#InfrastructureMatters as U.S. Celebrates Infrastructure Week

The United States celebrates Infrastructure Week this week, a national week of events; media coverage; and education and advocacy efforts to elevate infrastructure as a critical issue impacting all Americans.  So please, get out there and do your part!

Late last year, Congress passed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, a five-year, $305-billion surface transportation bill that was the first long-term highway funding measure the country had seen in a decade. That gave some hope and comfort to transportation leaders but we all know our crumbling roads, bridges and tunnels need far more attention and funding toward moving America forward.

In late February, the Federal Highway Administration’s Traffic Volume Trends report put some numbers behind the day-to-day challenges the FAST Act was meant to address. FHWA reported that U.S. drivers had logged 3.148 trillion miles on the nation’s roadways in 2015. “It’s like driving the distance from Earth to Pluto and back,” we noted at the time. “337 times.”

Drivers Know What to Do

Then last month, IBTTA’s own data and research showed that U.S. drivers are responding to the highway infrastructure crunch by relying on toll roads to get where they have to go, safely and on time. A survey of 31 U.S. tolling agencies reported that the five billion trips on tolled facilities last year represented a 7% increase in volume over 2014—putting the U.S. industry on a pace to double its volume over 10 years.

Ten of the participating agencies reported double-digit growth between 2014 and 2015. Three of them had increases well above 20%. In a single year.

"Clearly, drivers recognize the benefits of toll roads—the ease of use provided by electronic payment methods, the trip time-saving benefits, and the improved safety that a well-maintained toll facility provides," said IBTTA President Earl J. “Buddy” Croft III, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority (RITBA).

Infrastructure Week is becoming a bigger deal each year, with 150 organizations set to host 60 events for thousands of participants. You can get in on the action by visiting the Infrastructure Week website or following the #InfrastructureMatters hashtag.

Organizers chose this year’s theme because infrastructure “matters to our public health and safety, to our communities, to our economy...essentially, to everything. Infrastructure is the nerve system that keeps our country moving.”

When it works well, infrastructure “keeps us safe and healthy, and our economy strong. But as we’ve seen in too many catastrophes in this country, when infrastructure is neglected, it can put people in danger, it dampens our economy, it leaves our roads and skies congested, and it means we fall behind our international competitors.”

Need + Opportunity = Action

Patrick Jones, Executive Director and CEO, IBTTA, said “The takeaway from the last several months and the week ahead is that it’s time to get down to business. What better time than now for IBTTA to host its 2016 Maintenance and Roadway Operations Workshop in Newport, Rhode Island, May 14-16. This is the group of maintenance specialists who squeeze the greatest benefit out of the dollars available for highway repairs and maintenance. Each year, the workshop brings together the latest tools, techniques, and strategies to help them do an important job even better.”

“Moving traffic safely and efficiently is our priority as an industry,” said Chief Meeting Organizer Peter Merfeld, Chief Operating Officer of the Maine Turnpike Authority.

Traffic “is on the rise again, so maintaining that mobility while making improvements or even doing minor tasks like pavement markings or small bridge repairs can reduce throughput and wreak havoc on the travelling public,” he added.

IBTTA and our members are promoting the week and the need for more attention and funding on infrastructure to keep our nation moving forward, so contact a local, state or federal official, send a tweet, write a letter to your local editor and voice your concern for a brighter and safer future for transportation.