In what will be welcome news throughout the trucking industry and for all those who depend on Expedited Freight it looks like a transportation bill is gradually moving closer to approval in Washington D.C. The House of Representative’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee provisionally approved a revised version of the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2015 after numerous revisions.
Our economy relies on trucking and a dependable, safe and efficient transportation network and the passage of the Act is vital to the stability of the industry. The latest bill lays out funding for fiscal years 2016 through 2021 and authorizes $261 billion to highways, $55 billion to transit and nearly $9 billion to safety programs nationwide.
A key component of the revised bill pertains to interstate tolling which will be an interesting advancement. Initially, Virginia, North Carolina, and Missouri have received conditional approval but have yet to take steps to expand their respective tolling programs. A three-year window was granted to either adopt such tolling programs or lose the authority to launch them.
The amended bill should be on the House floor within the next ten days at which point it will become clearer as to whether it is likely to see passage.
Ultimately it's the general transportation funding that is of the greatest importance to carry out the needed and ongoing repairs and improvements that make the interstate highway system safer, more efficient and as dependable as it can be. Each of these contributes to the health of the economy along with the reliability of urgent trucking and expedited freight services.