Truckers urge Congress to assure infrastructure funds address new construction and road requirements

As President Joe Biden stood near a Civil War-era railroad tunnel that runs under Baltimore, touting his administration’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure package, trucking interests were on Capitol Hill urging the money be spent wisely and with purpose.

Specifically, American Trucking Associations (ATA) President and CEO Chris Spear urged Congress to take steps to exercise oversight over the implementation of the law, officially called the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Truckers want to ensure that taxpayers and the supply chain get the maximum return on the $1.2 trillion of investment the legislation provides.

Additionally, Spear said ATA objects to the Federal Highway Administration’s decision to direct IIJA funds only to existing roads and bridges, not new construction. Spear told Congress that it runs counter to what Congress intended and “does nothing to address congestion, improve safety and reduce emissions.”

Spear also urged Congress to remain engaged on efforts to reduce emissions in the supply chain. Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency are considering various options to limit diesel particulates. Some proposals out of California even call for zero-emission heavy trucks by 2035, or thereabouts.

Spear warned Congress that California’s “rush to zero” within 10 or 15 years is unrealistic and is doomed to failure.

“This is not a matter of if we get to zero, but when. We’ll get there—just not on the timelines proposed by California. Their rush to zero makes their timeline and targets unachievable, and they will fail,” Spear told Congress.

“Again, we’re committed to a cleaner environment – we’ve proven that,” Spear added. “We simply ask that we be realistic about the path forward.”

Spear testified before the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee at a hearing entitled the “State of Transportation Infrastructure and Supply Chain Challenges.”

“For 90 years, the ATA has helped Congress shape its understanding of our nation’s infrastructure needs and supply chain challenges and today’s oversight of both is welcome and timely,” Spear said.

Prior to IIJA’s passage last year in a huge bipartisan victory for the Biden administration, ATA testified 25 times before the House and Senate. During those hearings, ATA warned how the decaying state of our nation’s infrastructure is hamstringing America’s ability to compete with rising global powers, like China.

“In short, a first-world economy cannot survive a developing-world infrastructure,” was generally the gist of ATA’s message.

ATA strongly supported IIJA’s passage, but “it was not a perfect piece of legislation—no bill is,” Spear said in urging the committee to exercise its oversight authority to ensure “that every dollar be spent wisely and in accordance with what Congress instructed.”

With achievable goals, and appropriate oversight, “we’ll have the best infrastructure and the strongest, most sustainable economy, like no other,” Spear said.

Meanwhile, two days before Spear’s appearance before Congress, President Biden made his third trip to Baltimore since being elected. Biden, who frequently rode Amtrak from his Delaware home to the nation’s capital during his 36 years as a senator, has earned the nickname “Amtrak Joe.”

During his visit to Baltimore, he said his administration was investing $4 billion of the infrastructure money to repair a rail bottleneck caused by an aging tunnel that saw its first service during the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant.

“You wonder how the hell it’s still standing,” Biden said during remarks near Baltimore’s Penn Station. The 1.4-mile tunnel runs under Baltimore and limits trains to around 30 miles per hour. That causes delays up and down the East Coast for passengers and rail freight from Boston to Washington, Amtrak’s business corridor.

“The structure is deteriorating. The roof was leaking.  The floor is sinking,” Biden said of the tunnel named after Frederick Douglass. “This is the United States of America, for God’s sake. We know better than that.”

The landmark infrastructure legislation is designed to do just that. After legislation passage last year, the budget process requires Congress’s approval of appropriation of funds. The money that is being spent this year is for planning, architectural and environmental requirements. Actual building should begin just in time for the 2024 election.

“There’s a difference between passing these landmark bills and seeing them reach fruition,” David Axelrod, former top advisor to President Barack Obama, told the New York Times. “There’s a difference between saying we’ve done this and it makes a difference and cutting a ribbon at a tunnel or a road.”