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Tell Washington to Keep America moving.
We are falling behind in infrastructure investment as our nation’s motorists get snarled in worsening traffic. You can help support safe and uncongested roads and bridges, which serve as the backbone of our economy. Congress needs to address this serious issue but time is running out. The Highway Trust Fund is a US transportation fund, which receives money from a federal fuel tax of 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel fuel along with other related excise taxes. It is projected to go bankrupt in 2014, according to Congressional Budget Office figures, which means many economically-bolstering, congestion-reducing highway projects and improvements are in jeopardy.
"As a frequent traveler for my business, using both car and truck, I've witnessed firsthand the critical need for maintaining and improving our infrastructure. Safe and efficient roads are essential for my work and for countless others. That's why I wholeheartedly support legislative action aimed at building and developing better roads. I understand it's a monumental task to mobilize government resources for this cause, but I'm ready to dedicate my time to advocate for it. If it takes a Superman-like effort, then let's embrace that spirit! Whether it's wearing a Superman hoodie to raise our spirits as we rally support, or symbolically distributing Superman shirts to show our gratitude to those working hard on these projects, I believe in doing whatever it takes to unite everyone behind this vital goal." Victor Shalles
We should be following the model of businesses everywhere who are changing their current customer relationship management (CRM) systems to Salesforce. Many businesses are hiring experts to translates their business goals and vision into the latest technological solutions. The best Saleforce implementation teams have experienced BSAs, paired with Salesforce configuration specialists and developers, to ensure their client's Salesforce configuration fits their business process - not the other way around. And in the cases where the out-of-the-box Salesforce features don't meet the business's needs, solutions by tailoring Salesforce can be developed based on the company's specialized needs. Businesses understand the need to have the best CRM available to run their companies effectively and efficiently. The government needs to take the same approach with our nations roads and related infrastructure.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Census Bureau, every one dollar invested in road improvements results in an average benefit of $5.20 in the form of lower vehicle maintenance costs, fewer traffic delays, and less fuel consumption. Traffic congestion totals a staggering $121 billion in wasted fuel and time costs each year. Comparatively, vehicle miles traveled increased 37% from 1999 to 2011 while new road mileage grew by a mere four percent. Traffic crashes cost the nation $230 billion per year, amounting to $819 for each resident in medical, travel and workplace costs.
Our nation’s roads and bridges are rapidly deteriorating and the necessary revenue to simply maintain the current status quo is drying up as state and local governments grapple with dwindling budgets. Facing increasingly stiff global competition, the nation cannot afford to under invest is such a critical component of the nation’s economic engine.
It’s time for our lawmakers to take action and support our highways. Let your voice be heard and urge Congress to increase revenues for investment in roads and bridges!
As of August 2015 Congress managed to avoid a shutdown of highway funding for another three months by passing a pair of measures. The first measure authorizes the Highway Trust Fund for six years with three years of funding. The second measure is a three-month extension passed by the House to keep the fund afloat. The Senate passed the House’s three-month extension patch ostensibly to buy time for both congressional chambers to come to a long-term agreement.
However all the three-month extension did was to push the difficult questions of how to pay for the nation's road and rail projects long-term into an already busy Congressional fall schedule.
Without the three-month stopgap measure, authorization for the Eisenhower-era program, which provides money through the federal fuel tax to states and localities to build and maintain the nation's roads and bridges, long with the public transportation systems, would have run out at the beginning of August.
The six-year bill, negotiated by Boxer, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., only identified funding sources for three years, which leaves one to wonder what happens to funding for the last three years.
The United State’s highway system is a crucial lifeline for interstate commerce as well as an engineering marvel. Unfortunately, Congress has not shown much commitment to keeping it in working shape.
