BIDEN IMPLEMENTS INFRASTRUCTURE LAW AMID INDUSTRY CALLS FOR MORE

BIDEN IMPLEMENTS INFRASTRUCTURE LAW AMID INDUSTRY CALLS FOR MORE TRUCK PARKING

Infrastructure spending is guiding President Joe Biden’s agenda this year. His administration has signaled its focus to allocate recently approved funds for projects at ports, freight hubs and electric vehicle facilities to respond to supply chain woes and inflation.

Much of the funding was approved in the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, or IIJA, designed to improve freight and passenger transportation connectivity as well as tackle climate change.

The White House has centered its messaging on telling the public that infrastructure spending leads to economic growth and productivity.

“With our infrastructure law, we’re reinvesting in our economy,” said Biden in Ohio on Feb. 17. “That’s what we’re going to do. But as we rebuild America, we’re buying American and betting on American workers.”

The president, who signed the bill into law on Nov. 15, added, “The infrastructure law also helps us invest in a cleaner, stronger, more resilient electric grid, with 100% clean electric energy being generated by the year 2035.”

Specific to the trucking industry, the infrastructure law paved the way for an apprenticeship for commercial drivers under 21 to operate their vehicles across state lines. The law also established a task force designed to recruit and retain women in the industry.

Key to the infrastructure law’s implementation is the dissemination of what the U.S. Department of Transportation described as historic investments in ports. The department announced nearly $450 million in grants for port-related projects. The funding, aimed at alleviating bottlenecks at ports and freight hubs, was approved via the administration’s port infrastructure development program. “We’re proud to announce this funding to help ports improve their infrastructure, to get goods moving more efficiently and help keep costs under control for American families,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Feb. 23. “President Biden is leading the largest-ever federal investment in modernizing our country’s ports, which will improve our supply chains and the lives of Americans who depend on them.”

Nearly every freight stakeholder celebrated the law’s enactment. The trucking sector, however, is reminding top administration officials of an ongoing need for better access to truck parking. This long-standing concern remains atop the industry’s agenda. American Trucking Associations and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association recently pressed USDOT to identify strategies for adding parking spaces for truckers.

In a letter on Feb. 18, the two groups urged Buttigieg to immediately dedicate resources that would address their concerns. “The pervasive truck parking shortage can be explained with simple math: There are about 3.5 million truck drivers in the United States and approximately 313,000 truck parking spaces nationally. For every 11 drivers, there is one truck parking space,” ATA and OOIDA wrote to the secretary. “The lack of available truck parking has dire safety implications for truck drivers as well as the motoring public.”

On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, Democrats in the majority said they intend to pursue remedies that would alleviate economic pressures for middle-class families. A group of Democrats recently proposed a suspension of the federal gas tax through the end of the year. The legislation, led by Sens. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Mark Kelly of Arizona, would eliminate the 18.4 cents-per-gallon tax on gasoline produced, imported or sold until Jan. 1. “We need to continue to think creatively about how we can find new ways to bring down costs, and this bill would do exactly that, making a tangible difference for workers and families,” said Hassan, whose bill would not affect the 24.4 cents-per-gallon diesel tax. Most of the transportation community rejected the proposal and key Republicans came out in opposition.

On the other side of the aisle, senior Republican senators are expressing concern over the infrastructure law’s implementation. Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Deb Fischer of Nebraska and others in the GOP took issue with a Federal Highway Administration recommendation for state transportation officials to prioritize highway repairs over new construction projects.

The senators shared their views with Buttigieg: “If implemented faithfully to the legislative text, the IIJA will upgrade and expand the surface transportation system in a manner that benefits all communities and the nation.”

“The provisions of the IIJA were carefully negotiated and reflect the input of both parties, the Biden administration, and the broader stakeholder community,” they added. “We urge recognition of the legislative process used to develop the IIJA and adherence to congressional intent as FHWA moves forward with implementing this historic legislation.”

The infrastructure also law seeks to address conditions related to equity and connectivity, boost workforce development, prioritize severe-weather resilience, repair bridges and expand access to broadband.

EUGENE

MULERO Senior Reporter