Inland waterways quietly keep the nation's economy flowing as they transport $180 billion of coal, steel, chemicals and other goods each year — a sixth of U.S. freight — across 38 states. Yet, an antiquated system of locks and dams threatens the timely delivery of those goods daily.

Locks and dams raise or lower barges from one water level to the next, but breakdowns are frequent. For example, the main chamber at a lock on the Ohio Rivernear Warsaw, Ky., is being fixed. Maneuvering 15-barge tows into a much smaller backup chamber has increased the average delay at the lock from 40 minutes to 20 hours, including waiting time.

The outage, which began last July and is expected to end in August, will cost American Electric Power and its customers $5.5 million as the utility ferries coal and other supplies along the river for itself and other businesses, says AEP senior manager Marty Hettel.

As the economy picks up, the nation's creaking infrastructure will increasingly struggle to handle the load. That will make products more expensive as businesses pay more for shipping or maneuver around roadblocks, and it will cause the nation to lose exports to other countries — both of which are expected to hamper the recovery... FULL ARTICLE

WASHINGTON — When House and Senate negotiators convened for the first time to begin working on legislation to pay for bridges, highways and mass transit, Rep. Reid Ribble was among a cadre of Republican freshmen at the table.

The fact that House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, chose seven rookies among the 20 Republicans he named to serve on the surface transportation funding House-Senate conference committee says a lot about the clout of the 87-member GOP freshman class.

Ribble, R-Sherwood, said he felt rewarded for hard work in being selected to serve on the committee, given he is next to last on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Republican totem pole.

"It's an honor as a freshman to be included," Ribble said. "I was the last person put on T&I (Transportation and Infrastructure)." FULL ARTICLE

It’s so bad that the company which won the NYC cab contract built a test track in Arizona “with foot-deep potholes, jagged pavement and rough cobblestones reminiscent of the rough-riding streets of the meatpacking district” of New York (“You Pay for Potholed Roads, One Way or the Other”).

Meanwhile the federal gas tax has not been raised in 19 years. Its purchasing power has been eaten away by inflation and increased vehicle fuel efficiency at the same time that the cost of materials (concrete, asphalt, steel), equipment and staffing have increased... FULL ARTICLE

USDOT has officially expressed what it wants in and out of a final federal transportation bill.

Instead of beginning with what the Administration supports, the letter begins with what it dislikes.  First up is the threat to veto the transportation bill if it includes the Keystone XL language. Next up is opposition to many of the House’s project delivery and environmental streamlining provisions:

[T]he Administration has previously stated that it cannot support a large number of project delivery and environmental streamlining measures in the House-passed bill that would radically change the application of environmental laws.  Many of these provisions would add substantial administrative burden and complexity and would risk undermining the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)... FULL ARTICLE

From the parking lot of a Ford dealership, Romney pointed to the nearby stone bridge that straddles the Contoocook River and called it a boondoggle. The town of Hillsborough received $150,000 in federal stimulus money to repair the Sawyer Bridge as part of a new park project designed to put people to work installing new benches, lights and visitor parking.

Those additions have not happened.

"This is the absolute Bridge to Nowhere if there ever was one. That's your stimulus dollars at work. A bridge that goes nowhere," Romney said... FULL ARTICLE

Congress member Bill Shuster (R-PA), Chair of the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, & Hazardous Materials, predicts President Barack Obama will sign a transportation bill — with a provision to build the Keystone Pipeline included — in September or October.

“Americans support the Keystone Pipeline, 80:20″ Shuster told a gathering organized by the New York University Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management.  (A marchGallup poll actually put that support at 57:29, still a big majority.)

The pipeline has been vehemently opposed by environmentalists, who say construction of the pipeline would mean “game over” for the environment.  And President Obama has said in the past that he would oppose any transportation bill that included funding for the pipeline.

But Shuster predicted presidential politics would force the President’s hand come the fall — though he acknowledged that for most Americans, transportation wasn’t even in their top five issues... FULL ARTICLE

House and Senate conferees last week began work on the highway bill under considerable pressure of time and necessity.

Counting today, the conferees have 19 working days left before the current extension expires June 30. Their staffs, who do much of the detail work in the conference process, probably will be working close to 24-7.

A bet that they could finish negotiations by then would not be wise, according to many close watchers.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has predicted that there will not be a bill, and American Trucking Associations President and CEO Bill Graves is nearly as pessimistic.

But Hill insiders say that if the conferees can find a way to compromise on tough issues such as funding and the Keystone XL Pipeline, there's a chance they can follow through with a bill sometime this year that at least begins the process of reforming the federal highway program... FULL ARTICLE

Lawmakers appointed to resolve differences on a new federal surface transportation program met last week to stake out their opening positions, but gave no indication of a quick resolution of the deep divisions between the House and Senate positions.

Sitting around a large hollow square table, the 47 members appointed by House and Senate leaders to negotiate a long-term national program for funding highway, bridge and transit programs highlighted some of the key issues that have held up agreement on this issue since the original program expired in September 2009.

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and chair of the transportation conference, pointed out that the Senate had passed a bipartisan bill, S 1813, with 74 votes. "If Sens. Boxer and Jim Inhofe can agree on a bill, we can all agree on a bill," Boxer said, noting the improbability of finding a solution appealing to a liberal Democrat from California and a conservative Republican from Oklahoma.

Although the House bill only included a 90-day extension of the current program, from June 30 to September 30, and three controversial provisions, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) indicated the House conferees were not ready to compromise and adopt the Senate bill... FULL ARTICLE

We face stark choices regarding the role of government in our nation’s transportation and infrastructure programs. Because of cumbersome federal regulations, red tape and bureaucratic malaise, it can take up to 15 years on average to take a major construction project from inception to completion.

Everyone agrees this timeline is in major need of reform. Moreover, states lack the flexibility necessary to determine their greatest transportation needs and priorities, and there are far too many mandates from Washington.

Our ports are unprepared to accommodate growing international trade and larger container ships. And President Barack Obama continues to block the popular Keystone XL pipeline project that’s an important component to an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy that would also create thousands of jobs and help to reduce gas prices at the pump... FULL ARTICLE

The two commissions created by Congress in the 2005 highway, transit and safety law reached a shared conclusion: The next transportation reauthorization bill needs to increase sources of revenue for the Highway Trust Fund and begin the transition to a sustainable and stable user-fee derived revenue source.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is leading the charge to modernize and expand the nation’s transportation network because we believe that failing to properly invest in our infrastructure puts our potential for job growth and global competitiveness at risk. The longer we delay in addressing these issues, the more rapidly our transportation and infrastructure system deteriorates. Since 2007, the Chamber has been calling for a serious conversation on how to close the gap between infrastructure needs and available resources.

Ideally, the current House-Senate conference committee for the highway-transit bill would produce legislation to address both the immediate federal funding crisis and long-term challenges. Unfortunately, that appears unlikely to happen, as Congress would have to formulate a new approach to collecting user-based revenue before June 30, when the current extension of highway and transit law expires... FULL ARTICLE

It’s impossible to envision the United States without its transportation system.

George Washington knew we needed a “smooth way” — a road connecting Eastern cities with Western territories if our nation was to survive. Dwight Eisenhower modernized it by creating the Interstate Highway System, linking our nation like never before. It was during Ronald Reagan’s presidency that we integrated investment in transit into the Highway Trust Fund. And generations in Congress invested in this vision, knowing our transportation system is what binds our national economic well-being, security and people together — until now.

Meaningful negotiations to craft bipartisan long-term transportation legislation have been held hostage by a minority of representatives who believe the federal government has no role in transportation. These so-called devolutionists would stop all federal investment and, instead, devolve to the pre-Eisenhower era, fracturing the system and giving the responsibility to the 50 states to raise all funds and coordinate investments.

We had this state-based system before Eishenhower’s interstates — and it didn’t work... FULL ARTICLE

Fresh off an important committee appointment, U.S. Rep.Bill Shuster has become a speculated candidate for a prominent chairmanship once held by his father.

The news website Politico reported Thursday that the Hollidaysburg Republican could be the front-runner to lead the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee next year. U.S. Rep. John Mica of Florida — the current chairman — will reach his term limit next year.

Shuster spokeswoman Gretchen Gailey said only that the congressman's attention is elsewhere at this time... FULL ARTICLE

Speaking to reporters at the Capitol, Mica said that he and Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) would meet next week to discuss their chambers' versions of a bill to provide funding for road and transit projects.

"We will have our first one-on-one. Staff has done some good preliminary work and they are moving along, so we will see,” Mica said of the upcoming talks between himself and Boxer.

In the interim, Mica said that members of the 47-member committee of lawmakers that has been appointed to conference on a multiyear surface transportation bill will break into "working groups" after the panel held its first meeting this week... FULL ARTICLE

The “conference” on the transportation bill between the House and Senate began yesterday, with opening remarks and a long public hearing — though much of the real work will happen behind closed doors. (Conference is where the House and Senate reconcile their two transportation bills and produce a single final bill that both chambers will vote on. The Senate passed a two-year bill with changes to funding and policy, while the House passed a 90-day extension of current law as just a vehicle to negotiate, though with several environmental policies.)

As the conferees finalize this long-deferred transportation reauthorization, they must keep in mind the priorities that millions of Americans of all political and socio-economic stripes have expressed in polls, town hall meetings, and countless events. Many of these can be found in the bipartisan, compromise bill passed by the Senate and should be preserved during negotiations. MAP-21, the Senate bill, establishes funding levels necessary to preserve and expand our transportation infrastructure while beginning to update federal policy for the 21st century in these following ways:

• Establishing accountability measures for federal investment;
• Consolidating programs and ensuring faster project delivery;
• Taking care of our bridges and roads by prioritizing repair;
• Supporting local control of funds to improve our communities; and
• Protecting transit riders in areas of all sizes from drastic service cuts and fare increases.

FULL ARTICLE

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional lawmakers launched efforts on Tuesday to forge a compromise on transportation spending, an uphill journey made even tougher by Republican efforts to include a provision in the bill to speed approval of the Keystone oil pipeline.

The 47 lawmakers on the Senate-House conference committee met for the first time on Tuesday to try to find enough compromise to pass a bill that would create or save as many as three million jobs while helping to repair the nation's crumbling and unsafe roads and bridges.

"We cannot let our hard heads get in the way of hard hats," said Nick Rahall, the top Democrat on the House transportation committee, pleading for quick bipartisan consensus.

But the inclusion of the pipeline on the agenda shows how difficult agreement will be.

President Barack Obama has put all but a small portion of the 1,661 mile pipeline on hold pending further environmental reviews, and has threatened to veto any bill overriding his decision on the project... FULL ARTICLE

The Christian Science MONITOR
By David Grant, Staff writer / May 8, 2012

WASHINGTON

House and Senate negotiators may be weeks or even months away from reaching a compromise bill to fund America's transportation needs. But transportation experts don't need to wait for the final product, set to be hammered out by a conference committee beginning Tuesday afternoon. Whatever bill emerges, they say, will once again succeed only in kicking the can of sustainably funding American infrastructure down an ever-more-rutted road.

Bipartisan commissions have repeatedly suggested two crucial changes in how America pays for its infrastructure:

1. A short-term increase in the gasoline tax to make sure US highway funding doesn’t go belly-up.

2. A long-term plan for charging drivers directly for how many miles they drive.

FULL ARTICLE

After being selected as chairman of the transportation conference because House leaders were at the helm of the last round of bicameral negotiations on road and transit funding, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) pointed to the 74 votes the Senate’s version of the transportation bill received when it came up in March.

"If Sens. Boxer and Jim Inhofe can agree on a bill, we can all agree on a bill," Boxer said to members of the 47-member transportation conference committee in making the case for her chamber’s two-year, $109 billion transportation bill. Inhofe (R-Okla.) is the conservative ranking member of the panel... FULL ARTICLE

The first meeting of the transportation bill conference committee is today at 3:00. (To familiarize yourself with the participants, see Ben’s reports on the House and Senate conferees.) We’ll be live-blogging it, beginning to end.

It’s unusual for conferences to meet in public, and leaders have indicated that this won’t be the only meeting they have in front of television cameras. Still, the sausage-making always happens behind closed doors. Here’s what we’ll be looking for as things get underway today:

Will anything come of it? “The first day will tell you exactly nothing,” Scott Slesinger, NRDC’s director of legislative affairs, told reporters last week. “You’ll walk out of there convinced that there’s no way they’re going to do a bill.”

In fact, the conventional wisdom right now is that this whole process will end in yet another extension, probably until the lame-duck session after the November election. But this conference committee could lay the groundwork for that bill. Both parties want to get a bill done, but Republican leaders are worried that their base will revolt at the sight of them negotiating with Democrats. So, in public they’ll be all hard-line rhetoric and uncompromising conservatism, and when the cameras are off they’ll horse-trade... FULL ARTICLE

House and Senate negotiators have scheduled an official meeting this week to resolve two very different approaches to a long-term surface transportation authorization bill.

While the Senate bill, S. 1814, or MAP-21, contains some very important policy changes for the federal transportation program funding highways, bridges and public transportation programs, it is a provision in the House version to mandate quick approval of the Keystone pipeline that will be a flashpoint in the discussions.

The House bill, H.R. 4348, would extend the current program for another 90 days beginning on June 30th, when time on the current extension – the 10th since the transportation program, known as SAFETEA-LU, originally expired – runs out. Leaders have been unable to adopt a transportation program with policy language and instead opted for a straight or “clean” extension that included several controversial items – such as approval of the Keystone pipeline and regulatory streamlining to speed up transportation projects – in order to gain Republican support... FULL ARTICLE

Many observers, including Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, have expressed doubt that Congress will pass a multiyear bill before the November election.

But leaders of the 47-member panel from both House and Senate say they have a blueprint — hewing closely to their respective chamber’s approach — for the talks to defy the seemingly long odds.

“For the conference to be successful, it must include significant transportation program reforms and ensure that needed jobs will be created,” a spokesman for House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) said in a statement provided to The Hill on Monday... FULL ARTICLE

The transportation conference committee will meet for the first time on Tuesday. Here are five things to watch as negotiations get started:

Leadership involvement

Conferees are convinced this will be a “real conference” in which most issues won’t have to go to leadership, as was the case with parts of the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill. The Senate has named two of its top members of leadership to the conference team: Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois and third-ranking Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) did not name any members of leadership to the committee, but his team is certain to be monitoring progress closely. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), a conferee, told POLITICO, “I have to suspect, at least on the Republican side, leadership will get involved. Otherwise, they won’t have the votes.” Nadler said he expects unity from the Democrats, likely requiring less intervention from Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) or her lieutenants... FULL ARTICLE

In 2011, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency jointly proposed a rule that would tighten corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for light-duty vehicles (including cars, sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks, minivans, and crossover utility vehicles) manufactured from 2017 through 2025.

The higher fuel economy standards certainly will be good for our environment and energy security, but it could reduce federal transportation revenue by $57 billion by 2022, a 13 percent reduction.  That’s according to a new study from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO)... FULL ARTICLE

BY JOAN LOWY Associated Press
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
5/2/2012 5:17:48 AM

WASHINGTON - Defying expectations, Congress has reached the homestretch on a major overhaul of federal transportation programs that is critical if the nation is to avoid steep cutbacks in highway and transit aid.

The bill is driven partly by election-year politics. Congress and President Barack Obama have made transportation infrastructure investment the centerpiece of their jobs agendas.

But the political imperative for passing a bill has been complicated by House Republicans' insistence on including a mandate for federal approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The White House has threatened to veto the measure if it retains the Keystone provision.

And there are other points of disagreement between the GOP-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate, including how to pay for transportation programs and how much leverage the federal government should have over how states spend their aid money. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has said it is unlikely Congress will pass a final bill until after the November elections... FULL ARTICLE

First, the premise: that Congress would be unable to agree on a transportation bill before the election, and would postpone further work into the lame duck.  Earlier this year the speculation was that one of the Chambers wouldn’t even pass a transportation bill.  Now the speculation is the Senate and House will be unable to reconcile their proposals and will punt, extending the bill into the lame duck.

There are two reasons Congress is unlikely to pass a new bill, and instead will extend SAFETEA-LU, in a lame duck session... FULL ARTICLE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defying expectations, Congress has reached the homestretch on a major overhaul of federal transportation programs that is critical if the nation is to avoid steep cutbacks in highway and transit aid.

The bill is driven partly by election-year politics. Both Congress and President Barack Obama have made transportation infrastructure investment the centerpiece of their jobs agendas. But the political imperative for passing a bill has been complicated by House Republicans' insistence on including a mandate for federal approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The White House has threatened to veto the measure if it retains the Keystone provision.

And there are other points of disagreement between the GOP-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate, including how to pay for transportation programs and how much leverage the federal government should have over how states spend their aid money. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has said it's unlikely Congress will pass a final bill until after the November elections.

Despite LaHood's pessimism, lawmakers and transportation lobbyists said they believe prospects are improving for passage of a final bill by June 30, when the government's authority to spend highway trust fund money expires. The fund, which pays for roads and transit, is forecast to go broke sometime next year... FULL ARTICLE

Sen. Barbara Boxer found out the hard way: Highway legislation no longer presents the slam dunk it once did.

But now there is a glimmer of hope Congress might actually pass a multiyear federal highway bill this year, instead of relying on short-term extensions of the last bill, which passed in 2005 and expired in 2009.

After many fits and starts, the issue is finally headed to a House-Senate conference committee to work out a compromise bill as road needs in California and across the nation wait to be met.

For Boxer, a Rancho Mirage Democrat, highway programs fall squarely within her wheelhouse as chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee... FULL ARTICLE

WASHINGTON - When the Interstate 35 bridge over the Mississippi River at Minneapolis collapsed in August 2007, killing 13 people, then-GOP presidential candidate John McCain was quick to blame misplaced priorities, including money spent on bridges to nowhere.

Candidate Barack Obama, then-locked in a Democratic primary contest with Hillary Clinton, said "too many of our nation's railways, highways, bridges, airports, and neighborhood streets are slowly decaying due to lack of investment and strategic long-term planning."

Since then, little has gotten under way to actually rebuild the nation's aging roads and bridges. Recent estimates suggest the task would take a sustained minimum of $134 billion a year through 2035.

The American Society of Civil Engineers, which recently published its third "Failure to Act" clarion call - a look at the country's aged electric grid - reports the U.S. needs to spend $1.7 trillion in the next nine years to shore up roads, bridges, and water and sewer lines reaching the end of their useful service... FULL ARTICLE

President Barack Obama is getting pointed on the transportation bill.

Speaking at the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department Conference today, Obama whacked the Republican-led House of Representatives for “refusing to pass a bipartisan bill that could guarantee work for millions of construction workers.  Already passed the Senate.  Ready to go, ready to put folks back to work.  Used to be the most — the easiest bill to pass in Washington used to be getting roads and bridges built, because it’s not like only Democrats are allowed to use these things.  Everybody is permitted.  (Laughter.)  Everybody needs them.  (Applause.)

“So this makes no sense.  Congress needs to do the right thing.  Pass this bill right away.  It shouldn’t be that hard.  It shouldn’t be that hard.  Not everything should be subject to thinking about the next election instead of thinking about the next generation.” FULL ARTICLE

House and Senate leaders have appointed their members to a surface transportation funding bill conference committee, which will hold its first meeting on May 8.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who chairs the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, will chair the committee, according to a legislative alert from theAmerican Public Transportation Association (APTA).

The Senate’s other appointees include Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), David Vitter (R-La.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Kay Baily Hutchison (R-Texas) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.)... FULL ARTICLE

Lawmakers in the House and the Senate have agreed to hold conference negotiations on a new funding bill for road and transit projects, but most observers do not expect any more than continuing resolutions of the current funding mechanism to become law before elections in November.

In a speech to the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Department, Obama argued Monday that the House should accept the Senate's version of the transportation bill — a two-year, $109 billion measure he said was "ready to go, ready to put folks back to work."

"As we speak, the House Republicans are refusing to pass a bipartisan bill that could guarantee work for millions of construction workers," the president said before lamenting the lack of progress thus far in congressional negotiations on the highway bill... FULL ARTICLE