FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 11, 2015
PERTH AMBOY, NJ – Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D NJ-06) and Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today joined transportation advocates and labor leaders to call on Congress to approve long-term, dedicated funding to repair and upgrade the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. Funding for critical highway, transit and safety programs will expire at the end of the month, and the federal Highway Trust Fund (HTF) faces insolvency by summer.
“The sooner Republicans join Democrats to take responsibility for repairing our country’s transportation system the less it will cost to maintain in the future,” said Congressman Pallone. “With thousands of crumbling roads and bridges, the need for renewal of the Highway Trust Fund and a commitment to robust investment in infrastructure is two-fold – a boost to the economy and job creation, along with the long-term safety and health of our transportation system. The time is now for this vital investment.”
“The ability to move people and goods safely and efficiently is critical to our economy and our quality of life,” said Senator Menendez. “We can’t keep pretending the problem is going to resolve itself if we just wait long enough. I categorically reject the idea that we can’t afford to fix our transportation system. We can’t afford not to fix it.”
The federal lawmakers stood along a structurally deficient Rte. 35 Bridge over County Road 624/Rte. 440 Connector in Perth Amboy, one of over 2,300 bridges in New Jersey deemed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to be deficient.
First built in 1960 and carrying 22,000 cars daily, the span is scheduled for full structural replacement by the N.J. Dept. of Transportation in its FY2016 capital plan. However, if the HTF goes bankrupt this summer, reimbursements to states for critical highway repairs and transit projects like this will be reduced or slowed.
Sen. Menendez and Rep. Pallone also stressed the need for greater infrastructure investment in roads, rail and transit, including replacing the two aging Hudson River rail tunnels that also sustained significant damage from Superstorm Sandy.
Attending today’s press conference were: Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex); Joseph McNamara of the New Jersey Laborers Union; Erin Rice of the Operating Engineers, Local 825; Daniel Ortega of the Engineers Labor-Employer Cooperative; Janna Chernetz of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign; Dr. Patrick Szary of the Rutgers Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation (CAIT); Andres Roda of the Bridge Evaluation and Accelerated Structural Testing Lab (BEAST) at CAIT; and Tracy E. Noble and Cathleen Lewis of AAA Mid-Atlantic.
Infrastructure: By the Numbers
Highways/Bridges
· 65% of major roads in America in poor condition
· 1 in 4 U.S. bridges need significant repair
· Highways and bridges face an $808.2 billion backlog of investment needs
· $121 billion and 2.9 billion gallons of gasoline wasted due to traffic
Transit
· Zero access to public transportation for nearly half of Americans
· $86 billion backlog of transit maintenance needs
· $18.5 billion a year through 2030 required to bring transit assets into state of good repair
Freight/Ports
· 52,000,000 tons of goods annually moved across U.S. transportation system
· $46 billion in freight transported across the U.S. each year
· 44 million jobs directly dependent upon U.S. freight industry
Economy/Jobs
· The American Society of Civil Engineers found that the economy could lose almost $1 trillion in business sales and lose 3.5 million jobs annually beginning in 2020 if we fail to build our infrastructure to keep pace with this growth.
· An estimated 36,000 jobs are supported by every $1 billion invested in public infrastructure.
Safety
· 33,561 lives lost in highway crashes in 2012.
· 2.3 million people injured in highway crashes in 2012.
· Motor vehicle crashes are one of the leading causes of death in the U.S.
· Pedestrian and bicycle deaths have risen in recent years and accounted for 16 percent of the total fatalities on U.S. roadways in 2012.
Source: USDOT
2 comments:
NJ pays an average of 2,000,000 per mile to maintain roads. This is not sustainable. The real solution is to do away with prevailing wage.
It is much more than prevailing wage. Look at the amount of money that is spent on design and engineering these projects, it is sickening. Guess where a healthy chunk of that money goes? The highway authority wants to reconfigure GSP exit 109 at Newman Springs Rd. The cost of design and engineering? $7,000,000.00!!! Outrageous!
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