000 are “structurally deficient” and in poor condition as another example of why we can’t wait to invest in our infrastructure. Chair DeFazio has long urged significant Federal investment in the Nation’s crumbling infrastructure and is pushing for a massive infrastructure package to be included in an upcoming economic stimulus package.
“This analysis is sobering, but unfortunately, not all that surprising given the fact the Federal government has ignored the infrastructure needs of our country for decades,” said Chair DeFazio. “We’re attempting to run a 21st century economy on a 1950s-era transportation system, which simply does not work and it shouldn’t take a bridge or economic collapse to get the Federal government to pay attention. My Moving Forward Framework released earlier this year is a launchpad for making transformational investments to not only make our bridges and other infrastructure smarter, safer, and made to last, but also to create millions of jobs and support American manufacturing, something that will be badly-needed in the coming months as we deal with the economic fall-out of COVID-19. I am again encouraging President Trump and my Congressional colleagues to work together to finally pass wide-sweeping legislation to bring our transportation infrastructure into the 21st Century. The cost of doing nothing is too high.”
State- and congressional district-specific information is available: www.artbabridgereport.org.
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