Throughout the trucking industry, this year may be most remembered for the extended wait for a new national transportation bill, a topic that has been high on everyone's agenda for more than twelve months. For expedited freight companies and all nationwide trucking companies, our highway infrastructure provides the platform for success within our industry and the economy as a whole.
Now that the proposed transportation bill is looking closer to passage it's worth noting that the American Trucking Association (ATA) is encouraging government leaders in the US House of Representatives to avoid any delays in forwarding a final extended highway bill to the desk of President Barack Obama.
ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said;
“We congratulate Chairman (Bill) Shuster and ranking member (Peter) DeFazio for leading the passage of a long-term, bipartisan highway bill. Now we urge House and Senate leaders to come together on a final bill that increases highway investment to send to President Obama this year.”
On November 5th, the House of Representatives passed the six-year highway bill in a step roundly applauded by the ATA. Changes and enhancements see a dedicated program for funding highway freight projects in addition to clearer environmental reviews of federally funded highway programs.
It is widely hoped if not expected that the bill will now pass and already analysts are picking apart the details and assessing the overall sum of benefits, gains and shortfalls. One of the most prominent debates for the trucking sector is the case being made for toll roads in a number of regions. Meanwhile, we remain keen to see final passage of the bill to safeguard the crucial infrastructure that allows us to provide our leading expedited freight services nationwide.