President's Transportation Plan Sheds Needed Light on Nation's Infrastructure Needs, Lacks Long-Term Solutions

The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement in response to the release of President Obama’s Infrastructure Investment Plan: “President Obama is right to continue to focus on the nation’s significant, and growing, infrastructure needs. As he noted in his State of the Union address, the condition of many of the nation’s aging bridges, highways and other essential infrastructure is unacceptably poor. And he is absolutely right to point out the need to identify additional sources of revenue for transportation investments, including from the private sector." “We look forward to working with the administration as it acts on the key measures in the president’s plan that that were already authorized by last year’s transportation law and require no additional legislation, including expanding the federal infrastructure loan program known as TIFIA and cutting the length of regulatory reviews by at least 50 percent. There is no reason it should take federal officials nearly a decade on average to decide whether to allow or deny new infrastructure projects, for example." Read the full press release here. The news was covered by Politico and the Real Deal, among others.