infrastructure funding

Bridge Improvement Funding Needs Expediting for Safety’s Sake, Industry Experts Say

February 28, 2022 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Federal funding for bridge-repairing projects is now critical to public safety, according to transportation experts at the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.

Now, these leaders are pushing for the Biden administration and Congress to allocate federal funding to improve these deteriorating bridges, as current funds available to states for bridge projects still fail to include full transportation appropriations outlined within the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

This legislation was passed in November 2021, and the most recent spending solution–which made funds available for certain surface transportation projects–ended in mid-February. Under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, $27.5 billion was set to be offered to states for bridge repair needs throughout the next five years. However, if spending approval is pushed back, project start dates will be further delayed–perhaps to the detriment of driver safety.

“We urge Congress to act forthwith so that the American people can begin to realize the benefits of the historic investments in the bipartisan infrastructure law,” said president and CEO of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, Dave Bauer.

This funding is indeed historic, and considered nearly unprecedented by many transportation organizations, including the American Society of Civil Engineers. However, it still may not be enough for all the improvements truly needed throughout the country.

As ASCE’s president-elect Maria Lehman put it, the investment is a “major plus-up,” and “a great start, but it’s not the silver bullet.” In fact, the funding should have been released earlier, as “infrastructure is a system of systems,” Lehman continued. ”It’s the weak link that brings everything down.”

Although bridges deemed to be in “fair” condition can just undergo repairs, if a bridge is considered to be in “poor” condition, it needs to be replaced as soon as possible. Currently, 36% of all 224,000 American bridges either need repair or replacement–78,800 of those need full replacement, according to ARTBA’s 2022 Bridge Report, which analyzed data from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Bridge Inventory database.

The states with the highest number of bridges classified as being in “poor” condition are: Iowa, with 4,504 such bridges; Pennsylvania,with 3,198; Illinois, with 2,405; Oklahoma, with 2,296; Missouri, with 2,218; New York, with 1,672; Louisiana, with 1,631; California, with 1,493; West Virginia, with 1,490; and Ohio, with 1,334.

“Our infrastructure is always there, doing its job,” said Lehman. “It’s not until something goes drastically wrong that people pay attention. Civil engineering failure is front and center because it’s important to people.”

Truckers should also be diligent in paying attention to bridge load postings, as this is a major aspect of overall bridge safety, Lehman added.

“Maybe it won’t collapse [if your truck has a heavier weight than allowed], but you are straining it,” she said.

Various organizational leaders collaborated on a letter sent to congressional lawmakers in February in an effort to persuade them to pass timely appropriations for the 2022 fiscal year, as a method of instilling “confidence in our residents as we navigate through the ongoing pandemic.”

The letter was signed by prominent members of the Council of State Governments, the International City and County Management Association, the National Association of Counties, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Governors Association, the National League of Cities, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

“The [Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act] represents a historic investment in our nation’s infrastructure, and Congress must ensure that these new resources are made available to state, territory, and local governments as intended under the law,” said the group leaders in their letter.

Additionally, local municipalities, along with state transportation departments, should find ways of boosting their funding availability by utilizing economies of scale. For example, choosing bridge improvement projects within one regional area could bring lower overall administrative costs, Lehman explained.

“It’s really important that we start to think of system solutions instead of one-off solutions,“ she noted.

ATRI Releases Top Truck Bottlenecks List, Chicago Ranks #6

February 26, 2022 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

The American Transportation Research nInstitute has released its 2022 list of Top Truck Bottlenecks, with some particular areas continuing to see little improvement.

Traffic across the country has returned to similar levels as before the pandemic due to more people returning to in-person workdays, as well as e-commerce and the overall demand for goods growing exponentially. Throughout 2021, rush hour speed averages for trucks dropped 11%, down to 38.6 miles per hour.

“ATRI’s bottleneck list is a road map for federal and state administrators responsible for prioritizing infrastructure investments throughout the country,” said Chris Spear, President of American Trucking Associations. “Every year, ATRI’s list highlights the dire needs for modernizing and improving our roads and bridges.”

The bottleneck list is compiled by ATRI’s assessment of truck-involved congestion levels at 300 different locations throughout the country’s highways. To collect data, ATRI utilizes truck GPS data and insights from more than a million commercial vehicles.

“The annual study from [ATRI], based [on] real-time GPS data, provides a timeline and actionable blueprint for prioritizing road and bridge funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill,” explained ATA in a tweet.

Chicago’s I-290/I-90/I-94 interchange, named the Jane Byrne Interchange, made sixth place on the list for the second year in a row. By the end of 2022, the city plans to complete the interchange’s $800 million upgrade.

The top worst freight bottleneck in the United States, for the fourth year in a row, was deemed to be the intersection of New Jersey State Route 4 and Interstate 95 in Fort Lee, New Jersey–this bottleneck has ranked near the top of ATRI’s list for more than a decade. Average rush hour speeds in this bottleneck were 22.4 miles per hour, down from 2020 by 28.2%. Average overall speeds were just 30.1 miles per hour.

In second place was the I-71/I-75 intersection in downtown Cincinnati, located along the Ohio River, north of the Brent Spence Bridge. This major bottleneck comes after a late-2020 bridge fire brought a shutdown as engineers rushed to fix such a heavily-utilized area. The major checkpoint brought about by the damage caused transportation officials in Ohio and Kentucky to consider a nearby companion bridge project, which would help ease traffic issues close to the Amazon hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

Following behind is Houston’s I-45/I-69/US-59 intersection, which is two spots higher than its place on 2021’s list. Interstate 45 was likely to undergo reconstruction and rerouting through a $7.5 billion proposal, which was approved by the Texas Department of Transportation in 2021. However, the project will require the demolition of 340 businesses, 1,100 homes and apartments, and five places of worship–so it has understandably been met with heavy opposition from various groups.

Fourth and fifth place were both taken by Atlanta bottlenecks–one at the “Spaghetti Junction” of the I-285/I-85 North interchange in DeKalb County, as well as the I-20/I-285 intersection on the west side of the city. Behind Chicago’s sixth-place ranking was Los Angeles’ California state Route 60 and State Route 57 interchange, dubbed the “Diamond Bar interchange,” and in eighth place was Texas’ I-45/I-30 interchange in Dallas.

I-30 in both directions from downtown Dallas to I-634 in the city’s Mesquite suburb will be modernized and widened through a $1 billion project likely beginning in 2026, according to officials at the Texas Department of Transportation.

In ninth and tenth place were San Bernandino’s I-10/I-15 interchange and Chattanooga’s I-75/I-24 intersection, respectively. Chattanooga’s bottleneck is currently in the midst of a $12.6 million upgrade, the second phase of which is set to begin in mid-2023.

“We have seen, most recently in Pittsburgh, that the cost of doing nothing could also cost lives,” said ATA’s Spear, referring to the 10 people in Pittsburgh who were injured during the collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge in late January. “It’s time to fund these projects and get our supply chains moving again.”

Truck Parking Availability Issue Worsens Amid E-Commerce Boom, Lack of Funding

February 24, 2022 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

“There isn’t a day that goes by that a parking issue doesn’t come up, whether it is a driver that can’t find a place to park, or a customer won’t let them park,” said vice president of safety for Cargo Transporters, Shawn Brown.

Truck parking has remained a major issue for the entire trucking industry, an issue that has been significantly worsened by the coronavirus-induced boost in nationwide e-commerce. Additionally, a lack of parking funding in city areas, as well as various municipal mandates, have made the problem as severe as ever.

Hopefully, shipper solutions, technology-based methods, and private and public investments will help to ease the issue, some industry experts say.

“It is one of these issues that is going to be right there in our [faces] until we make a truly concerted effort to do something,” said senior vice president of the American Transportation Research Institute, Dan Murray. “There are no short-term solutions to fix it.”

Parking concerns worsen the closer a trucker is to a densely-populated, urban region, noted president of C.R. England, Brandon Harrison, as these areas see the most freight traffic.

“Late afternoon and evening hours continue to be some of the most challenging times for drivers to find parking availability,” he said.

The steep incline in e-commerce is pushing demand towards larger cities, which has exacerbated parking capacity issues–as has land costs and zoning restrictions, said ATRI research associate, Alexandra Shirk. States have continued to end up “on the other side of the fence when it comes to fighting or enhancing the truck parking opportunities,” added Murray.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s director of enforcement programs, William Elovirta, also chimed in, noting that urban planning development has begun focusing on parking space reduction in recent years.

“I don’t think we’re seeing a huge effort on the local and state [levels] for an organized push for truck parking in the same sense of the other priorities,” he explained.

Many industry members have been lamenting the idea that even though both the public and the government see the need to improve the nation’s bridges and roads, truck parking is often overlooked. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act initially allocated $1 billion toward parking funding, but the funding was ultimately dropped from the measure. Once the legislation officially passed, truck parking funding was not included.

“There is discretionary funding available that can be put toward trucking parking solutions,” added Shirk, who notes that it now seems parking funding is in competition with that of bridge and road projects.

The state of Minnesota expects around a 30% increase in federal funding from the infrastructure bill, and the Minnesota Trucking Association is currently advocating for funds to finally be allocated to truck parking capability, said the association’s president, John Hausladen.

“We’re hopeful that at least there is a pool to work with, but the fact that truck parking was not designated in any of those funds means it continues to battle with every other need,” he explained.

Additionally, cities like Minneapolis have been banning parking in residential streets, which can make matters even worse than they already are, Hasladen added.

“As a highly populated urban center, there isn’t a lot of available land to just create truck parking without some sort of incentives or government support that move it forward,” he said.

The trucking industry has actually begun looking toward private and public parking options alike, noted ATRI’s Murray.

“In a perfect world, we’d have perfect collaboration where the public sector helps the private sector expand capacity and manage capacity,” he noted.

Individual states should also start looking into methods of lowering private sector costs in regards to expanding or building designated truck parking areas–this may include land acquisition, maintenance assistance, or specific tax incentives, according to Tiffany Wlazlowski Neuman, the vice president of public affairs at truck and travel stop industry-representing trade association, Natso.

Natso also recommends that regulators begin actively exploring the potential effects of any new legislation on truck parking, such as the ELD mandate, which brought major changes to when truckers drive and when they park, as well as to the overall utilization of available truck parking.

Infrastructure Bill Brings More Funding for Bridge Repair, Connectivity Boosts

January 26, 2022 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

An updated version of the Biden Administration’s Build Back Better Act will likely advance due to controversial aspects of the act now being left out.

The central, popular provisions have the president’s congressional supporters, as well as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, remaining hopeful for the act’s overall success.

“That’s what is still working its way through Capitol Hill,” Buttigieg said. “I’m very hopeful that this will pass in some form because it’s going to make a big difference for American lives.”

A major landmark of Biden’s plan is the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and its $1 trillion infrastructure bill to help revamp deteriorating roadways, repair bridges, and boost freight flow with updates to railways and other aspects of the nation’s supply chain necessities.

“Automated technology on locomotives, such as [positive train control] or trip [optimizers], are the foundation for future innovation,” said Association of American Railroads CEO, Ian Jeffries. “Such systems promise to further improve safety and efficiency, maybe even expanding rail capacity and its ability to move more goods without new network buildout.”

Additionally, $27 billion will be allocated toward repairing more than 15,000 bridges, noted infrastructure implementation coordinator Mitch Landrieu, making it “the largest bridge program in American history.”

“Bridges connect us,” he said. “They connect people [and] the movement of goods. They connect communities. They connect the country. With this investment, President Biden is creating a bridge to the future, a pathway to win–a pathway for all of us to win.”

The $27 billion will be part of a multiyear bridge-fixing process, working to improve deficient infrastructure in an effort to bring mass improvements to overall transportation connectivity.

“The bipartisan infrastructure law I signed two months ago unites us around things we all depend on,” explained President Biden. “When we invest in infrastructure, we’re really investing in opportunity. These are investments that will build a better America. It sounds like hyperbole, but it’s real.”

This bridge funding will also bring relief to a vast amount of supply chain bottlenecks, Buttigieg added.

“We know that when the bridges are in good shape, they help people to get to where they need to be more safely, more efficiently, more affordably–and I would note that strengthens our supply chains, gets groceries to where they need to be, and keeps prices lower,” he said.

Billions in new funding is going to increase freight connectivity capability in regards to the supply chain, as well as boost overall mobility and trucking workforce initiatives, noted Polly Trottenberg, deputy to Buttigieg.

“I think we’re really going to be able to strengthen and make more resilient and more sustainable all the elements of our supply chain,” she said “I think there’s a lot of enthusiasm for the focus that the administration is putting on [the] supply chain.”

As the infrastructure bill moves towards implementation, the U.S. Department of Transportation is working to ensure DOT officials are staying as organized as ever, Trottenberg added.

“We’re working with our stakeholders so that when we send out our notices of funding opportunity or our guidances…we’ve heard from all the people,” she explained. “And that’s a lot of upfront work…so we’ve got to hit the ground running. We’ve got to go the distance. I guess you’d describe it [as] both a sprint and a marathon.”

As these infrastructure-improving projects begin making their way across the country, Levinson and Stefani’s Ken Levinson hopes they will bring the lasting changes the country needs to finally boost overall roadway safety.

“I’m all for reconstruction that will save lives, and I absolutely hope these improvements come to fruition because it’s been so long that deteriorating roads have been causing problems for drivers,” he said. “Many of the bridges and highways have needed repair for a long time–it’s long overdue.”

Still, Levinson wants to ensure that all drivers are staying as alert and cautious as ever when encountering any area under construction.

“A lot of crashes occur in construction zones or on roads and bridges in disrepair–they can all easily cause collisions,” he explained. “Be cautious in any construction zone. There will be signage, but many people aren’t paying close enough attention, or are distracted or tired, and won’t see an upcoming merge, marker, or road change. It’s easy to drive habitually and not notice, say, a lane change.”

Millions in New Grant Funding Finally Given to Highway Safety Initiatives

December 28, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Long-awaited infrastructure boosts throughout highways across the country are finally underway as federal programs working to bring about these safety improvements will, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, receive ample new funding.

For safety grants across American highways, NHTSA will offer $260 million as part of the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This funding comes as an effort to bring vast improvements through certain traffic and roadway safety initiatives, and will work to bring financial aid to various U.S. territories, state-level transportation agencies, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and to Washington, D.C. agencies, as well.

“Traffic crashes take the lives of too many Americans, but these tragedies are not inevitable, and we will not accept them as part of everyday life,” said Pete Buttigieg, Transportation Secretary, in a recent statement. “Bolstered by additional funding from President [Joe] Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law, these grants will save lives by improving safety on America’s roadways.”

The legislation also depicts the intention to raise overall funding by around 30% for a plethora of safety initiatives, infrastructure programs, and reconstruction efforts.

“The variety of funds available allows each state to target its specific challenges,” said Steven Cliff, Deputy Administrator for NHTSA. “Traffic safety may be a national problem, but the solutions are regional and local.”

$133.3 million of the total funding will be allocated strictly to data-driven traffic programs at the state level for highway safety; some of these programs, according to the United States Department of Transportation, involve programs centering around the enforcement of seat belt laws and safety law education, awareness boosting in regards to dangerous driving risks, and campaigns for high-visibility enforcement.

Funds will also be dedicated to improving parent and caregiver inspection stations to determine whether or not child safety seats have been properly and safely installed, as well as to boosting overall efficiency of traffic records themselves.

“This historic legislation increases NHTSA’s budget by 50%,” said Cliff in front of a U.S. Senate committee during his nomination hearing, noting that this budget makes it “the largest investment in motor vehicle and highway safety since NHTSA was established more than 50 years ago.” Cliff, who was nominated by President Biden to lead NHTSA, made a point to explain the new legislation’s likely positive effects on the overarching safety of American roadways.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was set forth by President Biden in mid-November of this year, with supporters of the new $1 trillion infrastructure legislation ensuring that the coming road improvements and overall safety benefits will far outweigh the costs.

“This funding will improve our understanding of where and how crashes happen by improving data quality,” NHTSA’s Cliff continued.

In the first half of this year, the number of deaths in roadway crashes rose by 18.4% as compared to the same period in 2020–the highest number of roadway deaths since 2006, according to an NHTSA report from October.

“This is a crisis,” said Buttigieg following the release of the report. “More than 20,000 people died on U.S. roads in the first six months of 2021, leaving countless loved ones behind. We cannot and should not accept these fatalities as simply a part of everyday life in America.”

Although NHTSA’s report did not specifically point to the number of deaths as a result of truck-related roadway crashes, the statistics are still staggering–around 20,160 died on U.S. roadways in the first six months of 2021, compared to 17,020 in the first half of 2020. For safety advocates, these numbers are a clear indication that many safety-focused changes, projects, and investments need to make their way throughout the country’s infrastructure as soon as possible.

“The report is sobering,” added Cliff in October. “It’s also a reminder of what hundreds of millions of people can do every day, right now, to combat this: slow down, wear seat belts, drive sober, and avoid distractions behind the wheel.”

Boosted Infrastructure Funding is Crucial for the Sake of Roadway Safety

November 12, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

It’s clear that much of America’s infrastructure needs a lot of work, and President Joe Biden recently visited New Jersey as part of his campaign to garner support for legislation undergoing debate by Democrats in regards to the investment of trillions of dollars into projects to boost social welfare, climate change, and road safety across the country.

Biden, along with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, discussed a state bridge that often cannot be closed without the use of sledgehammers. The two leaders cited this issue as evidence of major issues within infrastructure and the vast amount of reconstruction and repairs that are needed right now in many states.

The Portal Bridge is currently “a chokepoint, a bottleneck, an Achilles’ heel on the Northeast Corridor,” Biden said–a stark outlook for the most highly-used train bridge in the Western Hemisphere. The swing bridge owned by Amtrak Corp. and located over the Hackensack River is 110 years old, and “something goes wrong” about 15% of the time it’s opened, Biden said.

When the bridge needs to be closed, “literally, a sledgehammer [is needed to] knock it back into place–in the year 2021,” said Biden at the event for the bridge’s replacement groundbreaking. “Aging infrastructure like this is more than inconvenience or a nuisance–it’s an impediment.”

Biden has been working to collaborate with Senate moderates who have been concerned about social spending legislation costs, which were initially proposed to be $3.5 trillion for usage over ten years. In late October, Biden met with Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, along with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, to reach a potential agreement regarding a smaller spending budget.

“This initiative is about betting on America, about believing in America,” said Biden. “Let’s get this done–let’s move.”

The bridge replacement project is the first initiative of the overall Gateway project, which will serve as a bridge-and-tunnel renovation and expansion initiative to boost train capacity across the Hudson River. Previously, around 820,000 rail passengers commuted between New York City and another Northeast city each day; because of this, bridge replacement project sponsors have expressed concern that any potential track failures could significantly hinder the economy of this area–a region that is vital to one-fifth of the gross domestic product within the United States.

Still, boosting the accessibility and safety of infrastructure is imperative. The more updated our infrastructure is, the safer our roadways are, and the fewer accidents and deaths we’ll see as a result.

“We see a lot of crashes occurring on roadways in disrepair and in dangerous construction locations, so it’s important to keep roads safe,” said Levinson and Stefani’s Ken Levinson. “When there’s not enough room on the shoulder and you break down, or there’s not an easy path to exit the tollway, or there’s an emergency medical situation, or inclement weather, it creates a lot of danger.”

When there is an obstacle or disruption on any given roadway, many people aren’t sure how to handle it in the safest way–and the possibility of a traffic incident skyrockets, Levinson explained.

“We’ve seen many cases where, in these danger zones, major crashes occur,” he said. “We’ve had cases where–because of mechanical problems–a vehicle has to pull over, and shortly thereafter, there is a major crash. We’ve had professional truck drivers that we represent that while they’re in the process of putting out safety cones, there’s a collision. This is partly because there’s not enough room on the shoulder, and partly because of the inattention of another trucker who has not been properly trained, so that goes directly to having safe roadways.”

For Biden’s economic plans–although specific details still need more clarity–Manchin is confident that Democrats will be able to reach a deal sooner than later. Progressive Democrats in the House have said in the past that they do not plan to vote for an additional infrastructure bill of $1 trillion that was already passed in the Senate until a larger social spending measure plan can be agreed upon.