Federal infrastructure bill passes
- November 11, 2021
- Posted by: Joe Milazzo II
- Category: Blog
RTA members,
Federal funding for transportation has been a substantial component of overall mobility revenues for many decades. While some elements of the federal funding picture continue to be quite challenging — the US federal motor fuels tax has not been raised for nearly 30 years, since 1993 — this week’s passage by the US House of Representatives of the “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” represents a massive increase in funding for overall infrastructure at the national level.
The ratified legislation includes significant investments for roads, bridges, transit, electric vehicle charging, broadband, water and sewer, etc. The federal investment in transit alone under this bill is the largest in history.
I attended a brief press event earlier this week where Congressman Price, Congresswoman Ross, NCDOT Secretary Eric Boyette, and several local officials highlighted the opportunities that the new and expanded funding will provide our region and state over the next several years. Passage of the legislation was a long time coming, the president will sign it this coming week, and the approval of this five year spending bill will reduce uncertainty for a host of our partners as to the timing and amount of federal funding.
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Turning to North Carolina for a moment, RTA is also focused on our state budget. North Carolina is actually the last state in the Union without a newly passed budget for the fiscal year. It may be that that situation will change soon — we shall see.
Going forward, we will continue our focus on stabilizing and modernizing funding for transportation — including support for an access user fee-based funding approach, or any revenue package that is fair, sustainable, and acceptable by our elected officials and the public.
Let’s get moving,
Joe
Joe Milazzo II, PE
RTA executive director
RTA is the voice of the regional business community on transportation in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina.
RTA represents more than 100 leading businesses and 25 member chambers of commerce in central and eastern North Carolina. RTA is a regional program of the Raleigh Chamber.
