ACEC/CT Update

Pelosi Refuses to Call New Spending Another Stimulus Package - Roll Call

Pelosi said among the items discussed were a host of extensions to expiring provisions in the earlier stimulus bill including a housing tax credit and unemployment insurance, “an array” of programs offered by House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.), a push for more infrastructure spending by House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.), and new tax breaks for businesses.

via www.rollcall.com

It appears that Speaker Pelosi may push House Transportation Committee Chair Oberstar's reauthorization bill this session as a stimulus measure.

CT Receives Transit Stimulus Funds

Connecticut will receive $7 million in ARRA funds to purchase hybrid buses and fuel cells. ConnDOT will use the funds to purchase diesel-electric hybrid transit buses and stationary fuel cells for use in Connecticut’s statewide bus system. The grant will fund the additional cost of a purchasing hybrid buses compared with the cost of purchasing a conventional bus. It would also fund the installation of stationary fuel cells to provide primary and emergency back-up power for the bus maintenance and storage facilities. A leader in the fuel cell industry, the state of Connecticut is home to several companies that manufacture fuel cells that could benefit from this funding.

Solar Road

Popsci.com reports on a grant to develop a prototype solar panel roadway. Sounds kind of cool but what happens when the road is shaded by all those cars?

NTSB Calls for Better QA for Bridges

The National Transportation Safety Board has released its recommendations as a result of their investigation of the collapse of the interstate bridge in Minneapolis, MN last summer. Check out the ENR story.  Their recommendations include better inspections and better quality assurance of bridge designs.

Mass Governor Proposes Breakup of Turnpike Authority

The Boston Globe reports that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has proposed breaking up the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and giving their assets within Rt 128 to the Massachusetts Port Authority and the remainder to the Highway Department. Details on who will assume the debt and other budget issues would have to be worked out. Leaders in the legislature seem skeptical. The real question is, "What would this mean for maintaining and building the transportation system in the state?" As we've seen in Connecticut, Governors are prone to recommend organizational changes when faced with larger systemic problems within the state's transportation system.

Rt 7 Project Hits Snag

The ConnDOT project to improve Route 7 in Western Connecticut has run into some problems with the original survey work. Read Stamford Advocate article. It doesn't appear to be anything on the scale of the I-84 fiasco, but it's never a good thing when a project in the Governor's town hits a delay.

Northeast Governors and Premiers Meet to Discuss Energy, Transportation

Governors of the six New England states and four of the five Canadian province premiers met to discuss energy transmission, transportation, greenhouse gas emissions and workforce issues. See the New York Times article.

Transportation Summit

DOT officials discussed options being considered by Congress in the reauthroization of the highway legislation to be taken up by the next Congress. The Transportation Summit was attended by over 100 people from the engineering and construction industry in the state. See Connecticut Post article.

Congress Passes a Transportation Fix

The US Senate has passed a bill which will infuse the Federal highway trust fund with $8 billion to keep it in the black until October, 2009. The US House of Representatives has already passed similar legislation and President Bush has said that he will sign the legislation.

ACEC Responding to Transportation Fund Crisis

ACEC recently sent out the following message to state offices:

No doubt many of you have seen or heard reports about federal transportation funding and the status of the Highway Trust Fund.  I want to briefly update you on the situation and let you know how ACEC is responding.

 On Friday, Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters contacted your respective DOT heads to inform them that the balance of the Highway Trust Fund has been nearly depleted, due in large part to lower gas tax revenues and higher construction costs during the summer months.  I’ve attached a copy of the fact sheet released by her office.  At current spending rates, we will start the new fiscal year on October 1 with a zero balance in the Trust Fund, and spending levels for the next fiscal year are higher than projected revenues. The Highway Trust Fund will not have cash available to fully reimburse states for highway expenditures. This is severely disruptive to state highway programs and state DOTs are already making plans to cancel or postpone projects. 

The one positive development in the announcement is the fact that the Administration has dropped its opposition to the legislative fix that ACEC and our industry allies have lobbied for over the past couple of months.  H.R. 6532 provides an $8 billion transfer from the General Fund to the Highway Trust Fund – in effect a reimbursement for revenues lost by the Trust Fund during the final negotiations of TEA-21 in 1998 – which would restore the shortfall and avert funding cuts to the states.  We scored an initial win in July when the House passed the bill with an overwhelming 387-37 vote. The bill is now pending in the Senate, where efforts to pass it yesterday and today by “unanimous consent” have been blocked by two individual Senators: Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Judd Gregg (R-NH).

We’re sending a letter from ACEC President Dave Raymond to the Senate leadership supporting immediate passage of H.R. 6532. We’re also working closely with our industry allies in this lobbying effort – right now, this is one of the few issues that must be resolved before Congress adjourns at the end of the month, so everyone is working this hard.  It’s unclear when the bill might come up again for consideration, either as a stand-alone measure or attached to some other piece of legislation.  

 We will be alerting the membership very soon to urge them to contact their Senators and press for action, and we’ll keep you posted as new information becomes available.  In the interim, as always, please let me know if we can answer any questions that you might have, or help to respond to individual member firm inquiries or concerns.

When the alert is sent out we will ask our members to support their effort.