APTA, Coalition Urge Congress to Reauthorize Surface Transportation Programs at IIJA Levels

APTA and a Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO-led coalition wrote to congressional committees March 4 to encourage authorizers and appropriators to reauthorize surface transportation programs at IIJA levels, including advance appropriations.

“Sustained, predictable federal support is essential to addressing aging infrastructure; modernizing critical assets; and ensuring communities and businesses nationwide benefit from safe, reliable, and efficient transportation,” the letter stated. “Multi-year certainty gives state and local agencies, engineering firms, contractors, suppliers, and operators the ability to plan and deliver projects more efficiently, reduce costs, and maintain skilled, stable workforces. It also provides private-sector partners the confidence to invest in materials, equipment, facilities, and employees.”

The last surface reauthorization bill (P.L. 117-58) recognized predictability as fundamental to success in infrastructure construction and paired increased authorization levels with advance appropriations that provided predictability across multiple fiscal years.

Congress made these advance appropriations available for a host of transit, rail, bridge, highway, intermodal freight, and airport programs that require reliable federal support, such as:

• Constructing new public transit rail lines, replacing aging buses, expanding ferry service in rural communities, rehabilitating outdated facilities and infrastructure, including upgrading old stations to provide access to riders with disabilities.
• Funding major railroad construction projects, rolling stock procurements, and targeted capital projects that enhance Amtrak services, create a safer, reliable, more efficient freight and intercity passenger rail network, and support railroad suppliers and manufacturers.
• Replacing, rehabilitating, preserving, and protecting bridges.
• Investing in regionally significant multimodal freight and highway projects that improve the movement of freight and people through rural and urban areas.
• Opening funding to local communities for projects that improve economic competitiveness, increase road safety, and others that improve local and regional infrastructure.

Through the guaranteed funding of advance appropriations, businesses and state and local governments have been able to plan ahead, assemble matching funds, and complete necessary steps for readying grant applications. This predictability reduces barriers to participation and produces efficiencies that lower long-term costs.

“Building on the last authorization bill’s levels and predictable federal funding through advance appropriations for all modes will help to strengthen America’s infrastructure delivery system and draw private sector investment based on longer-term guaranteed project pipelines to ensure the greatest return on taxpayer investment,” the letter stated.

“As you continue work on the next surface reauthorization, we urge you to meet or exceed existing funding levels, including advance appropriations, that offer all transportation modes a stable, predictable source of funding necessary for long-term investment, effective project delivery, and responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars.”