transportation re-authorization

My friend Kent Starwalt of the Tennessee Road Builder’s Association sent out a legislative update this morning about the tension between Obama Administration and the Republican controlled Congress on infrastructure investment.  

 

According to the Stateline article, the divisions over transportation investment include high-speed rail, roads, bridges and access to high-speed internet:

The

In a new federal report released last week entitled "An Economic Analysis of Infrastructure Investment"(pdf), the Department of the Treasury, Council of Economic Advisers outlined why now is an optimal time to increase investment in transportation infrastructure.

The short twenty-five page report is, according to AGC, "a sobering reminder of the tremendous economic costs

This morning I read Brad Heath’s article in USA Today, suggesting that the stimulus funding for road repairs has detoured and by-passed large metro areas with significant road problems.

Stimulus Projects Shovel Ready?

According to the USA Today study, half of the nation’s worst roads will receive only about 20% of the stimulus money allocated for street repairs. The reason—the roads were not shovel