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Home / Legislative Action Center / Issues - Transportation / AWB Pushing Congress to Pass Transportation Funding Bill This Year |
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AWB Pushing Congress to Pass Transportation Funding Bill This Year |
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Written On: June 3, 2004 |
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Written By: Richard Davis |
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OLYMPIA—The Association of Washington Business (AWB) is urging President Bush and the Washington congressional delegation to approve $318 billion in transportation funding this year.
“Our transportation improvements can’t wait,” AWB President Don Brunell said. Washington could receive over $4 billion if the legislation is enacted this year. There is the possibility of millions in additional funding for special projects such as the Alaska Way Viaduct in Seattle if the legislation is approved.
Brunell said the worst possible thing would be to delay needed construction projects for another year.
Dubbed SAFE TEA, the shortened title for the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2003, it reauthorizes the federal-aid surface transportation program through 2009. The act basically distributes federal gas taxes collected at the pump for the nation’s highway system. The money is in the Highway Trust Fund and would not increase the national deficit.
AWB agrees with its national affiliate, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, that there is a serious road congestion problem in our nation and it is costing our economy an estimated $70 billion each year. “That doesn’t include the lost family time with moms and dads stalled in traffic jams and it does not account for the fuel costs when truckers, commuters and drivers sit idling on clogged freeways.”
Driver frustration contributes to road rage and endangers lives. “Add to that to pollution generated by a sea of cars, trucks and buses stuck in traffic and you can easily see where these investments are justified.”
Brunell indicated AWB wants the House, Senate and President Bush to resolve their differences as quickly as possible. The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that for every billion dollars in projects, 47,500 jobs are created.
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