Fixing a looming problem in the Highway Trust Fund--at least for now--President Obama has signed legislation providing a $7-billion infusion for the trust fund's highway account. The additional money, which will be transferred from the general fund, is expected to keep the account solvent through Sept. 30 or perhaps a bit longer. Related Links: After 'Fix,' Trust Fund Still Not Out of the Woods Obama signed the measure on Aug. 7, the day the Senate began a four-week recess. The House's break began on July 31. When lawmakers return after Labor Day, debate is expected to heat up over how
Elliot G. "Lee" Sander, who ran New York City's huge transportation operation under former state Gov. Elliot Spitzer (D), is rejoining engineering giant AECOM Technology Corp. on Sept. 1, according to an internal company memo. His new position is managing director for global strategic initiatives. To be based in New York City, Sander will "develop and execute an integrated global strategy focused on new growth opportunities for AECOM in the world infrastructure market," says the memo. SANDER Sander resigned in May as CEO of the New York City region's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), reportedly under pressure by Gov. David Paterson
How would local transportation be affected if a metropolitan area experienced 140 million miles of additional heavy traffic in a 28-month period due to an explosive construction boom or a major disaster? New Orleans is about to find out. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and state and city officials may be writing a primer on how to manage that kind of scenario. “They certainly had traffic impact with the Big Dig and the cleanup after the destruction of the Twin Towers, but never has a whole city been so affected by a construction project,” says Gib Owen, the Corps’
With the Highway Trust Fund facing a shortfall within weeks, Congress has approved a $7-billion infusion for the fund's highway account, a move that backers of the legislation say will be enough to keep the account solvent through Sept. 30. Photo: Granite Construction Stopgap measure will fund project such as this new bridge in Key Largo, Fla. Related Links: Highway Trust Fund Fight is Heading Down to the Wire Downward Travel Trend Raises Highway Trust Fund Worries Other ENR Highway Trust Fund Stories The new money will be transferred from the general fund. Final Congressional action on the short-term trust-fund
Officials from the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee, which oversees construction of the new $6.3-billion San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, will travel to Shanghai at the end of August to investigate recent delays in steel deliveries from the Zhenhua Port Machinery Co. The discovery in January of cracked welds in girders has slowed shipments. Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney says a major delivery of deck- work segments for the self-anchored suspension span’s tower will be two months late. Ney says the delay will not affect the bridge’s 2013 completion date, but further delays may threaten the schedule. Photo: Caltrans
With the congressional August recess around the corner, House and Senate lawmakers were moving along separate tracks with competing plans to avert an imminent crisis in the Highway Trust Fund. The House was aiming for a $5-billion “fix,” designed to prop up the fund’s struggling highway account until Sept. 30. The Senate was working on a $26.8-billion infusion designed to keep the fund healthy through March 2011. Observers expected a deal to be struck before the recess, but at ENR press time the exact outcome was by no means clear. The differences between the House and Senate trust-fund remedies are
Federal highway, transit and airport grant programs notched small gains and high-speed rail won a surprisingly large $4 billion in a fiscal 2010 transportation and housing spending bill that the House passed on July 23. The $123.1-billion measure includes $75.8 billion for the Dept. of Transportation, a 13% gain over DOT’s 2009 funding. The bill also has $47 billion for the Housing and Urban Development Dept. The Senate Appropriations Committee is slated to take up its version of the DOT-HUD bill on July 30. The House bill would set the 2010 highway obligation ceiling at $41.1 billion, up 1% from
After defeating GOP budget-cutting proposals, the House has approved a fiscal 2010 transportation and housing spending measure that includes $75.8 billion for the Dept. of Transportation, a 13% gain over 2009. The measure, approved on July 23, by a 256-168 vote, would provide modest increases for highway, transit and airport grant programs, plus $4 billion for high-speed rail. Only 16 Republicans voted for the bill, and only 10 Democrats voted against it. For the largest DOT construction program, federal-aid highways, the bill contains a $41.8-billion obligation ceiling, up 1% from 2009. But appropriators noted the unresolved problems facing the Highway
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) has recommended a $3-billion infusion for the struggling Highway Trust Fund, a sum that Oberstar says will be enough to carry the trust fund through Sept. 30. Oberstar, who made his proposal July 23 during a House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing, said that the boost for the trust fund should come through a transfer from the general fund. The trust fund's highway account is projected to start running a shortfall in August. Oberstar's proposal for fixing that immediate problem is at odds with the plan now shaping up in the
As a Highway Trust Fund shortfall looms within weeks, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has proposed a remedy. Baucus introduced a bill on July 20 to inject $26.8 billion of new revenue into the trust fund. Of that total, $22 billion would go to the fund’s highway account and $4.8 billion to its transit account. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has said the highway account needs a $20-billion infusion over the next 18 months, or DOT would have to slow reimbursements to states for highway-construction spending commitments they incur. LaHood has said the gap will start to
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