AASHTO Journal - AASHTO Provides USDOT Input on Funding Reauthorization

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials recently provided surface transportation reauthorization recommendations to the U.S. Department of Transportation; sent in response to the agency’s Request for Information filed in the Federal Register in late July.

[Above photo by AASHTO]

The organization also included in its reauthorization package a set of core policy principles and policy resolutions adopted by its Board of Directors in May at its Spring Meeting in Hartford, CT.

AASHTO also highlighted USDOT’s “extensive engagement and collaboration” with state department of transportation at the agency’s “America is Building Again” event that officially launched USDOT’s reauthorization efforts on July 17.

That event included a sit-down between AASHTO President Garrett Eucalitto and USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy as well as participation by state DOT leaders in a policy roundtable hosted by Steven Bradbury, USDOT’s deputy secretary, and Sean McMaster, the Trump administration’s nominee to head the Federal Highway Administration.

“This robust dialogue enabled sharing of a wide-ranging perspective from individual state DOTs to inform national transportation needs and priorities,” AASHTO noted in its reauthorization package.

“What was also clear from our dialogue is the strong alignment of priorities for surface transportation reauthorization between USDOT and state DOTs as reflected in AASHTO’s vision, which calls for a world-class transportation system that supports and strengthens the nation’s transportation infrastructure for a strong economy with improved safety and mobility,” the organization said. “We believe achieving this vision requires federal funding stability, formula-based federal funding paired with state contributions, current funding levels plus inflation being the baseline, and applying user pay principles for all vehicles.”

AASHTO stressed that “state DOTs have decades of experience” in successfully delivering the infrastructure projects that keep the country and its economy moving forward and stand to serve as a willing partner to USDOT in its reauthorization efforts.

“We look forward to the opportunity to execute our vision for a world-class transportation system that supports and strengthens the nation’s transportation infrastructure for a strong economy with improved safety and mobility through the next surface transportation reauthorization bill,” AASHTO noted.