Innovation Newsbriefs
Vol. 25, No. 10
The 12 bipartisan secretaries allude in their letter to their combined experience stretching back over 35 years. Indeed, they arguably have more institutional knowledge, experience and expertise in transportation funding than the whole current Congress combined. Their coming together at this moment also bespeaks to their above-the-fray non-partisanship and general collegiality…So the obvious question for them is: Why can’t they, or why won’t they, make a single substantive consensus recommendation on exactly how transportation funding should be increased?
Archive for the ‘National’ Category
12 U.S. DOT Secretaries Speak, But Won’t Agree on a “Fix”
Monday, July 28th, 2014White House White Board: Vice President Biden on Rebuild America
Thursday, July 24th, 2014![](https://infrastructureusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/white-house-white-board-vice-pre-300x300.jpg)
In this installment of the White House White Board series, Vice President Biden takes the pen and discusses the importance of transportation infrastructure investment in America. Learn more at http://www.whitehouse.gov/rebuild-america
View this complete post...Making the Grade: The Six-Point Plan to Bring Our Infra Back
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014![Making the Grade](https://www.infrastructureusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/making-the-grade-thumb.jpg)
America, a nation that was once the world’s model for public infrastructure development, has declined to near-failure. Our neglect has already led to thousands of crumbling roads, decaying bridges and drought-stricken regions. A concrete plan to get us back on track just couldn’t come soon enough. That’s exactly what Autodesk’s new report, Making the Grade, intends to do. The report represents the consensus of experts from over 45 public and private companies who participated in a roundtable discussion convened by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Making the Grade offers a strong case for increased awareness, prioritization, and investment across the country.
View this complete post...An Economic Analysis of Transportation Infrastructure Investment
Friday, July 18th, 2014![Why Congress Needs to Reauthorize Funding to Rebuild America](https://www.infrastructureusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/whitehouse1.jpg)
THE WHITE HOUSE: NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL & THE PRESIDENT’S COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISORS
A high quality transportation network is vital to a top performing economy. Investments by previous generations of Americans – from the Erie Canal in 1807, to the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, to the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s and 1960s – were instrumental in putting the country on a path for sustained economic growth, productivity increases, an unrivaled national market for good and services, and international competitiveness. But today, current estimates indicate that America’s transportation infrastructure is not keeping pace with demands or the needs of our growing economy, for today or for future generations.
Water & Climate Risks Facing U.S. Corn Production
Thursday, July 17th, 2014![Competition for Water in Areas of Irrigated Corn Production](https://www.infrastructureusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Competition-for-Water-in-Areas-of-Irrigated-Corn-Production.jpg)
CERES
U.S. corn farmers are among the most productive and technologically advanced in the world, generating a record harvest of nearly 14 billion bushels in 2013—enough corn to fill a freight train longer than the circumference of the Earth. This production supports a mammoth agricultural sector comprised not just of farmers, but also major food, feed and energy companies that have an enormous stake in the long-term productivity and resilience of American agriculture. However, in the face of this bounty, three major threats to U.S. corn production loom: climate change, unsustainable water use and inefficient and damaging fertilizer practices.
Rural America’s Rental Housing
Wednesday, July 16th, 2014![Too many rural homes are unaffordable or substandard](https://www.infrastructureusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/ruralhousing-1.jpg)
NATIONAL RURAL HOUSING COALITION
For several decades, communities in rural America have struggled to provide access to clean, decent, and affordable housing. With lower incomes and higher poverty rates, rural renters—including aging seniors, individuals and families with very low incomes, persons with disabilities, and farmworkers—face especially daunting barriers to affordable housing.
States’ Transportation Revenue Initiatives Help to Compensate for an Absence of Congressional Action on Long-Term Funding
Tuesday, July 15th, 2014Innovation Newsbriefs
Vol. 25, No.
While transportation stakeholders and the Washington press corps focus on the impending insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund and bemoan the fact that the House-Senate agreement to replenish the Trust Fund provides only short-term funding ($10.8 billion) through May 2015, they are ignoring developments outside the Beltway that go a long way toward compensating for an absence of congressional action on long-term funding. For in fact, individual states, far from sitting idly by, are responding to the fiscal uncertainties in Washington by stepping up and raising additional revenue to meet their transportation needs.
Rural Connections: Challenges and Opportunities in America’s Heartland
Monday, July 14th, 2014![Chart 1. Rural Population Change 2010-2012 by County](https://www.infrastructureusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/trip-1.jpg)
TRIP
America’s rural heartland plays a vital role as home to a significant share of the nation’s population, many of its natural resources and popular tourist destinations, and as the primary source of the energy, food and fiber that supports America’s economy and way of life. The strength of the nation’s rural economy relies greatly on the quality of its transportation system, particularly its roadways, which link rural America with the rest of the U.S. and to markets in other countries. The economy of rural America, which supports the quality of life for the approximately 46 million Americans living in rural areas, rides on the quality and connectivity of the rural transportation system.
AASHTO’s “Nation at a Crossroads” Infographic Calls for Action
Thursday, July 10th, 2014![Without Federal Investment States Can](https://www.infrastructureusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/aashto-infographic-1.jpg)
The infographic reveals a slew of alarming facts and predictions centering on the depletion of MAP-21 funding by Fall of 2014, which will lead to states being responsible for 100% of transportation funding. Did you know that, already, 45% of Americans don’t have access to transit? Did you know that 1 in 4 of our bridges is in need of significant repair? While states have come up with some viable funding mechanisms of their own, it’s clearly time for the Fed to step in and replenish this vital source of transportation funding.
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