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▶ 0:06:18the subcommittee on highways and Transit will come to order I ask unanimous consent the chairman be authorized to declare a recess at any time during today's hearing without objection so ordered I also ask unanimous consent members not own the subcommittee be permitted to sit with the subcommittee at today's hearing and ask questions without objection so ordered as a reminder if members wish to insert a document into the record please also email it to documents
▶ 0:06:48mail.house.gov again that's I now recognize myself for the purposes of an opening statement for 5 minutes today's hearing begins our subcommittee's activity in the 119th Congress we have a number of new members of Congress on this subcommittee so I want to welcome them as well as my colleagues who have previously served I'm honored to serve as chairman of the highways and
▶ 0:07:18Transit subcommittee and I look forward to working with chairman Graves and committee members as we begin a very active Congress the 2021 infrastructure investment and jobs act or AA included Provisions to authorize our nation's Highway programs until September 30th 2026 as we begin the important work of reauthorizing our nation's surface Transportation programs this committee will build upon the bipartisan successes of the 118th Congress and I look forward to working with chairman
▶ 0:07:48Graves ranking Larson ranking member Norton the rest of my colleagues in the Trump Administration to produce a bipartisan member-driven bill that revitalizes our nation's infrastructure it's important that we hear from those working and interfacing directly with these programs to ensure Congressional intent is being followed our Highway Network ensures the safe and efficient movement of people and freight and improves economic competitiveness in fact the United States
▶ 0:08:18transportation system is comprised of 4.2 million miles of public roads and almost 620,000 Bridges this infrastructure maintains our supply chain with the free flowing movement of goods across our country to ensure Goods move efficiently and keep cost low for for American goods and services we must continue to invest in our nation's most vital infrastructure and that of course is our highways and bridges the highways roads and bridges
▶ 0:08:48linking our communities and States supported through existing core formula programs are the foundation of our economy to keep projects moving continued flexibility for for our state Departments of transportation is imperative States know their unique Transportation needs and how to best address them we must continue to uphold and abide by this Hallmark principle in the next Highway bill so I look forward to hearing from our Witnesses today who will be able to
▶ 0:09:19share what's working what's not and why a simple extension of the current law would be detrimental for State Do's planning of multi-year projects while I believe most here today understand the urgent need to address our nation's most pressing infrastructure concerns we must also recognize we don't have an unlimited checkbook AA authorized an appropriated 365 billion for Highway programs within the 5year reauthorization
▶ 0:09:49for Highway programs the law increased funding by 62% compared to the 5-year average of the previous Bill the 2015 fast act there therefore you're looking at a staggering increase obviously there on top of reauthorizing existing programs AA created new discretionary programs including efforts to prioritize electric vehicle charging infrastructure cut carbon emissions and support active Transportation projects like bike lanes lanes among others so with our
▶ 0:10:20national debt surpassing 36 trillion and adding an additional 70,000 per minute we must scrutinize and streamline programs to address what waste and ensure our tax dollars are focused on reliable infrastructure that will help grow our GDP we must also have a Frank discussion about the solvency of the highway trust fund the main funding source for Highway projects since 2008 Congress has transferred approximately 275 billion to cover the shortfall of revenues as expenditures
▶ 0:10:50have grown Highway funding relies on a user pays principle it's pretty simple you purchase fuel to fill up your vehicle do use the rest Nots and the fuel taxes collected from that purchase go into the highway trust fund however electric vehicles which are often heavier than their conventional counterparts because of the weight of their batteries do not pay into the highway trust fund it is wholly unfair and that an entire segment of users doesn't contribute to the roads and bridges they use this won't address
▶ 0:11:20the greater solvency issue obviously but we must Rectify this so all users are treated fairly and contributing to the systems on which they rely now continued investment in our nation's Highway Network translates to a strong economy and improved quality of life for all Americans and so I look forward to today's discussion I now recognize ranking member Holmes Norton for five minutes for an opening statement thank you Mr chairman
▶ 0:11:50uh I would like to thank uh subcommittee chair Rouser for holding this hearing on surface Transportation programs and to express my eagerness for this subcommittee to get started in the 119th Congress America's roads are an important part of our larger transportation system we rely on millions of miles of public roads and bridges
▶ 0:12:21including 1 million miles of Federal Aid highways to move goods and people across the country uh these roads in unison with other surface transportation systems like Transit rail uh and pedestrian and biking infrastructure form the foundation for our economy in November 20 uh 21 Congress passed the bipartisan
▶ 0:12:51infrastructure law representing a historic investment in the nation's transportation system this law is only reauthorized this law not only reauthorized our surface Transportation programs through fiscal year uh 2026 but also provided 1.2 trillion that's trillion dollars to maintain improve and rebuild our
▶ 0:13:22infrastructure within our subcommittee's jurisdiction this law included 355 5 billion for highways $ 108 billion do for Transit $43 billion for multi-modal Grants and $1 13 billion for highways for Highway and motor C carrier safety since then the department of transportation's
▶ 0:13:52hard work has resulted in the announcement of almost 600 bli million dollars for over 66,000 projects this funding has gone toward projects in communities all across the country creating jobs improving safety accessibility and promoting a cleaner Greener transportation system now with the end of bipartisan infrastructure laws
▶ 0:14:235year reauthorization in sight this subcommittee must ensure these continue at this subcommittee as this subcommittee considers the next surface Transportation bill it must prioritize safety make no mistake we are living through a Public Health crisis over 40,000 people died on our roadways in 2023
▶ 0:14:54remarkably this number represents a 5% Improvement from where we were in 2021 the brunt of these deaths have been borne by pedestrians cyclists and communities of color we cannot allow this trend to continue we cannot allow any more families to be devastated the bipartisan infrastructure law safety uh the bipartisan infrastructure law took safety seriously
▶ 0:15:24for example the safe streets and drugs for all program was established to help local governments plan and build out projects to improve safety and reduce roadway deaths though this Pro through this program 75% of the nation's population will be covered by these safety plans however there
▶ 0:15:55is still work to be done to improve safety we now need to support our local governments by continuing these locally driven efforts and connecting them with funding to build out these safety plans any reauthorization legislation this subcommittee consided must make meaningful progress on this issue safety is non-negotiable
▶ 0:16:25we also must work to continue mitigating the impact of our transportation system on the environment especially from gas vehicles transportation is the largest source of emissions in the United States and our transportation policies and programs must be reformed accordingly expanding access to Transit walking and biking is crit is a critical part of
▶ 0:16:55the solution thank you to our Witnesses today I appreciate your input regarding the needs of the nation's transportation system and look forward to our discussion about the challenges ahead I back gent lady yields back uh I now recognize Mr Larson for his statement thank you chair Rouser and welcome to the subcommittee and thank you for holding this hearing to kick off the surface Transportation reauthorization the title of this
▶ 0:17:25hearing series America builds says it all and right now thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure law America is building again and we need to keep it going building Transportation isn't just doesn't just mean highways investments in transit in Rail and ports and airports keep America moving as well I look forward to Future hearings on how Transit agencies and rail networks sustain our economy and how surface the surface Transportation reauthorization impacts these modes BL funds are supporting over 85,000 new Transportation projects in every congressional
▶ 0:17:55district the B help create 1.6 million construction and manufacturing jobs across this country these jobs with good wages benefits and working conditions are driving the low 4.1% unemployment rate while modernizing our infrastructure that's why it is unfathomable to me that on the first day of this Administration the president signed an executive order to pause this progress putting millions of dollars hundreds of thousands of jobs and thousands of projects located in every congressional district
▶ 0:18:26in of this country at risk no committee is more bipartisan than this committee and the pain that this part of the executive order is equally bipartisan so I want to call on every member of the full committee to look at the projects in your District the jobs in your district and remind the administration of this bipartisan pain that this will cause your districts instead we should be working together across the aisle and with the incoming Administration to celebrate the economic and safety benefits of Transportation
▶ 0:18:56projects to ensure these benefits continue to flow to our constituents we need to engage local Partners in the next reauthorization and last week we heard the testimony of Mayor protm Fuentes from Austin Texas who reiterated the important role that local governments play in our transportation networks local governments own 77% of the nation's roadways 50% of the nation's Bridges and 46% of urban and rural Transit providers over 90% of B Highway and Bridge dollars go out to formula go out by
▶ 0:19:26formula to the states yet mayor Point testimony noted that the majority of car trips are local and Freight trips often begin and end on local roads this disconnect is why Congress prioritized some B funds to be distributed via competitive grants these grants ensure the communities have a chance to secure funding and advanced projects that may not be prioritized by state dos these grants play a big role in delivering locally driven projects and just this month theot announced $5 billion for more
▶ 0:19:56than 560 Transportation projects in every state funding projects important to members of Congress Governors Mayors state legislators Republicans Democrats and Independence all of which are put in danger due to this administration's misguided executive order on transportation funding just since 2022 I've helped secure over $103 million in raiseed Grants from my district these projects are developed designed and driven by local input and support and I could tell that story 434
▶ 0:20:26other times for every District in this country thanks to these discretionary grants communities in my district can get to work on projects rebuilding Lynwood's popular way Bridge replacing the lumy Island Ferry or modernizing scet Transit operations center or the port of bellingham's shipping terminal the B also made its mark on the types of projects States and local governments are building the reconnecting communities pilot program is funding projects that make it easier for people to get to work or school these projects support local economic activity
▶ 0:20:56and improve safety for residents in areas that have been separated by past Highway projects bringing communities back together the B established a $5 billion Mega grant program to fund large complex infrastructure projects like the Brent Spence bridge in Kentucky that has long been delayed due to insufficient funding it also created the9 billion doll Bridge investment program which is helping to repair and replace aging bridges that support key Freight routes throughout the country and finally the B is investing in safety projects to help tackle
▶ 0:21:27the safety crisis in this country as we noted with more than 40,000 people dying in motor vehicle crashes every single year the B boosted the highway safety Improvement program and is providing the first time direct funding to cities counties and Rural communities to save lives Investments include including Safe Streets and roads for all grants Empower your local communities to plan and execute projects to improve how your constituents can get around more safely keeping our transportation
▶ 0:21:57system in good repair keeping it resilient keeping it safe and keeping it ready for future rate and Pastor demand requires ongoing investment I'm ready to make that investment we're ready to make that investment let's keep it going I want to thank the witnesses for being here today and I look forward to your testimony with that yield back gentlemen uh yields back uh before we uh get going full of force here I want to um make a few observations that you may find of interest uh there are a total of 55 members
▶ 0:22:27on this uh subcommittee and if you're wondering how that compares with other full committees If This Were a full committee we would be the SEC we would rank second uh in terms of total membership only behind armed services so that gives you a little sense of uh the width and breadth of the transportation and infrastructure committee and particularly uh the interest and importance uh of this uh of this
▶ 0:22:59so I would like to uh welcome our Witnesses and thank them for being here today uh briefly I'd like to take a moment to explain our lighting system uh to our Witnesses pretty simple to understand uh green is go yellow is wrap it up and red is stop as soon as you possibly can uh so you'll see those lights uh as you begin I ask unanimous consent the witnesses full statements be including in the record without
▶ 0:23:30objection so ordered I ask unanimous consent the record of today's hearing remain open until such time as our Witnesses have provided answers to any questions that may be submitted uh to them in writing without objection so ordered I also ask unanimous consent the record remain open for 15 days for any additional comments and information submitted by members or witnesses to be included in the record of today's hearing without objection so ordered as your written testimony has been made part of the record uh the
▶ 0:24:00subcommittee asked that you limit your oral remarks to 5 minutes now I want to go through and and uh introduce the witnesses that we have here to today we have uh Mr Jim timman uh who is with the American Association of State Highway and transportation officials we have Mr uh Dinger uh who's with the Cargo Transporters Incorporated uh representing uh American Trucking associations
▶ 0:24:30and then we uh have um Miss Janet uh kavano uh who is with Vulcan Materials company and then we uh have Matthew koven with the Transportation uh trades Department of the AFL CIO with that Mr tman you are now recognized for up to five minutes thank you chairman Rouser and congratulations on your appointment to the most important
▶ 0:25:01subcommittee uh in Congress uh chairman ranking member Norton and members of the subcommittee thank you for holding today's important hearing on our nation's highways and their role in moving people and Freight my name is Jim timan and I serve as the executive director of the American Association of State highways and transportation officials or ashto I'm honored to testify on behalf of our state dos in all 50 states the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico this morning I'll speak to
▶ 0:25:31the surface Transportation aspects of iiga and while this hearing is focused on Highway programs ashto recognizes that Federal Transit and passenger rail programs remain crucial to supporting our entire transportation system my testimony will speak to ig's successes and challenges and the upcoming surface reauthorization so let's start with the successes of iiga one of the most important successes in iiga has been the ability for State dos
▶ 0:26:02to take formula dollars provided in iig and utilize those dollars to deliver tangible projects and benefits quickly State dos are able to do this through their longrange plans and capital programs developed in partnership with mpos and localities as a result state DOT formula dollars are spending out on projects in your communities at a faster rate than any other Transportation project category in iiga when funding is distributed to
▶ 0:26:32states by formula this is the most efficient and effective way to create jobs have an impact on the economy and improve our transportation system another area of progress under ijaa has been Highway Safety in 2021 there were over 43,000 fatalities on our nation's roadways iiga provided funding and policies that enabled State dos to accelerate deployment of proven roadway safety strategies and Innovative
▶ 0:27:02countermeasures according to Nitsa since 2021 roadway fatalities have declined for 10 consecutive quarters even as people are driving more miles in 2023 there were about 41,000 roadway fatalities still a staggering and unacceptable number but the iiga has provided state doots with a foundation to continue making progress to drive that number towards zero when it comes to ia's challenges first is the administration
▶ 0:27:33of the discretionary Grant programs the process around discretionary grants has shown to be slow burdensome and less efficient in turning federal funds into projects and benefits compared to the deployment of formula funds provided to State dos another challenge has been the impact of inflation a 70% increase in Highway construction costs in the last four years means that state have actually lost ground on purchasing power even with I's
▶ 0:28:03nominal funding increases which was only about 20 to 25% for state DOT formula programs yet another challenge is the bureaucratic red tape related to federal regulations and permitting requirements while the iiga included some Provisions to address this issue some of those Provisions have not been implemented and still more can be done in the next piece of legislation the final challenge I'll mention today is related to bi America requirements ashto and the
▶ 0:28:33state dos remain unwavering in our support of increasing America's manufacturing capacity creating domestic jobs and supporting economic growth however there is still significant concern about the industry's transition to I's new bi America requirements specifically we request reversing an fhwa final rule that was issued earlier this month that ended the longstanding wave this Congress has an extraordinary opportunity to develop and enact the next surface
▶ 0:29:03Transportation reauthorization bill in the next bill ashto asks Congress to build on The Proven successes of the state DOT formula programs we also request maximum flexibility and transferability between funding categories coupled with the removal of regulatory and programmatic burdens that often delay project delivery the next bill should look at I's funding levels as the starting point and those levels should grow from that point finally I would like
▶ 0:29:33to thank Congress for the work this uh for working with State dos on a fix to fhwa August redistribution process and on the unprecedented natural disasters that state dos have faced in the last few months more work is needed in both areas but we appreciate what has been done so far so thank you to close ashto and its members are fully committed to assisting this subcommittee and putting together the next surface Transportation Bill to ensure our nation's longterm economic growth
▶ 0:30:04and improve safety through the federally assisted State implemented Federal Highway program thank you again for the opportunity to testify today and I look forward to your questions thank you very much um Mr Dinger chairman Rouser ranking member Norton and members of the subcommittee thank you for allowing me to testify on behalf of the American Truck associations beyond my role as ATA chairman I serve as president and CEO
▶ 0:30:34of Cargo Transporters a family-based trucking company based in Western North Carolina it is a privilege to be here today as you prepare to reauthorize the Federal Highway bill this is an issue that affects all Americans and especially the8 and a half million men and women who work in our industry the supply chain crisis of 2020 1 exposed serious consequences of underinvestment and transportation and more recently
▶ 0:31:05herc Helen's Devastation to my home state highlighted the need for robust networks ATA strongly supported passage of the last Highway bill which made substantial investments in all 50 states the legislation provided the largest infusion of funding in our nation's supply chain in nearly a century yet the harsh reality that after accounting for inflation we're spending Less on roads and bridges
▶ 0:31:35today failure to act comes at a risk and imposes its own cost case in point Highway bottlenecks add over a 100 billion to the cost of freight Transportation annually and that's the equivalent of 435,000 drivers sitting idle for one year it's imperative that we expand a capacity and eliminate the inefficiencies to boost us manufacturing grow public and private businesses and lower cost for the
▶ 0:32:07consumer infrastructure improvements reduce hazards promoting safety for the motoring public and our drivers is a high priority for the trucking industry and that's reflected in the fact that motor carriers invest over 14 billion annually and safety related systems and training but this is bigger than us we need con to help build on that progress from increasing truck parking that would alleviate dangerous situations where truckers are forced to park in unauthorized
▶ 0:32:37locations to ensuring that effective and robust drug testing protocols remain intact to keep drivers who are under the influence off our roads in addition to enhancing safety the trucking industry has made significant strides in improving our environmental footprint while continuing the task of moving the vast economy over the past 40 years advancements and engine technology have produced trucks that are 99%
▶ 0:33:07cleaner unfortunately over the past several years the EPA abandoned a collaborative model that made these achievements possible the EPA and a patchwork of states have imposed mandates that threatened to raise costs and cause significant disruption without delivering the intended environmental we look forward to working with the new Administration and this 119th Congress to reverse the trends set forth and restore a common sense approach that sets
▶ 0:33:37ambitious and achievable standards my Trucking career began nearly four decades ago I've seen firsthand the incredible opportunities this industry provides individuals to support their families and attain the dream and is with my hope that Congress will continue to partner with us to incentivize Workforce Development and protect Pathways to entrepreneurship to include the independent contractor model
▶ 0:34:08making it easier for more people to find rewarding and good paying jobs and trucking we look forward to working with every one of you in the subcommittee as you develop an infrastructure package that promotes safety for the motoring public and our drivers while prompting the creation of efficiencies as we to remove our nation's economy roads and bridges aren't Affiliated to a given party they are an priority thank you for allowing
▶ 0:34:38me to speak today and I look forward to answering your questions thank you very much uh Miss kavan okei you're recognized chairman Rouser ranking member Norton chairman Graves and ranking member Larsson and members of this committee thank you for inviting me here to testify my name is Jet kavano and I'm here on behalf of more than 11,000 employees of Vulcan Materials company the nation's largest producer of construction Aggregates and a major
▶ 0:35:08producer of Aggregates based Asphalt in Ready Mix Concrete the 500 member companies of the National Stone sand and gravel Association comprise 100,000 direct jobs at over 9,000 locations and generate approximately 35 billion dollar a year annually in economic output article one of the Constitution clearly enumerates congress's role to build roads and transportation networks on which our nation's growth and security depend we are proud to supply the essential
▶ 0:35:38construction materials for this backbone of the American economy and the safe eff efficient movement of goods and people the bipartisan infrastructure investment and jobs act enacted in November 2021 marked a once- in a generation investment in surface infrastructure with the Highway and Transit authorizations in this law expiring on September 30th 2026 I would offer three underlying principles for the committee to consider as it begins the
▶ 0:36:08reauthorization process first enact a long-term bill with certain predictable multi-year funding a long-term Federal Aid highway program authorization with reliable predictable multi-year funding is the foundation upon which state and local government and their Partners across the construction industry plan design engineer construct operate and maintain infrastructure year-over-year State dos are the managers
▶ 0:36:39of their transportation infrastructure inventory which is a multi-year challenge stable policy and predictable funding are the right approaches to address this challenge second emphasize core Highway programs and state decisionmaking we support this committee maximiz ing funding through the core formula apportionments and maintaining the Federal Aid highway program as a state administered federally assisted program for the past 100 years formula funding
▶ 0:37:09to States has been the indisputable foundation of the program formula funds are efficient and flexible enabling state and local decision makers to address their citizens needs in contrast the iig is allocated and Specialty abortion programs with detailed eligibilities often defined by federal agencies limit state and local decision-making flexibility in addition slow implementation of new programs has resulted in lagging obligation rates third
▶ 0:37:39pay for investment three Highway trust fund supported by all users beginning in 1956 the highway trust fund supported programs through user fees however since 2002 user fee revenues have been insufficient we have been fortunate that Congress maintained long-term predictable and increasing funding Levels by supplementing user fees with General funds and other transfers but we are facing the same challenge again in the upcoming reauthorization in June the
▶ 0:38:09Congressional budget office projected that the highway trust fund would end fiscal year 2028 with a gap of about $18 billion based on flat spending levels the cumulative shortfall through fiscal year 2031 is estimated at $136 billion these project ctions underscore the need for a long-term Revenue solution supported by all users the alternative annual Appropriations would create uncertainty instead of stable predictable multi-year contract
▶ 0:38:40Authority finally as this committee plans for an ontime reauthorization we urge a return to more typical focused surface Transportation reauthorization versus what I'll call the iig model now to be clear Vulcan supplies a full range of public infrastructure rure projects and benefited from more than just the surface Transportation portion of iiga however we feel that a focused effort managed through regular order will provide for the important debate discussion and negotiation
▶ 0:39:10benefit the final product and help deliver an ontime reauthorization delays and extensions are not in the public interest they drive up cost hold up Capital Investments and hiring and diminish the value of benefits by pushing them out to the future we recognize that to accomplish this over the next 20 months before September 30th 2026 is a daunting task and we stand ready to collaborate and partner with you thank you again for inviting me to testify and I look forward to
▶ 0:39:41your questions thank you very much uh Mr coven you're recognized for up to five minutes um on behalf of the transportation trades Department afal CIO and our 37 unions I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify um on on the top of our national highway system and and our national infrastructure um TTD represents millions of workers across the entire Transportation sector and there is no part of our highways that they do not uh um
▶ 0:40:11work on from the workers manufacturing American Steel to those using it to build Bridges from those preparing the ground and laying foundation for our highways to the skilled professionals inspecting and maintaining them these workers are not only delivering on the promise of the 2021 infrastructure laws generational investment they're doing that while they're training the next generation of workers to meet the increased demand for for skilled labor um for decades TTD has advocated for the kind of generational Investments that would finally bring our
▶ 0:40:41infrastructure into the 21st century for us it was not about spending money for its own sake um it was not about creating union jobs just for the sake of creating union jobs that we're happy to have them uh it's about hearing the the voices of workers who um are on the front lines of our transportation systems who can see the unsafe practices the crumbling roads crumbling Bridges outdated uh systems that we use insufficient capacity and the inefficiencies that turn routine operations into nightmares
▶ 0:41:11for workers and for commuters alike the economic impact of these Investments um uh have already been um you know significant and they cannot be overstated in in October of 2024 us do announced over 1 7 million construction and manufacturing jobs have been created uh in the prior four years and 700,000 additional um in the transportation sector including Pilots Port workers bus drivers rail engineers and and uh
▶ 0:41:41other professions um I want to say that the the Biden Administration was was really critical in the unprecedented executive actions that they took to ensure that um these Investments did create and maintain good union jobs uh through executive orders and Regulatory actions it's strengthened by America requirements expanded worker safety protections and prioritized High Road labor standards in federal Contracting under the previous leadership of secretary Buddha judge
▶ 0:42:12the Department of Transportation specifically worked to tie Federal Investments and infrastructure into um uh ensuring that we had uh real growth in jobs through uh project labor agreements local hire provisions and and that that would not have happened with just the iig Alone um these combined legislative and executive actions created a comprehensive framework that didn't just fund infrastructure ensured these Investments built career Pathways into the middle class
▶ 0:42:43Beyond creating direct opportunities um Federal infrastructure Investments um generates a significant multiplier effect they ensure businesses have access to workers customers can reach commercial centers and goods can move efficiently throughout our supply chains uh this is a uh Strategic investment that delivers demonstrable returns for our communities Across America it would be a mistake right now to roll back any of those protections
▶ 0:43:13um and and we would argue that they should all be enshrined in an upcoming reauthorization and while I do understand that today's hearing is focused on highways I I hope you can all understand that I probably can't just stick to that one mode here um uh but but I will say you know there Freight doesn't just move on highways it comes in through ports get loaded onto trains and trucks so we do have to look at this as an entire
▶ 0:43:45uh sorry my computer's just being weird um on a national scale the computer the I'm sorry the numbers tell a powerful story uh Nationwide Transit sorry get back to here okay um yeah on a national scale the numbers tell a powerful story Nationwide Transit ridership has been steadily climbing with over 7.9 billion total trips projected for 2024 an increase um driven by communities recognizing
▶ 0:44:15the economic and environmental benefit of robust investment in trans public transportation uh the growth in public transportation um has been sort of a recent uh surprise and and one that we're um we're happy to see for years we had been warning against Workforce challenges in in this sector but in 2023 alone the transit Workforce expanded by 10,000 new jobs with salaries increasing by over $1 billion these gains reflect not only recovery
▶ 0:44:46um of our transit systems but also renewed confidence in the importance of transit to our n our infrastructure uh I do want to say the dot um just recently released results from a um uh efforts they had taken to to help reduce the uh the real challenge of assaults on our national transit systems um one of the findings that they released is that there's been a 232 per increase in assaults on Transit workers over the last 10 years and and that is uh
▶ 0:45:16unacceptable you know we we took real measures in the iiga to ass to deal with um Salton Transit workers but there's still an outstanding Ru making from the fast act that was years ago that still has not been implemented um we we have to take additional actions to put a stop this um I also cannot overstate the importance of bi America policies for our workers and our economy bi America ensures that when we spend federal dollars on infrastructure we're also investing in American jobs uh American manufacturing
▶ 0:45:47and and the US industrial base these policies create highquality Union supported jobs that pay Fair wages and offer safe working they reduce our Reliance on foreign Supply chains strengthen our economy and ensure that taxpayer funded projects deliver real benefits to American families as Congress looks towards the next surface uh reauthorization it is essential to provide federal agencies with the resources and oversight needed to enforce by America effectively
▶ 0:46:17um and I will uh and myself there thank you you wrap up quickly uh you know I I will just end with this um I know many of you in this room weren't uh here for the um uh for the iig I know many of you probably didn't support the Ia if my my math is correct um but I will say that the the efforts that President Trump um uh is taking to undermine those funds I hope we can all agree that whether you support
▶ 0:46:47it or not um that that's not undermining Grant making undermining Federal funding is not a a serious way of dealing with um uh implementing your policy priorities and and and I would urge all of you to um you know even if quietly uh to to urge this Administration to reverse those decisions the gentleman's time has expired appreciate everybody's uh testimony uh today very much so uh Mr timman I'm
▶ 0:47:18going to start with you uh the uh IA created many new uh discretionary Grant programs administered by the Department of Transportation uh can you share quickly with the committee your perspective on how formula funding compares to discretionary grant funding and projects well thank you for that question uh chairman Razer uh according to the Congressional budget office an estimated 67% of formula dollars that are provided to State dos uh through iiga have
▶ 0:47:48been spent out uh in the the first two years of when they're uh when they're allocated conversely the spend out rate for discretion AR grants under that same time frame is between 1% and 7.4% so you know I think that those statistics demonstrate the efficiencies that exist with the formula dollars and some of the inefficiencies that exist with the discretionary Grant programs and uh can you share your thoughts on how channeling funding through the existing
▶ 0:48:18core Highway formula programs help uh helps with certainty in capitalizing on the expertise of our state Departments of Transportation absolutely so State dos rely on the federal formula dollars for the predictability that come with a long-term Federal surface Transportation bill so when Congress enacts a five-year bill as they did with iiga it provides State dos with a road map and and predictability for how much Federal funding they are going to receive
▶ 0:48:48through those formula dollars each of those 5 years State dos are then able to work with their Metropolitan planning organizations and Loc alties in their state to identify a pipeline of projects that is ready to go in each of those years and they're able to to execute that plan in a way that gets those dollars out the door into the community often in the first year or two of when that money is authorized and appropriated um Miss kavan
▶ 0:49:18noi um we obviously need to look for ways to uh streamline and limit uh uh you know federal dollars so that uh what we're appropriating or in the funding that we have available goes a whole lot further uh what are your thoughts on how we can address permitting efficiencies at the uh Federal level and how do we better streamline the review processes to ensure projects aren't getting need needlessly hung up and sub subsequently uh increasing
▶ 0:49:48the cost pretty dramatically I think for every year of delay in a project it adds about 20 30% to the cost of the project Mr chairman that is a great question and it's one that's been asked in every reauthorization since IC te in 1991 which was the year that I graduated from high school so this is a perennial question now fortunately iiga did codify One Federal decision U I think there are going to be
▶ 0:50:19opportunities going through this next reauthorization process to look at how that was implemented and also to look again at Federal permitting timelines to see where there might be opportunities again to increase it but really you do have a you have an opportunity I think going forward to ensure projects have the support that they need the unified stakeholder support use the use the planning process to ensure that what you're moving forward is something
▶ 0:50:49that is not going to get caught up in lawsuits in future times um and then it's dos and Federal Highway Administration working together to expedite moving those projects along absolutely um uh Mr Dinger uh I'll move quickly uh to you given the time is winding down a bit uh can you share with the subcommittee uh what you see as the top challenges uh facing the trucking industry as we um prepare to reauthorize programs
▶ 0:51:20I think the top one that comes to mind maybe is the repeal of the fet uh a long-standing uh tax on our industry probably one of the highest taxes as well uh that would allow us to spend dollars um uh on other safety features or investments in our company uh probably probably the biggest thing and and for a lot of you that may not be aware but fet uh
▶ 0:51:50adds $177,000 to each of our tractor purchases a year and I know every every one likes a a buy one get one free type thing but for every 10 trucks that we purchase we could purchase 11 the 11th truck with the repeal of the Fe and on our trailers we look at $5,800 on those and you know if we purchase 200 trailers a year and that's normally what our cycle is to replace equipment uh we're looking at that times
▶ 0:52:20you know 200 so f is definitely a big one I see my time has just expired so I will uh recognize Miss dorton for up to minutes thank you Mr chairman uh Mr timman since uh 20 uh 12 Congress has directed states to incorporate measures to help ensure Federal funding is
▶ 0:52:51addressing National goals Congress safety as the first goal in the statute followed by infrastructure conditions States had developed Asset Management plans that are directly woven into investment decisions and since 2012 have helped improve pavement and Bridge conditions on the national highway system by contrast safety on our roads has gotten
▶ 0:53:21worse in 2012 there were 33,500 61 people killed in traffic crashes in 4,990 people died do you support requirements to hold States accountable for investment decisions based on safety results in the same way states are held accountable for infrastructure conditions well
▶ 0:53:51thank you for that question ranking member Norton uh first let me say that safety continues us to be the number one priority for every state do in the country uh and the number of deaths that we're seeing on our nation's roadways while even if though it has come down over the last consecu 10 consecutive quarters is still unacceptable uh what I would say uh is that the performance measure sections that are currently in law do require states to set up uh strategic highway safety plans which guide the decision making for
▶ 0:54:21how they allocate resources uh but when it comes to essentially for ing a state's hand to make investment decisions I would say that the same way that folks within the District of Columbia don't want the federal government taking a heavy hand in how they make their investment decisions I think that every state in the country uh prefers giving States the flexibility to address those challenges on their own they still are uh provided federal funds through the highway safety Improvement program to invest in safety projects
▶ 0:54:52and States go over and above the dollars that they're provided uh to make sure that they're making improvements from a safety perspective uh but I don't know if we would support a more heavier hand from the federal government in directing States and how to make those investment decisions because each state approaches those investment decisions uh in their way thank you uh Mr uh Dinger uh last Congress I introduced the bipartisan household goods shipping
▶ 0:55:22consumer protection act with Congressman e to address fright uh sorry Freight Freight fraud and restore Federal authority to prevent scams from occurring in the shipping industry we plan on re reintroducing this bill and there will be bipartisan a bipartisan Senate companion bill as well what are the benefits of enacting this bill for both
▶ 0:55:52shippers and consumers well first of all thank you uh ranking member Norton uh for introduction to that bill and and we do support it uh because definitely uh anything that protects the consumer but also protects the good carriers out there that are doing the right thing is very welcomed thank you um uh Mr timman Congress recently enacted a disaster recovery bill
▶ 0:56:23that provides 8 billion dollar to the traffic to the Federal administration's Administration relief program Congress did not provide the $50 million requested by the Federal Transit Transit Administration to meet its emergency relief program needs for disaster related repairs does the American Association of State Highway and transportation officials support providing
▶ 0:56:54dedicated funding to the Federal Transit administration's emergency relief program like they do to the highway uh program uh we believe that the federal government does have a role in providing uh relief for emergency situations uh as they did with the8 billion uh bill that was just adopted uh and do agree that funding should be allocated to the Federal Transit administration's emergency relief program I would say that both of those
▶ 0:57:24programs probably are historically underfunded when you look at the highway program and the transit program over the years that they've been authorized I see my time has expired Mr Crawford thank you Mr chairman and thank you'all for being here today I want to start with Mr Dinger and um want to commend you for the forward-looking proposals you've had on Highway trust fund and infrastructure investment in addition to road safety and Driver shortage and I'm going to focus on that driver shortage issue just real quick I've been a proponent of
▶ 0:57:54legislation to allow younger drivers access access to commercial Trucking with the hope of replenishing our driver Workforce I wonder if you can talk about what ATA is doing to support and increase the driver Workforce and what we here in this committee ought to be looking at as we take on Surface reauthorization to do the same thing well first of all representative Crawford thank you for supporting uh ATA and our industry um with
▶ 0:58:24stad uh but we would also like to see that become permanent uh I think we were a little bit late at the game as far as getting the The Kinks worked out and the thing sunsets I guess in November of this year uh it's something that we would like to see permanent but getting you know younger drivers in is important but also uh getting women into our industry uh we offer a lot of good careers a lot of good driving careers um that that women do well and getting
▶ 0:58:54them involved and and we we could do that through um basically better parking uh a lot more parking I think we need funding for parking uh that's not in a bucket uh with other groups pulling out of it right um we we need safe parking for for females uh where they feel safe being out there sure sure that makes sense um Mr CH I'm going to shift gears a little bit and and uh talk about Federal funding
▶ 0:59:25and and you've made have made some comments about this already so if I'm repeating myself I I apologize but I'm a proponent of formula funding and I'll admit I'm a little skeptical about the wisdom of some of the AA created discretionary grants I think that less than 16% of aa's raised grant money has been obligated only roughly 1% has been spent we only have about 18 more months of AA left so that's also a concern and I hear all all the time how financing lags CA cost to Skyrocket as inflation sort of devalues that dollar so I wondered if you could
▶ 0:59:55talk about whether formula or discretionary grants or are are better um for D dos or for our national infrastructure needs I just want to make sure we're putting taxpayer money in the best place to get the most return on the investment well thank you for that question Congressman Crawford I I uh as I mentioned earlier we do firmly believe that the best use and most efficient use of the federal dollars is through uh the Federal Aid highway program formula dollars uh 66%
▶ 1:00:25of those formula dollars provided the states uh have been spent out in the first two years in which they've been uh appropriated or authorized whereas on the discretionary side uh it's between one and 8% uh you mentioned the raise grants uh an example in uh in the state of Georgia um a local applicant had received one of those grants uh two years after they were selected they have yet to even uh it took them two years to execute a grant agreement
▶ 1:00:55with FH way before they were or usdot before they were even able to access the dollars uh so I think we're seeing that across the discretionary programs just the inefficiency associated with putting out a noo selecting the projects and then awarding those projects the money just isn't spending out and creating jobs in communities at the rate I think Congress had hoped it would it does create those jobs and have the impact at the formula dollars because the money goes out almost always in the same year or two that it's authorized okay thank you want to come back to you Mr Dinger just
▶ 1:01:25for a quick minute on the issue of road safety hair testing for drug abuse is an issue I've heard from constituents about quite a bit over the years and the Federal Highway Administration has been dragging its feet on regulations allowing certified hair testing results to be included in the drug and alcohol clearing house and I hear anecdotally all the time about how many drivers have positive hair tests but negative urine tests that's very concerning to me does ATA have any data you can share on the scope of this problem and how hair testing could be a positive safety solution well
▶ 1:01:55I'm going to speak for for our own company and in 2015 the uh fast act uh HS was uh as to find a workable solution for hair testing and so in 2017 we began hair testing in our company the unfortunate thing is it's never been recognized and uh a urine test costs between $ 38 and $45 and hair tests is between $88 and $98 so we're running parallel programs and have been since
▶ 1:02:26um you know I don't know how many people would not come to our door knowing that we have hair testing but let me tell you knowing that we have it we have uh probably I'd say 1 and 10 to one in 15 that end up being improves the quality of applicant for you then pardon it improves the quality of applicant for you we we like to think so yes but the unfortunate thing is that that driver all he has to do is leave us when he the hair test
▶ 1:02:56and and go down the street and take a urine test sure is working for someone thank you I appreciate it Mr chairman El back Mr Larson thank you Mr chair uh Mr cvin uh you talked about workers the importance of uh the workers as part of um the I a uh as we look at the next version of the of this bill can you talk about the value of the work that we did to tie Workforce Development basically building as we're building Next Generation
▶ 1:03:27infrastructure we're act we're building Next Generation Workforce uh for that infrastructure and uh talk a little bit about the value of that is that good or bad yeah I think um obviously uh really excellent and and I don't mean to undercut um the the real serious advancements that there were in um Workforce training programs in the iiga when when I mentioned um the additional steps that this Administration took but but I think if you look Beyond um just the apprenticeship programs you know there's a whole wealth of other
▶ 1:03:57uh employment created by these Investments that um they don't have those sort of traditional um uh apprenticeship style programs that a lot of the the the Building Trades do so um you know I mentioned Transit uh that that was an industry that had uh an above average um age of workers they they were all within you know the I'm sorry the the majority were in um uh within retirement age you know I think 5 years um and and Transit agencies were really struggling to bring
▶ 1:04:27in the next generation of workers and and paired with that were policies you know looking at transitioning to Electric uh uh buses but we we had no real pipeline for training those workers so um you know I think I think we're now starting to finally see the benefits of that um I think the fact that H the hiring up is up is is a obviously a good sign and while there have been challenges with um uh how exactly to deal with with training for transition to electric vehicles I think um you know more of
▶ 1:04:57those sort of supportive programs that that pair training with procurement um uh would be something that you should be focused on thanks thanks uh Mr chairman I know there's a focus on the formula funding but truthfully there' be there would be projects that wouldn't be funded in all of our districts if we relied only on the states to take the formula money and make it happen that's I can I can point to projects in my district maybe it's just the nature of my district ORS because they me their representation in Congress but the truth is they they wouldn't be funded and so um
▶ 1:05:28uh I agree that it's been slow on the discretionary uh but the Culvert program which we call the cot program in our state we're not the Supreme Court of the United States said we had to fix this so it is a national interest that we have a Culver program um as a for instance and so I think there are examples like that rather than just relying only on the states to take the formula money and then and then um uh and then dangle it out in front of local governments and we heard from that heard from um mayor ptim Fuentes of this last week so
▶ 1:05:58I want I want to know if you willing to commit with this committee to actually figure out a way to improve the the selection process and help communities gain access to funds I know it's not National's interest I heard it from Roger Mar all the time this is the Democratic and Republican state do message it's not a republican message it's not a democratic message it's everybody but I don't agree with it um and so I want to know if you'll commit to working with us to um solve um the problems that we do have as opposed to just relying on give
▶ 1:06:28give the states more money if I saw all that money in discretionary I'd want it too if I was a state that's not the way you it uh absolutely right Mar we we would love to work with the committee to find ways to uh improve the project selection selection process uh I would also say that uh you know I think that we there should be a robust discussion on what do what types of projects should be funded with federal dollars versus what shouldn't because I think one of the reasons that these dollars are spending out so slowly is that there are some of these
▶ 1:06:58smaller projects or local projects that just aren't a good fit for all of the bureaucratic red tape that goes along with a federal dollar uh that comes through these discretionary programs so I think that we would absolutely welcome that discussion to figure out what are the types right types of projects to be funded with federal dollars and how to improve the project selection process apparently we got 20 months to do that so uh so and going to uh Miss uh kokei on your um your
▶ 1:07:28I think in your testimony you looked if I got this right the construction cost index chart was in your in your testimony perhaps it wasn't okay it doesn't make that's not that's not as relevant it's in one it's in somebody's um and um big big factor matal material costs are high there's inflation and that is a little tick down uh in the last last quarter or so how can we keep that moving how can we keep the inflation on material cost um
▶ 1:07:59continuing to move down sure so was not in my testimony but we are well aware of of construction cost inflation Vulcan has seen higher than expected what can we do to keep that little that little movement down downward movement going well I mean inflation is a function of a lot of different factors um the international environment we saw when Russia invaded Ukraine it substantially our oil prices our fuel prices
▶ 1:08:29I think the more stability you have overall in the system um the global system the economic system that's of critical importance um we you know we continue to just manage inflation as best we can in the categories where it's sticky uh we know we I'm more my time and I want to respect the chair so if I could get for the record um some comments from your industry on that question that'd be real grow provide those for you thank you appreciate Mr
▶ 1:09:03Webster thank you chairman uh Mr timman you mentioned uh in your written testimony that um you want to ease the uh assessment or access to the ass assignment of NEPA and or for states that want to do that but um how would you or could you just on why or
▶ 1:09:33how or what what takes place uh that makes you well positioned as a state state of Georgia uh to take that assignment well uh the NEPA assignment pilot Pro program that's provided for uh on the federal uh level allows um states to be able to essentially make those decisions in uh to manage that process in lie of the federal government and uh there are a handful of states that have taken that opportunity
▶ 1:10:03uh including Texas Utah California um that have really seen an improvement in um the number of months it takes to get through the NEPA process because now they control that as opposed to relying more on the federal government uh so we've seen that it is a very effective uh use of uh the tools that are provided at the federal level unfortunately not every state is going to be able to take advantage of that because one of the aspects of that
▶ 1:10:34program will require states to wave sovereign immunity and there are a lot of states that are not interested in waving sovereign immunity in order to take on those responsibilities under NEPA assignment so that's been a big barrier for why other states are not taking on NEPA assignment is because state legislators and some Governors are are reticent to wave SN immunity are you in Georgia ready to do that uh well uh unfortunately our uh our our Asos vice president and commissioner
▶ 1:11:04of the Georgia do was unable to be here today because of the snowstorm that they're dealing with they have I think uh even three inches of snow in Savannah uh but Georgia is one of those states that has not uh taken on NEPA assignment but they have had in Incorporated other streamlining tools into what they do they uh set up an office where they are able to uh bring in um Personnel from federal resource offices to be able to sit together to be able to work
▶ 1:11:34on specific projects that get uh that have to go through uh the permitting and Regulatory process but they have found that putting those Federal um agencies together uh that are working on Georgia specific projects in the room together is really improve the efficiency of being able to get some of those uh projects move through the pipeline in a more efficient manner so that's uh you um it's like an in in agency thing of some sort
▶ 1:12:04it is Georgia is one of the states that uh actually pays for um Personnel in other Federal resource agencies that to work specifically on projects so it is a little strange in that the state is actually using their dollars to pay for salaries for federal but they feel it's a worthwhile investment because it helps them expedite uh those projects that are specific to Georgia and in Ideal World they wouldn't have
▶ 1:12:35to do that that the process would work faster and the people would be there uh to actually work on those projects but in Georgia's case they actually pay for uh the salaries and expenses associated with uh some of those Federal resource agency staff to be able to expedite projects so do you think that that model should be replicated in other places I think that given the current structure it has worked well in Georgia and several other states and I think other states are are continuing to look at that as an option
▶ 1:13:05so it is a model to help improve the process especially for states that are unwilling to wave sovereign immunity or unable to wave sovereign immunity and take on NEPA assignment okay you back Mr Johnson uh thank you uh chairman Rouser and ranking member of Holmes Norton for hosting this necessary hearing today and thank you to the witnesses for your time and your testimony
▶ 1:13:36the title of this hearing transportation to move people is fitting because every day we rely on transportation to live our lives in fact all of us took some form of transportation just to be here today whether we walked on the roads drove a car or rode a train we need to build a future where safe efficient and sustainable transportation is not a luxury but a reality for every American regardless
▶ 1:14:06of zip code when we invest in our infrastructure we create a ripple effect that touches every aspect of our society and economy the investments from President Biden's bipartisan infrastructure law have already contributed to the creation of 1.6 million jobs in construction and Manufacturing our job now is to continue building on that progress so millions are not left behind I look forward uh
▶ 1:14:36to hearing your answer to this question Mr uh timman uh on Monday president Trump issued an executive order titled unleashing American Energy section seven of that order States quote all agencies shall IM immediately pause the dispersement of funds appropriated through the inflation reduction act or the in uh infrastructure investment and jobs act the bipartisan
▶ 1:15:06infrastructure law which will impact uh transportation funding under those two uh acts can you explain the impact the pause in federal funding will have and how is a working with the new Administration to clarify this order well uh thank you for that question uh I will say that uh when we saw that executive order on uh Monday and then how it was implemented
▶ 1:15:37uh briefly yesterday there was a lot of concern uh within the state do community um because for a short period of time uh Federal funding reimbursements for the formula programs uh was halted and uh we worked closely with the uh new Administration and and the folks at USD and usdot and at at OMB uh to make sure uh there was clarification that the intent of that executive order was not to stop the flow of all federal
▶ 1:16:07dollars uh that that were provided for transportation programs through those two uh bills and and our understanding is that uh both usdot and om uh do not intend for that executive order to all of the transportation programs in those two acts and that they are working together to clarify exactly which programs it should apply to so uh there was some Panic yesterday uh initially
▶ 1:16:38we do feel a little bit better about it as of yesterday afternoon and and this morning but there's still some concern yeah it's kind of like uh you know first numb and then you uh you you start realizing okay well maybe there's some wiggle room but then when you go back and read the executive order there is none yeah uh so there's a need for uh clarification amidst uh the chaos that has uh ensued from this Reckless uh action
▶ 1:17:08uh in issuing this executive order uh Mr Dinger with the recent record-breaking increase in cargo theft across the country this issue has become a pressing challenge for the trucking industry American Trucking Association member companies have been heavily impacted facing increased costs disrupted Supply chains and heightened security risks could you please elaborate on the impact this issue is having on the industry and
▶ 1:17:39how can stakeholders and the federal government collaborate to enhance prevention efforts and strengthen enforcement against cargo theft cargo threat has became rampid and um I think I think that basically the thieves and the um rings have have learned uh a lot of different ways to uh to steal you know whether it's stealing loads whether it's actually
▶ 1:18:09going in there and uh posing as a broker and sending a truck in knowing that they're not going to take the freight to where it's destined they're going to take it to a warehouse somewhere but probably the biggest and these are not Sol would be that the federal government work that there be some type of clearing house where you could call One location I mean we're we're now involved in situations where you go got to go in the jurisdiction that it's in to report the crime and so these
▶ 1:18:39aren't illegal immigrants that are doing that are they I'm not going to put that on illegal immigrants I mean it's I've understood it it's maybe even Russian gangs or did you see an executive order issued yesterday that related to this problem uh that the American Trucking Association and the industry is experiencing with these cargo thefts I did not thank you the gentleman's time's expired Mr Bost you're recognized for five minutes thank you Mr CH
▶ 1:19:10chairman Mr timman as you know I am leading a bipartisan effort uh in the house to authorize Federal funding to expand truck parking capacities many states have indicated they don't have enough truck parking capacity which we know affects Highway Safety Supply Chain efficiency driver Recruitment and Retention as a representative of the State Department of transportations if Congress created a grant program exclusively to be used
▶ 1:19:40in the truck parking Pro uh projects would your members pursue these federal funds for the protection of the State uh if there was a grant program for truck parking States would be interested in that I would say that uh it's not just a a ability of funding on the state do side a lot of the right of way that the state dos have control of there is a restriction uh as to what they can do within that right of way including uh establishing new rest areas uh and commercializing them to be able
▶ 1:20:10to support truck parking so that is another so we need to also work on the regulations that allow you to be freed up to use the properties around there to to expand that that is another challenge that's good to know and if might you would reach out to our staff I'd like to see what we can do there uh Mr delinger uh thank you first off for your support of the trucking legis truck parking legislation uh I think it's vitally important and you mentioned it in your testimony that it is and um I was in the business for several years but I'm going to switch gears here and I'm going
▶ 1:20:40I want to ask you about something you know uh topic a as a former trucker myself one of the biggest concerns with the highway trust fund has been its long-term health and potential uh CH changes that have been put on the truckers in your testimony you brought up something that UN that consult it actually bothers me and here's why and and that was on tolls specifically on trucks so right
▶ 1:21:10now um and for years we have had uh if if if you travel in the intra or Interstate Trucking industry you have uh a portion plates and those abortion plates you basically if you own the business you calculate out what how many miles last year you drove in each state and then you pay a portion based on each state well back whenever I was doing dispatching and driving myself
▶ 1:21:41we couldn't figure out which one cost the most but computers today say okay I can drive down one Interstate in Missouri and not have to go into Illinois because Illinois is too expensive do you think these tolls added on top of that that will then also add to the fact that many of the trucking people that are in the trucking Industries they're going to make wives decisions they're going to say hey you know what we're no longer driving down and through that state we're going to go around that state because we can to save money I
▶ 1:22:11think that does happen Okay um you know I guess as far as our position on tolls we just want tolls to be Equitable um you know we want the passenger cars to pay uh just like the uh we're not opposed to paying uh but basically you know we are against uh tolling Uh current roads uh maybe New Roads or Bridges uh but current roads and and we need Alternatives uh where there are are tolls
▶ 1:22:41and our company you know our company 500 trucks um we spend close to approximately 180,000 a month in toes okay well first off you said your trucking company has 500 trucks most I ever had was 45 God bless you um but when you say the tolls because if you put tolls on existing road we've already paid for those right this is and and the maintenance and upkeep is still should be the idea and intent of of the motor fuel tax was that we would have enough but we've been dealing
▶ 1:23:11since I've been here with the issue of what taxation uh what generation of Revenue especially as we start going to more EVs and everything like that how are we going to get those revenues in and do you have any suggestions for that well I guess if I had the answer I wouldn't be running a trucking company but that's true too but um I mean you know we we want to help to be a part of the solution and not the
▶ 1:23:41problem uh we want to pay our fair share and you know we think as well uh EVS uh need to be paying to the highway trust fund as well and and I I guess I know it's it's kind of a difficult thing to raise taxes but you know when you look at the um tax base um the fuel tax base basically hasn't been raised in what 30 years right and you look at um I think back when I started driving in the the 60s and 70s
▶ 1:24:12the cars got about 8 or 10 miles a gallon now they get you know between 30 and 40 and trucks got two yeah two to I I can remember when I first got into business three miles a gallon now we're getting 8.2 yep so so less dollars there as well so I I think um I think there's time that a solution is found I don't have the solution but I think working together we can come up with I think we do have to find it my time's expired and thank you for being here today Mr papus you're recognized
▶ 1:24:42well thank you to the chair and ranking member for holding this session as we begin to prepare for reauthorization of surface transportation and think about how iig has been working and um some of the priorities that we have that we're seeing from our district level I really appreciate the testimony of this panel uh Mr delinger if I could start with you uh and just sort of building off that conversation you kind of beat me to the punch and bringing up the Fe issue uh which is something that I think we've got to take a look at if we want to achieve fairness and sustainability
▶ 1:25:12with respect to how we fund uh surface Transportation uh you mentioned uh the fet issue this was a tax initially introduced uh during the World War I era to support wartime mobilization uh more than 100 years ago the federal Levy is 12% which is the highest excise tax on any product in the country taxes only collected when trucks are newly purchased so there's a disincentive uh for the procurement of newer more efficient models and as you say in your testimony
▶ 1:25:42a single truck manufactured in 1988 admits the same pollution as 60 trucks built today so that's pretty amazing to consider along with Mr lamalfa we've introduced the modern Clean safe truck act which will repeal the World War I era Federal excise tax wonder if you could just speak a little bit more and underscore for the committee the importance of looking at this 12% fe uh which um I think sets us back with respect to us um procuring newer safer trucks uh easing supply chain
▶ 1:26:13challenges and working to support businesses like yours and by the way congratulations on 60 years in business you from the fet I mean you could look at it a lot of different ways um and I spoke earlier about you know for every 10 trucks we purchase we could purchase 11 and create jobs um but other ways are when you're looking at that environmental footprint as well uh if we were able to take trucks incentivize people to buy newer trucks that have better safety
▶ 1:26:43systems on and eliminate some of the 2007 2010 and and earlier trucks uh and and actually have then a truck that is more energy efficient and uh produces less emissions uh would would be better for um the economy would be better for the um that's I guess from also from a safety standpoint
▶ 1:27:14as well having having newest and and the greatest uh out there appreciate those comments Mr timman uh thank you for reflecting the state perspective here um and um as you know the total amount of Highway trust fund dollars that can be annually committed is capped by Congress every year during the Appropriations process uh State dos receive their portion of the obligation limitation they must use it before the end of the fiscal year or the funding will permanently lapse uh every August to avoid losing those funds state dos
▶ 1:27:44are given access to any anticipated unused obligation limitation beyond their initial share so this is a kind of a wait and hurry up approach um this is always a paino that I hear about from my state do places unnecessary pressure on them and puts the needs of our constituents uh and the priorities at risk so in your experience can you talk a little bit more about the August redist redistribution process how it worked this past year what recommendations you would have for us going forward well thank you for that
▶ 1:28:14uh that question you're you're absolutely right the fhwa is August redistribution process is broken it was originally intended to distribute you know just a handful of dollars that were left as they approached the end of the fiscal year uh and provided to State dos because fhwa knew that state dos would be able to put those dollars to use uh as quickly as possible within that fiscal year this past year August redistribution was $8.7 billion or
▶ 1:28:4414.5% of the total Federal Highway program so states were asked to obligate $8.7 billion close to 15% of the total Federal Highway program in just 30 days in the last month of the fiscal year now states were able to do that because they have a long they had a pipeline of projects that were ready to go but we have pretty much exhausted that pipeline from state to state and if it's not legislatively they will run into the problems in obligating that and some of that money will lapse uh in future
▶ 1:29:14years Congress did enact uh through the W Bill a partial fix to that that will take essentially roughly $2 billion off the uh so hopefully see a reduction in next year's August redistribution but there is also a fix that's pending in the Senate past uh th propes bill that would really help address this uh as well and help even drive that number further down and we hope that the house can support the Senate position in that bill well thanks for your comments we want to continue to hear from ashto on that issue and
▶ 1:29:45I yield back my time Mr Babin your recognized yes sir thank you Mr chairman I want to thank the witnesses for being here as well we really appreciate your expert uh my first question is for Mr Dinger uh Mr delinger how does the patchwork of State specific emissions regulations and sales mandates such as those in California Impact trucking companies in terms of operational efficiency compliance cost and long-term
▶ 1:30:15planning well the problem is we running all 48 states and uh whenever the group of states uh take on different rules uh and regulations uh it becomes difficult for us to operate I mean we are operating on interstate highways sure for the most part and and we do need the help um to to have a federal rule not that uh carb or or a group
▶ 1:30:45decides what we're going to do as a nation right okay thank you and my next question is for you as well I understand that cargo theft remains a significant challenge for Trucking industry impacting ATA member companies through increased cost supply chain disruption safety risks what do you see as the most pressing gaps in addressing this issue and how can industry stakeholders and policy makers work
▶ 1:31:16together to enhance prevention efforts and strengthen enforcement against this cargo theft and looking at cargo theft for us as an organization we took it on as a a top tier priority uh actually last January at a meeting that took place or actually February uh it's it's one of those things that in our industry a lot of people did not discuss did not share so uh that's one of the the negatives that that you just didn't want to talk
▶ 1:31:46about but it has become so preva prevalent that basically it is an issue that you know people are starting to recognize and have discussion and yes sir again it's having it's having maybe that Central clearing house that's you know looking at all these uh thefts I mean we're not talking about a theft of a piece off a trailer we're talking about the theft of an entire load right um you know this was something that was again prevalent U years ago in the tobacco industry uh for the finished product or or maybe the electronic issue
▶ 1:32:16but it's got to the point I mean they're even still in roll stock paper uh I mean just I don't know if they don't know what's on the trailor and just load you know just pick it up and go with it but um uh household goods I mean when I say Goods I'm not speaking of the household uh Furniture I'm speaking of uh toilet paper paper towels I mean those are big desperation yeah maybe that's desperation well yes okay well thank you very much and then uh the
▶ 1:32:47my next uh question is for Miss kaven yes ma'am uh I represent the port of of Houston where Vulcan Materials does quite a bit of business so we're very familiar with your company Congress should be in the business of supporting our industry partners and not stepping on their toes I'm sure you would agree with that uh can you talk a little bit about how Congress can be a good partner a better partner if you will in supporting the industry we have been
▶ 1:33:17very fortunate to have a good partner in Congress for the Aggregates industry whether that is access to aggregates something called The Rocks act that of course we have many of you who have supported assistance at the local level and ensuring that there is support for quaries in the places or distribution yards as in Houston and the place that we need them and of course we have enjoyed the support of many of members of this committee as Vulcan Materials company with our uh with
▶ 1:33:47our issue with Mexico and the illegal shutdown of our operations there I think the Aggregates industry overall knows though that the biggest priority here is that long-term predictable ontime Transportation bill that's the best way you can support us yes ma'am and then finally uh do you have any thoughts on how Congress should be streamlining the permitting process permits are one of the biggest problems across the broad spectrum of of our
▶ 1:34:17bureaucracy and so would you like to chime in and just have a few words about how maybe we could streamline that process sure and understand and this allows me to add on U chairman Rouser to what I said to you so our production in delivery is principally affected by state and local laws but with regard to speeding Transportation project delivery we do in addition to the the full implementation of One Federal decision and the analysis of federal
▶ 1:34:47permit agency timelines I think there are a couple specifics to look at um one is EXP Landing categorical exclusions and the second is granting greater flexibility around utility relocation that can also help in speeding project development and delivery okay thank you very much and I yield back Mr chairman Miss sues thank you uh Mr chair and thank you uh ranking member Norton for holding this hearing today uh kicking us off for the 119th
▶ 1:35:17Congress uh for the subcommittee I appreciate your leadership and looking forward to getting to work especially as we have a lot of great opportunities this year uh thanks to the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure law in 2021 communities from coast to coast will see about uh$ 1.2 trillion dollars in local Investments to improve the reliability resilience and efficiency of America's infrastructure over the next 10 years and Americans are already seeing these tangible differences uh including improved roads
▶ 1:35:48Bridges transit systems airports waterways and environmental infrastructure uh in Ohio for example uh which is home to the nation's fifth largest interstate system that spans over 8,000 Lane miles we have 19,000 center lane miles uh the bipartisan infrastructure law is awarded 27 grants amounting to about 1.3 billion uh with a B funding to improve our state's roads and bridges uh with more than 6.6 committed to our state which we are very much looking forward to expending
▶ 1:36:18uh and using and I i' like to turn your attention to Ohio's 13th District uh which is where I represent we've seen over $176 million of Investments uh to create jobs and promote clean green safe more accessible transportation for my constituents and business uh communities all over um but one of the things that uh is really important as we are discussing these Investments is that they're not just play dollars that we just talk about uh and as we are building uh literally
▶ 1:36:48building our communities and uh we're talking about how we are increasing our e iomic opportunities I know people in my community get really frustrated when they see detours and barrels but barrels Means Jobs uh they mean that uh I like to say each Barrel means a job for someone in this community that they're investing those resources back into Ohio 13 and our across our entire State uh and and where we are in Ohio you can get to about 80% of the population in a day's drive and it just shows how important we are in the transportation Network across this country
▶ 1:37:19uh so knowing that to be the case uh and talking about that uh job specifically I want to turn my attention to you Mr cven because uh the prevailing wage is an important part of ensuring that the folks who are working uh on these projects are being paid livable wages and that they can actually s sustain themselves and their families uh can you talk a little bit about the members who you represent and why the prevailing wage the Davis bacon um standards are so important to you in our
▶ 1:37:49communities yeah I mean I think in addition to what you were saying it a quality of work that um you know that they know uh that that there will be high standards for Workforce training for those workers and that that the um the delivered product is going to be better and delivered on time and um you know I think Beyond uh you know beyond Davis bacon looking looking at other um uh labor workforce protections that that are are built into um our service Transportation programs um you know it's sort of a
▶ 1:38:19promise that the people who delivering uh these assets that we're investing in um you know should should be paid fairly and should be able to afford uh a middle class lifestyle and and um you know not not have it be uh you know low wages and undercutting workers as as the goal for for how we um uh build out our infrastructure and thank you for saying that and even before we get to the point where we have someone on a job site we have to train them we have to uh recruit them into these uh apprenticeship
▶ 1:38:49programs and I hear from literally every industry I meet with they have a hard time recruiting and retaining employees what are some of the things that we could do to help uh ensure that we have a reliable well-trained skilled Workforce uh prepared to take these jobs on as we continue to expend these dollars across the country uh yeah I mean I think you know there was flexibility for for funding in the IGA to to go towards Workforce recruitment I think the challenge there is that like you know if
▶ 1:39:19a state um dot is is looking at at Capital expenditures or recruiting with that money I think you know the capital uh is is going to win probably most of the time so I think you know we we do have to be more creative about how we um how we recruit where we recruit from and and I think um you know that that is that is an outstanding Challenge and it's beyond just uh construction you state dos um uh earlier I mentioned you know Transit agencies had had a huge um
▶ 1:39:50uh sort of impending Cliff of of um their Workforce so you know we do we do I think have a good argument to make that these are you know good jobs with good benefits um uh again the challenge is you know um ensuring that that that is prioritized by state dos prioritized by transit agencies and and in many cases that's just you know poor management or or or a lack of forward thinking
▶ 1:40:20thank you uh thank you Mr chair YB back Mr Westerman thank you Mr chair thank you to the witnesses for being here today you know as we consider this reauthorization we have to face the fact that we have a real problem in our country that we can't really build things anymore you know it took uh 35 years to build the first 42,000 miles of Interstate Highway and in the last 34 we've built 7,000 miles it's not just that we can't build we can't really maintain and repair like
▶ 1:40:50we're capable of doing and it's it's almost to the point of ridiculousness I have a a forest service road in my district that had a couple of landslides this is a Gravel Road in a very remote area and uh so far there's been $6 million of Grants awarded to fix the road but the timeline is maybe six years and to tell you the truth nobody really knows who's on First and who's on second and how this is going to get done
▶ 1:41:21and we can do much better than that as a as a country and with we we know that time is money these delays cost things Mr Dinger you know as a user of the highway system I think you said in your testimony $109 billion doll a year in in delays and burning something like $6.4 billion dollar of fuel setting in in delays we see those kinds of cost uh but then Mr Tom and in your testimony you you showed a graph
▶ 1:41:51on the i j a funding which ranges from about 70 to 80 billion doll a year over a 5year period and and it's uh the $80 billion in 2026 is going to have $40 billion of purchasing power also in your testimony you you showed where it takes six or 7.6 years to get uh through the NEPA process we've got to do better than that for the American people and for the everybody paying taxes and
▶ 1:42:21everybody that's using our our roadways um Mr tomman what can we do to allow State Transportation departments to do what they do and build roads and do it in a timely manner well thank you for that question uh you know I think that this has been a an issue that that Congress has been struggling with for uh decades now really I think that uh people on both sides of the aisle agree that we need to do
▶ 1:42:51more to streamline the project delivery process um as was mentioned uh there was one Federal decision provision that was provided in iig it has not been fully implemented uh as Congress intended by the previous administration we're hopeful that the incoming Administration the Trump Administration will Embrace The One Federal decision and the intent behind the the timelines associated with that provision uh and implement it in the way that Congress intended uh some other ideas is uh as I mentioned
▶ 1:43:21in Georgia they've decided to collocate and collaborate Federal resource agencies together in one in uh in one inter agency office to help make sure that everybody's working on a project uh in the most efficient way uh trying to find ways to um consolidate duplicative permits uh and reviews overseen by Coast Guard and army Corp of Engineers and the national Marine fishery services and US fish and wildlife services making sure that uh those things are happening
▶ 1:43:52concurrently and that uh that the that if there are duplicative permits by multiple resource agencies there's only one that you need to do as opposed to uh the same one over and over again for different resource agencies so those are just a few yeah there's there's a project that would should have been done in my district many many years ago it's Interstate 49 that goes from New Orleans up to to Kansas City and provides interstate highway but the the section in Arkansas is kind of
▶ 1:44:22the missing length finishing that project I did some research here's the environmental impact statement from 1997 this is the executive summary that's 37 pages long the actual Eis is 566 pages long and the Arkansas Department of Transportation tells me they have to go back and redo the whole thing before they could do that project if they were to get funding for it um I'll just ask I want to ask everybody on the panel is reforming NEPA critical
▶ 1:44:52to getting more for our infrastructure dollars Mr tommen I'll start and say absolutely and not just meepa but also looking at the underlying resource uh uh protection laws that are in place they haven't many of those have not been modernized or looked at in over 40 or 50 years we're not saying that they need to be eliminated just modernized line made to work quickly anybody else want to weigh in on that quickly you've got a whole seven seconds I'll yield that back to you Mr chairman thank
▶ 1:45:22you thank you uh Mr Nadler you're recognized thank you Mr chairman I thank our Witnesses for coming here I am eager to begin reauthorizing our nation surface Transportation programs particularly those under the Federal Highway administration's jurisdiction however I must first address the deeply troubling issue of President Trump's hastily and poorly drafted executive order titled unleashing American Energy that at least temporarily triggered an entirely avoidable crisis in the misguided attempt to pause
▶ 1:45:52funding for electric vehicle charging stations and similar programs the order inexplicably froze a substantial portion of critical bipartisan infrastructure law funding including fhwa resources this egregious misstep forced the agency to shut down systems states depend on to process Highway project agreements and reimbursements effectively halting access to 383 billion dollars in Highway trust fund contract Authority and endangering infrastructure projects Nationwide
▶ 1:46:23while the administration sent out a memorandum late yesterday to attempt to correct this error this committee should swiftly address the issue and ensure that the flow of essential infrastructure funding to the states continues without further delay Mr timman in your testimony you emphasize the importance of stable Federal funding for State dos could you elaborate on the potential impacts of any funding pause on Project timelines costs and state de's ability to effectively leverage federal funds
▶ 1:46:53well thank you for that question uh I I do believe that yesterday uh the pause uh that occurred was more of a miscommunication what the intent of the administration was and we did work uh with Folks at usdot and om to make sure that that was quickly uh corrected so our hope is that there is no hangover effect associated with that shortterm pause do you think that that correction completely solves the problem that was caused I I my hope is that it uh that it did but before close a business yesterday
▶ 1:47:23we did have assurances from USD that the flow of federal dollars to States uh for the vast majority of the programs uh authorized under ia uh would continue as normal so I don't believe there is there was much of an impact if any to reimbursements for States thank you Mr culvin your testimony highlighted a notable increase in transit ridership through the third quarter of 2024 with cities like Milwaukee and Madison experience experiencing impressive
▶ 1:47:53growth you also emphasized the critical role public transportation plays in driving economic prosperity and the importance of stable Federal funding for sustaining Transit operations what specific actions can Congress take to ensure stable funding and mitigate the impact of political uncertainty on the implementation of vital Transit projects well I think um I think you know guaranteeing the as much of the funding as we can
▶ 1:48:24has has been a um a big change that that you know predictable funding is is important as important in in public transit as it as it is in in Highway construction um I think you know there were other things that we did though in this bill that that I think have been really important in driving um the return to to Transit postco you know I think Public Safety has been a a big sort of driver in terms of you know turning people away from transit and I think the work that we've done to to bring workers into the fold of of um
▶ 1:48:55safety planning at Transit agencies I think that's starting to pay off I think people are seeing that it is safer and it's I think 100% because we brought the voice of workers into that that planning process um so I think you know it does go beyond just money uh but but um uh you know certainly I think you know we we have treated uh Transit is as sort of like a a less than in this country for for many years and I think um uh I think in in many ways that's just because they see you know some people see it as an urban
▶ 1:49:25issue and and not sort of something that's enjoyed universally I think something that everyone should be looking at is the the success of rural Transit um post postco recovery the rural Transit I think is had the biggest quickest bounce back um so you know I I feel like um you know beyond stable funding it's it is yeah just you know investment in making sure that that these are predictable services that they are growing services that people can count on it um that
▶ 1:49:55it is all making a difference thank you Mr covin your testimony underscore the impressive addition of 10,000 new Transit workers over the past year a remarkable recovery from the challenges faced during the height of the covid-19 pandemic how can Congress enhance and expand training programs in the upcoming reauthorization to equip Transit workers with the skills necessary to operate and maintain advancing Transit Technologies safely well we we simply need more investment in in train I I think um
▶ 1:50:25traditionally Transit has been well below uh um in terms of total total um payroll invested into into training well below averages in any other industry um uh I think we're starting to see a change in that now but but while we did make significant investments in uh Workforce training for um new technologies electrification you know there's not sort of an across theboard National strategy when it comes to um investing in our Transit Workforce and I think that needs to change
▶ 1:50:55thank you Mr coin now you back Mr stalberg thank you very much Mr chair I I do want to uh speak to the comments of my good friend uh ranking member Larson made earlier um the American people rejected the policies of the last Administration in November it is absolutely the Trump administration's prerogative to review the policies and programs of the last Administration to ensure taxpayer dollars are being used effectively and responsibly
▶ 1:51:26projects like roads Bridges and airports will certainly align with principles but when we talk about $7.4 billion of American taxpayer money going to build charging stations with the bi American Provisions removed and 11 have been built in the last three years that's what this Administration will be reviewing we do need to stop wasting money on
▶ 1:51:56many ineffective projects and reinvest in hard infrastructure that makes the American public uh traveling public make it safer and better for them $7.4 billion 11 stations Mr timman thanks for your service it's you've been around a long time and I read your bio and thanks for putting in the time I appreciate that in 2007 the I35 Bridge collapsed
▶ 1:52:27in Downtown Minneapolis can anybody tell me how long it took to replace that bridge it's 10 lanes right now 13 months okay so my colleague from Arkansas Bruce Westerman talked about the NEPA process that bridge went down we needed safe transportation across the river in 13 months the federal government and the state of Minnesota got it done the NEPA
▶ 1:52:57process Mr uh uh Tim the Nea process you had mentioned earlier is is slow uh and we know that that historically if that I35 Bridge went through the process it would be 8 to 10 years before it was built when you delay projects Mr tyman would you say that cost uh the taxpayers money uh every every year there is a delay absolutely there is an increase in the cost of
▶ 1:53:28of the project so you take my home state of Minnesota when freeze up happens it's hard to build in December you can't so it stops December and it doesn't come you can't uh start building till the May uh uh the road restrictions are off so we've lost five plus months already every delay of NEPA the redundancy uh the duplication of federal resources and state resources um I think the states
▶ 1:53:58uh do a very good job of making sure that the laws are followed and the environment is taken care of when you have two processes following each other one can get snagged up and stop projects for many years would you agree with that uh I would and uh and I would say that I was a staffer for this committee uh in 20 uh 2007 when the I35 W Bridge collapsed uh Mr overarch of the committee at that point and uh or the ranking member
▶ 1:54:29and uh you are absolutely right it was built in a rebuilt in an expedited fashion it would be great to see projects like that bu rebuilt or built at the same timeline when there isn't the urgency of an emergency uh that we see time and time again whether it's I85 in Atlanta uh I95 in Connecticut earlier this year I 95 in a couple of years ago we were able to rebuild those facilities extremely quickly because there was an urgency around an emergency it would be
▶ 1:54:59great to see that urgency around regular projects as well our NEPA process in my opinion needs to be changed uh to reflect the speed that we need to develop without changing uh the laws or the Environmental Protections or the labor standards and I think that um permitting when we talk about permitting reform these are projects that are going to save the American taxpayer the our small communities often times can't afford the delay to be able to wait
▶ 1:55:29two or three years because it's it's just additional money and then when you ask our cities and towns to to pay for it because of the unnecessary delays what do they do they have to go to to their local taxpayers it's simply unacceptable and it Mr tyman it's a breath of fresh air to hear you talk about the need for reform and the need to do these projects in a timely fashion because it's going to save the American taxpayer money and Mr chair I yield back Miss McDonald rivet
▶ 1:56:00you're recognized thank you Mr chair uh my question is for Miss kavano if I'm pronouncing that correctly yes you did for context I want to tell you that I represent a district in Michigan we're right right here in the middle and I have significant uh rural communities we have uh rural uh roads County Roads many of them dirt roads I appreciate appreciate um the reference to that uh but we know with the severe weather events that are increasing around our road maintenance costs uh across Michigan
▶ 1:56:31considering the iig J's limitations in addressing inflation and Rising construction costs which I hear about all the time what reforms to Federal funding programs would you suggest are needed to help rural communities like the ones in my district um compete for these federal funds and afford the necessary upgrades so as we have tried to uh fix our roads in Michigan what I what we have seen across my district is the roads are just continuing to disintegrate and
▶ 1:57:02uh wanting to be able to have our communities have a fair shot some of these Federal fundings do you have suggestions thank you it's like that is a great question and I'd like to be able to follow up in more detail with you afterwards um I think some of this depends on how your state deot works with those rural communities and how funds are distributed how are they're prioritized the plan process at least as I understand it on its face should actually be taken care of that and getting those dollars to those needs
▶ 1:57:32now building on some themes that we've heard here today part of dealing with inflation is getting projects done in a timely manner um your project today is going to be is going to cost a whole lot more in the years to come and so being able to speed that project delivery along um is going to be significant I think to those areas completely completely agree but as we think about and what we have seen historically is you know as
▶ 1:58:02as construction costs go up and dollars go U don't go as far we end up seeing and Mr Tim perhaps you can respond to this as well that the communities like the ones in my district are left behind as larger municipalities get dollars to um and and more populated areas of the state get those dollars right so we never seem to get to the front of the line and I'm wondering what safeguards can be put in place so I do think that uh the both the the uh Metropolitan planning and the
▶ 1:58:32Statewide planning process are meant to address the needs of communities across the entire State including rural areas uh but you're absolutely right that there are certain instances where say a project has been planned to move forward uh the cost and even if there was funding identified for it either at the local level or at the state level and it takes you know two or three years longer to do that project well the cost is increased from what the original estimate is and often times that means that the local community
▶ 1:59:02is left holding the bag and trying to have to make up the difference so uh I know that state doots across the country are struggling with that I know that even discretionary Grant recipients uh under the iig who put in an application uh for say one of those programs two or three years ago assuming that the cost is uh a certain amount well when they finally get that Grant and sign an agreement two or three years later the cost may have increased 20 or 30% and maybe they've been
▶ 1:59:32successful in getting the Federal grant but now they have to make up that difference of the increase of 20 or 30% and that's hard to do for localities who don't have necessarily a revenue Source that's available to dedicate to that increase I think you're exactly right I I live in community in a community represent a community that uh was responsible for the repair of two bridges that just disintegrated at a rate that wasn't keeping time with the funding that was coming and ended up with repair costs that were more than four times their
▶ 2:00:03entire annual budgets right this is this is something that we hear all across my district thank you very much I yield the rest of my time Mr Johnson is now recognized thank you very much clearly when we're talking about the surface Transportation bill it's a good reminder about the interconnectedness of these assets we're not talking about 50 different state systems we're really talking about one National system that's what can be a little frustrating frustrating about the donor dony conversations sometimes we have uh the idea that some
▶ 2:00:33states are subsidizing others I mean the reality is that when you look at the South Dakota truck traffic 60% of it neither originates nor terminates in South Dakota this is really about uh one country making sure that we can access National and Global markets and but it's not just about the money it's also about sometimes regulatory roadblocks that we have in place that make it harder for people to be able to get Goods delivered and so Mr Dinger as I shift to you and I'm thinking about some of those
▶ 2:01:03really safe drivers we have who might be younger than 21 Congress has in a couple of instances in recent years had pilot projects where we want to try to make it easier for those young drivers to move from one state to the other we know that 49 states and the District of Colombia allow CDLs for people who are are younger than 21 and yet we don't allow nationally outside of pilot programs for younger drivers to be able to cross state lines Mr delinger teach us
▶ 2:01:33a little bit is there any evidence that suggests an otherwise safe 20 year old driver shouldn't be able to cross state lines and have that CDL be effective well as you mentioned 49 states do recognize entra State driving for under 21 um you know I me mentioned earlier that the the pilot program was a bit flawed to begin with and and it again got a late start and a lot of carriers did not jump on board because of the confusion that existed early on uh that program
▶ 2:02:03sunsets in November this year um and and so basically you know we do do need something um to be more on a a permanent basis um and and I think the drive safe act um that maybe was introduced in the 118th um may need to be re reintroduced and and looked at as well so but I think you know looking at the the current program there there were not a lot of participants I think it allowed for 3,000 I think
▶ 2:02:34it was uh maybe three dozen uh in the program so definitely needs to to be relooked at more on a permanent not just a pilot program well and you'll correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding is that the data we have with these drivers at the state level again they're able to drive 49 states in the district is is that these can be really safe drivers they don't create some sort of wildly disproportionate impact on Surface Transportation safety is that your understanding as well
▶ 2:03:04yes and and you know when we look at our industry we're typically uh bringing people in their second and third careers uh and if we were able to bring someone in and be their first career and uh train them in a safe manner where before they got habits that uh that were not conducive to our industry so Mr chairman I I would just note that this should be an area where we all come to an agreement that if you're a safe driver and you're able to I mean it's amazing you know somebody can drive from Rapid
▶ 2:03:34City South Dakota to sou Fall South Dakota for I don't know what that would be maybe 300 miles but they can't go from North Sous City South Dakota to Sous City Iowa uh just a few miles it doesn't really make any sense it creates all of these unnecessary barriers federal government created barriers let's try to work together so that we can drive down the cost of operation we can create outstanding careers for safe Young Drivers uh so absolutely it can be their first career I would
▶ 2:04:04also note there's been some good conversations about the need to have uh Less Federal bureaucracy around the whole NEPA process uh I would call the committee's attention again to my interactive uh basically that an eipa that we would have a cloud-based system that would make it much easier for these agencies to hand off their various parts of the review our Antiquated analog NEPA process slows down sighting and permitting as
▶ 2:04:34this committee knows making American sighting and permitting more efficient is one of my passion projects so I just want to thank a number of you for raising this issue uh listen let's let's pass Dusty's Bill and then everything will be fixed thanks much I yield back thank you Miss freed from California is now recognized thank you chair Rouser and rank ranking member Norton I'm really honored to be a part of this committee and I look forward to working together with everybody uh on the smart Investments that we need
▶ 2:05:05as a former chair of the transportation Committee in the California legislature I'm also very much looking forward to learning from each and every one of you uh I do recommend I do uh represent Los Angeles which as you all know has uh been devastated over the last couple of weeks by wildfires um that's really permeating all of my thoughts right now including how I think about transportation and the work of this committee um those fires have taken at least 27 lives they've destroyed over
▶ 2:05:3515,000 structures many of those primary homes for our families and my thoughts and I'm sure many of our thoughts are with the people of Los Angeles right now um over 60,000 people have applied for aema assistance at this point and close to 200,000 people have been under evacuation orders mandatory evacuation orders um and as we move into recovery uh I think we all know that that recovery has to be very thoughtful and one thing I'd like to just draw attention to is that when we think about Transportation I think many of us
▶ 2:06:05think about it in just the terms of Transportation roads and Transit and bridges but I also want to point out that I have thought for many years and a lot of my work in the legislature in California has centered around the fact that transportation is also very linked particularly in our urban areas to building housing and to being able to build the housing that we need if we don't fix Transportation you can't get people around their communities um neighborhoods don't want to allow new residents in because they're worried about the impacts of parking and congestion
▶ 2:06:35and congestion is always top of people's minds in Los Angeles and now as we're having to rebuild we need to think about Transportation as part of that recovery effort it's even more important that we do this in a way that allows us to build not just the housing that we need for people who are displaced but also housing that we needed to build even prior to these disasters because of overcrowding and homelessness and housing shortage that we have felt very deeply in California so first I'd like to um ask a question to um Mr timman
▶ 2:07:06and I really appreciate all of the witnesses for being here today and even despite the snowstorm um the bipartisan infrastructure law created several new formula programs including the promoting resilient operations for transformative efficient and cost-saving transportation which just happens to work out to be the project program amazing how that worked out uh to help make surface Transportation more resilient to National n natural hazards including extreme weather events like we saw in Los Angeles as my community looks to
▶ 2:07:36rebuild I wonder if you can talk a little bit about how the state dos utilize the critical funding provided in the bipartisan infrastructure law to improve resiliency to natural disasters and the continued impact of global warming and also if you could aine on what Los Angeles in particular should expect to see over the next coming months over the next coming of years uh due to that that program well thank you for that question and and first let me just say that uh our thoughts and and prayers are with the folks of uh California
▶ 2:08:06and specifically uh the Los Angeles area with the wildfires uh I I would say that uh that program in particular uh is is really designed for state doots to be able to look at their infrastructure Network and figure out where they need to build it in a more resilient manner so that it is uh hardened against the types of C catastrophes that uh that you're talking about whether it's wildfires like you're seeing uh in California or if it's um the Hurricanes that we saw earlier
▶ 2:08:36this fall that had that impacted Florida and Georgia and uh North Carolina and Tennessee and Kentucky um and South Carolina the the impact that you have seen through those disasters uh demonstrat that we need to be able to look at our nation's infrastructure system and determine what is the most what are the most vulnerable assets uh within our uh Transportation infrastructure inventory and figure out ways to build it up in a way so that it is
▶ 2:09:07better protected uh against those types of disasters that we've seen just in the last few months thank you um turning to Mr covin I want to thank you for being here today um more than as you know more than 80% of communities across the country are relying on trucks to serve their Freight Transportation needs including Los Angeles and we are we have several truck routes uh through my district as well so we're very familiar with um you know um the needs of trucks to be able to operate efficiently and safely
▶ 2:09:37um can you highlight areas where Federal investment is needed to better serve now I'm speaking to communities themselves um to to help them get more of what they need in terms of goods moving in and out of their communities and to do so more sorry was that was directed well whoever would like to uh to speak actually I think Mr Dinger maybe you're better suited to this and would you repeat that I'm sorry because I thought you were directing that to Mr sorry you're right I did say that because I'm
▶ 2:10:07thinking you know of Labor as well uh as being key Partners in the safety conversation um but just you know for communities that are relying on trucking and communities that are impacted by uh Freight routes that go through communities what you would like to see from the federal government in terms of Investments to make people's lives better in these communities well probably the simple and the short answer is that basically the roads and the bridges are are working space and investment in that physical working space
▶ 2:10:38is is what we really need right and in terms of safety for drivers um what would you is there anything that you think that federal government could be doing better to support uh the people who are driving these trucks yeah I mean I I I'm going to Pivot a little on that but but I think you know Nitsa just put out a um uh 280 something page uh uh nprm on Automation and and automated vehicles and and really turned over the Reigns to um both
▶ 2:11:08commercial and and non-commercial uh entities just sort of self-describe what they think is safe and then whether or not you know they abide by that uh I think the the nprm doesn't really offer a lot of guidance so I think rather than spending time sort of noodling around with technology they they ought to really be focused on on um uh doing their their core safety uh uh role over there and and um uh you know I think what we saw in Los uh excuse me in San Francisco um with these vehicles hitting or almost hitting
▶ 2:11:38um commercial and non-commercial vehicles on a fairly regular basis we're going to see a massive expansion of that across the entire country that that will affect um uh all Road users including uh uh those working in in Transportation sure so the trans the general ladies time has expired oh thank you now recognize the gentleman from Utah Mr Owens thank you so much uh Mr Dillinger in your testimony you paint the picture of a Workforce shortage in in the trunking industry much of my passion
▶ 2:12:09is work with Congress surrounding open opening Pathways for careers and industries like yours beyond the traditional educational system in your opinion do you think addressing the Gap in the trucking Workforce would help in addressing the shortfalls in the highway trust fund and other service Transportation programs what would that look like if you if if it is the case one of the things everyone uh does not have to go to a fouryear college and basically
▶ 2:12:39uh what we need support is for the vocational schools for the driver training for the tech training the mechanics the Texs uh training to look at you know federal dollars like the 529 that can be used for college to be able to be used for vocational schools as well that would be one of the first steps okay and one of my top priorities is to bridge the gap between perspective young people Industries like yours earlier before uh they go into thousands of dollars in debt through your experience in leading a company what would
▶ 2:13:10be the most helpful way for Congress to expand the career Pathways into the trucking industry uh is there a way to um unite these concepts with the surface Transportation I think again uh you know looking at the uh driver Safe Act uh definitely would be of interest to us to to get young people in and also looking at federal dollars for training well just know we uh you have an advocate on our education
▶ 2:13:40Workforce uh we have tremendous talents we need to make sure they're tied into some great great careers so an opportunity so just know we'll be working with you on that thank you and I I'll you back from now recognize the gentle lady from New York Miss Gillan thank you Mr chairman and uh thank you ranking member holes Norton I'm looking forward to working with you and the members of the subcommittee on a bipartisan basis to advance critical surface Transportation reauthorization this Congress and thank you to all the witnesses joining us
▶ 2:14:10today Mr culvin um a report this month from trip which is a national Transportation research nonprofit found that poor roads in New York in the new New York metropolitan area including Long Island where I uh represent cost to drivers is nearly $3,500 each year uh Mr chairman I ask unanimous consent to submit a copy of the trip report and an article in our local paper Newsday into the record objection Mr covin even
▶ 2:14:40with critical Investments uh from the bipartisan infrastructure law to many of our roads up to 30% in the New York metropolitan area remain in poor condition harming my constituents and our economy what are some of the ways that you believe Congress can ensure the upcoming surface Transportation bill goes further towards improving our roads and reducing our costs for drivers um you know I think a lot of it is is just uh a question of of resources I think we we you know
▶ 2:15:11there was a comment made at the outside of the hearing that um you know it's sort of not an endless checkbook but I think you know the the this is not money that we are putting in into reams of paper these are actual Investments that have um demonstrable returns and and I think we ought to treat it like that so so if it uh requires that we spend more money we we should spend more money it is an investment in um in this country and and we ought to be focused on that thank you uh Mr delinger what is the estimated
▶ 2:15:41annual impact on the trucking industry of our unsafe roads and highways um and if you could break down some of those costs that would be helpful thank you did you repeat that sure what is the EST estimated annual impact on the trucking industry of our unsafe roads and highways and if you could break that down a little bit be helpful basically I mean congestion is probably the biggest cost uh that we see um not only affects our industry but affects the motoring public out there as
▶ 2:16:11well and and basically uh in my written statement uh we estimate it close to 109 billion a year and and I did mention ear earlier which is equivalence of 435,000 drivers sitting idle for one year so a big cost and how do you think we can alleviate that cost bottlenecks um I know um atry which is American Transportation Research Institute each year publishes
▶ 2:16:41the top 100 bottlenecks and and I think it is distributed to this committee um and putting efforts uh as as we choose projects on those bottlenecks okay thank you sir um Mr coven just back again to the trip report it also found that costs from inflation have eroded up to $1.2 billion dollar worth of Core Construction funding over the past five years would you agree that Congress needs to increase I think you already actually answered
▶ 2:17:11this the overall funding um for our Highway programs to help account for the increased cost of materials and labor yeah I mean absolutely and and one thing I would also encourage is you know people talk about the J as a you know a trillion plus uh program the amount of money that actually went towards the um surface Transportation reauthorization portion of that it wasn't you know it was it was significant but um but you know I I think um we we again we need to spend the amount of
▶ 2:17:42money that it takes to keep our our systems in a state of good repair and and to to keep up with Demand on them um so yeah yeah absolutely thank you I yield back thank you the chair I I now recognize myself for five minutes Mr timman um according to the latest American society civil engineers they had a report card that the nation's infrastructure grade was a c actually C minus um do you believe that
▶ 2:18:12this accurately reflects the state of our today I I think that that assessment is uh is a good approximation of the uh totality of the infrastructure Network um can you shed light on why you think that well I think that uh we've been underinvestigated up their investment
▶ 2:18:42when you look at uh the last five or six uh Federal surface Transportation bills they have not seen um a level of investment that is consistent with what the needs are out there uh in uh within our within our nation so uh you know going all the way back to maybe IC and t21 you saw fairly significant increases safety L uh smaller percentage increase map 21 smaller percentage the fast act uh
▶ 2:19:12and then this last bill did uh provide a significant increase in investment of our nation's infrastructure but I would say that uh what we've said is kind of the the bread and butter of the surface Transportation programs are the highway formula dollars that go back to States they only saw about a 20% increase in iiga and that 20% increase was eaten up almost entirely by the cost of inflation so when iig was passed a lot of States thought they'd be able to ramp up the number of projects they'd be
▶ 2:19:42able to do but inflation pretty much a up AE up that entire increase and they were lucky to not have to pull back on other projects they had planned so they were lucky to be able to just continue with kind of the Baseline with that 20% increase because of inflation I know in my own state of Missouri i44 is is heavily overused and and desperately needs expansion and my question is is there a way that we can get more bang out of our buck right get more out of the dollars that we're spending and so
▶ 2:20:13in your testimony you said that the federal government tends to be more expensive compared to each non-federal dollar that because of the regulations of Permitting uh could you expand on what you mean when you say each Federal dollar is more expensive sure so uh first I would say that Missouri has done an excellent job over the last 10 years of increasing Revenue at the state level in order to be able to provide State resources to try to address some of the challenges that they have seen uh but uh really at the end of the day State dollars are easier to utilize
▶ 2:20:43on these projects than federal dollars because of all the bureaucratic red tape that goes along with them you have states such as Utah that say that they're only going to use federal dollars on the simplest and easiest of projects essentially only to do repaving because they don't want to get into the federal requirements that are associated with using federal dollars are more complex projects so states are making that value proposition themselves and saying State dollars are easier to use on the more complex projects so we're going to use State dollars if we
▶ 2:21:14make the federal process more similar to what we see in most States and make it a lot simpler and easier you'll probably you will get more bang for your federal dollar that way the same way that a lot of States get more bang for their State dollars than they get for their federal dollars thank you very much Mr Dinger um you site in your testimony that the driver shortage is currently one of the greatest challenge in the trucking industry it's 60,000 short 60,000 drivers shortage
▶ 2:21:44just in 2023 um can you expand on the current state of the driver shortage and the on on on getting products shipped which is the American people what the American people need well currently um we've had a little leveling in that uh due to the um Freight recession that that we've experienced in our industry uh so it's not been as severe but um you know when we talk about one of the words that's not in there
▶ 2:22:14is qualified drivers um I think there are drivers out there and there there are are arguments uh about you know our numbers but but having qualified drivers sometimes you need drivers that are are qualified to to drive tankers uh to drive bulk fuel um to to drive hazardous materials and and and maybe they're not qualified in those areas and then lastly just to last question is I increasingly
▶ 2:22:44hear about the shortage or availability of parking of safe parking structures can you can you elaborate on that and I spoke to that earlier as well but uh we need safe parking for uh entry level for for more females where they feel safe where they feel comfortable and and also for the safety I mean if if you travel your State's highways and and probably at night or in the early mornings and look on the uh onramps and off-ramps you'll see trucks
▶ 2:23:15parked there because there was not safe and adequate parking uh in rest areas or uh facilities which they were making deliveries thank you I now recognize Mr figures from Alabama thank you Mr chair and Madam ranking member thank you guys for the opportunity I uh won't spend a lot of time with a with a preface because I do want to uh leave some time for some answers
▶ 2:23:45uh particularly uh from the panelists from my home state of Alabama uh Miss gav noi but I'll start with you Mr Coen uh I know at the end of the day these Transportation projects these infrastructure projects they boil down to workers on the ground uh the ability to have qualified workers uh that want to be in the profession that are uh highly skilled and highly trained uh for the jobs that we need uh can you just explain to us a little bit of the importance of prioritizing those Workforce Development programs to ensure that we'd have that highly
▶ 2:24:15qualified uh Workforce and also a little bit on we know that we es uh consistently uh fail to uh rise with inflation um and the struggles that that is presenting uh as it relates to that Workforce I mean I'll start with the second one I think you know we hear a lot about um so-called Workforce shortages and and I think really it's the challenges there it's not a Workforce shortage it's a shortage of employers who are willing to pay livable wages to their workers and and afford them
▶ 2:24:45uh quality of of life and work that people are attracted to um I think I think you know a problem in the trucking industry I think it undermines that more when um uh Congress goes after hours of service rules and states that are trying to do the right thing um uh but you know that's um that is something that that that you know I think I think go thinking that you can solve that problem by by now going after you know the 18 to 21y old uh demographic
▶ 2:25:16as though they're going to be more attracted to just the same quality of job I think it's a bit of an oversight so so I think we do need to give real serious thought to to that issue um not not as a Workforce shortage issue but as a as a shortage of good employers um uh with regard to Workforce training you know I think the the sort of the benefit that we all enjoyed of of massive increases in funding from the iig you know it does create a problem that you're you're suddenly increasing um uh spending by a huge amount and you do
▶ 2:25:46need to prepare a Workforce for that so you know to the extent that there's a gap there I think the best thing we can do um going forward is is keep sustained higher levels of spending to meet uh the actual Demand on our systems and and have a predictable pipeline of workers well and Miss kavan noi you or Vulcan rather uh is currently in the midst of a very uh somewhat unique uh but certainly uh sinere dispute uh with the Mexican
▶ 2:26:16Government that is having a direct impact on Transportation uh infrastructure projects here in the United States can you give us a little bit more context educate some of us who don't know about this issue and sort of update uh those of us who are aware of this issue on what's going on there sure thank you and thank you for the opportunity to do that because it really brings together multiple issues related to surface Transportation um you know rock only is where rock is right so
▶ 2:26:46there is there are a lot of areas of this country coastally all up the West Coast across the Gulf Coast where there's no indigenous Rock to Quarry you got to get the rock there somehow the most efficient way to do that the most cost effective way to do that is by Blue Water vessel otherwise you've got to put it on rail move it longer distances so 1986 Vulcan embarked on a project uh in padel Carmen Mexico which was then a fishing village with no telephones no roads no infrastructure
▶ 2:27:17to create a limestone Quarry that would supp apply now 14 ports that stretch from Texas up into South Carolina and we really appreciate that this committee and others saw fit to create the exemption in by America for Aggregates and cementitious materials for that that was the critical reason for that exemption you you just can't get rock where it doesn't exist unfortunately um we have been embroiled in an issue directly with the Mexican
▶ 2:27:47Government the president of former president of Mexico directly ordered the shutdown of our operations in May of 2022 we still have 250 employees Mexican Nationals who we are paying um but we are not operating then as he was on his way out the door president Lopez oor expropriated our property um and the new Administration has doubled down on that expropriation they have claimed that they're turning it into what they call a naturally
▶ 2:28:17protected area um to be clear the only thing prohibited in this naturally protected area is cing and and Export through the only deep water port in the Yucatan Peninsula which we built developed and operated so we have issues related to National Security we have issues related to the supply of materials in the Gulf Coast and certainly significant issues related to the treatment of us companies investing abroad
▶ 2:28:48thank you thank you to the chair now recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina Mr McDow thank you Mr chairman and thank you to the witnesses for being here to testify before the committee today not to pick favorites but especially Mr Dinger uh who's a fellow North Carolinian it's good to see you here today sir um Mr Dinger in your testimony you discuss how the poor condition of freight Intermodal connectors across the country creates supply
▶ 2:29:18chain bottlenecks and we've established that that this is a massive driver of costs um Intermodal connectors are are crucial Last Mile connectors between highways and ports and railroads and airports yet the Federal Highway Administration rated over half of Intermodal connectors as being mediocre or as being in mediocre or poor condition you report that these roadways often get pushed to the back burner
▶ 2:29:48when funding decisions are made so how do you make the case to local jurisdictions for prioritizing investment in in Freight Intermodal connectors and that is a difficult situation to uh to to actually work with the local municipalities or or cities to do that and um it's it's very important that I think that the federal government gets involved in these connectors uh these these rail heads
▶ 2:30:18these Port heads as well because uh that's places also that you will find a tremendous amount of uh congestion in as well so so why do you think that it's important to specifically set aside funding for these types of projects for the flow of traffic for the low flow flow of Commerce as well so oh yeah so one of the surprising statistics in your testimony was the highway congestion added over 100 billion
▶ 2:30:49um to the cost of freight Transportation 2022 alone due to idling trucks and slower traffic speeds and it it follows that that Highway capacity improvements could could reduce traffic jams and lower the operational cost to the trucking industry can you provide an example of a state or federal policy that discourages capacity improvements or or downgraded a highway in the name of environmental justice I cannot do that
▶ 2:31:21so let's let's game out the the costs and and long-term effects that the California air resources board emission standards would have on the trucking industry can you speak to that well basically a company our size does not have the resources to invest in uh I'm going to say what is new technology uh we're game on on doing and working we want proven technology and and right now EV are not proven
▶ 2:31:51uh basically we're in the Long Haul business we run from North Carolina to California and the infrastructure is not there and you know we can fuel a truck in 15 20 minutes and Run 1 12200 1500 miles whereas now I mean if you had the if you even had the network to do it and had to charge overnight to run 200 or miles what kind of disruption would that bring to the economy the Commerce as well
▶ 2:32:22sure Mr chairman I back thank you the chair now recognizes the gentleman from California Mr carbahal thank you Mr chairman uh Mr Dinger what role do sustainable fuels such as renewable Diesel and renewable natural gas play in reducing emissions in the near term and how can Congress support their adoption well basically those those are proven uh Solutions
▶ 2:32:52in in our industry with the combustible engines to be able to use renewable energies and basically they are cleaner and and um you know right now as I mentioned that EVS are technology that uh were not there uh we nowhere near being close uh to operating that type of equipment in a long haul environment uh you know I think it's something that would work well in municipalities and cities if they want to convert their buses their their
▶ 2:33:23trash trucks their school buses uh would would definitely be a workable solution but right now definitely not in a long haul Market thank you the recent floods in the Southeast and fires in California demonstrate the critical need for trucks to respond quickly to disasters whether to clear roadways for Emergency Equipment or to transport water to fight forest fires Congress authorized state to issue overweight permits for trucks responding
▶ 2:33:53to disasters but I understand that the trucking industry faces significant bureaucratic hurdles can you tell me what we can do to improve the system well ours industry is one of the first to respond to haul water to haul food uh to haul equipment necessary to to clear out um I think supporting the move act the 118th Congress uh had in place maybe introducing as well in the
▶ 2:34:23119th um which allows the governors to issue permits uh actually before natural disaster is called and actually looking Beyond you know what qualifies for a disaster and as well you know maybe even the time of the event thank you Mr timman can you comment about the importance of maintaining permit requirements for overweight trucks thank you for that question
▶ 2:34:54uh Congressman I do think that uh there is a balance that needs to be struck when it comes to uh overweight vehicles uh especially in times of need or emergency making sure that there are opportunities for trucks to be able to respond uh to specific situations from an emergency standpoint uh but that also needs to be balanced with the uh the the ability to preserve and maintain our nation's uh Highway infrastructure so when you're looking at the the the
▶ 2:35:24potential damage that overweight Vehicles due to Bridges and roadway pavement uh we need to make sure that there's a balance there but certainly when it comes to permitting uh overweight vehicles uh we're working to identify ways to streamline that process for Interstate travel to make sure that permits that are issued by uh multiple States can be done in a more coordinated fashion so that it so that it is more more efficient for uh somebody with an an overweight load traveling
▶ 2:35:54from say California all the way to New York that we're finding looking for ways to streamline that process to obtain all the permits for the individual states uh along that route thank you Miss kavano can you explain why we need to maintain the build America by America Act exclusions for aggregate materials sure a softball well thank you I really appreciate that and I I think it comes right back to you know God put rocks where God put rocks
▶ 2:36:24and so there are about 30 million tons of rock that not just Vulcan Materials but other companies bring into the US from Canada and Caribbean Nations every year to Surf to supplement and to provide for infrastructure it's particularly important from Texas across to Florida and up to South Carolina but we also do this in California we have a terminal in Long Beach where we bring roet from Canada so it's a way to do it cost effectively and efficiently it's a
▶ 2:36:55way to um it's it's a way to address environmental issues but it's really critical to the supply of rock in the United States and we appreciate that exemption very much thank you Miss kavano is the Federal Aid highway program designed around multi-year apportion funding and what Provisions in title 23 depend on States having multi-year funding you know there's a tremendous amount of title 23 that states are required to look on a year-over-year basis for
▶ 2:37:25example states have multi-year planning requirements um even sometimes the simplest projects are going to take multiple years to get done so the the very nature of what is essentially a capital program requires that backdoor capital budget with contract Authority and that multi-year program thank you Mr chair I yield back I'm out of time Mr Taylor from Ohio thank you chairman Burleson
▶ 2:37:55ranking member Norton for holding this hearing today and thank you to our pull that uh microphone a little closer to you or it may not be on it's lit up as it working there you go okay sorry about that uh thank you chairman Burleson and ranking member Norton uh for holding this hearing today and thank you to the witnesses for your testimony as a third generation business owner in the concrete industry industry I know first understand how important it is that our highways roads and bridges across the United States are safe for commuters citizens
▶ 2:38:25and businesses with the upcoming surface Transportation reauthorization bill I want to ensure that we are passing Common Sense legislation that will fix our roads ensure safety and help the United States grow Mr timman in your testimony I was interested to read about Georgia's initiatives that ensured that electrical Vehicles paid their fair share under the highway trust fund specifically you me mentioned enacting an annual election electric vehicle registration fee establishing a heavy vehicle impact fee and a kilowatt hour fee for public
▶ 2:38:55electric vehicle charging with 90% of total Federal Highway programs coming from the highway trust fund I find it absurd that those who choose to drive electric vehicles are not helping pay for the maintenance and upkeep on the roads that we all drive on even as electric vehicles cause more wear and tear in our roads than gasoline and Diesel powered vehicles Mr tyman if Congress enacted George's initiative on the federal level would this help alleviate the highway trust fund issue well thank you for that question Congressman uh um I
▶ 2:39:25appreciate you pointing out what Georgia has done uh and again if commissioner McMurray were here uh he he would um I think be able to talk about the impact that it has had on Revenue in Georgia specifically uh certainly as the as electric vehicles grow as a percentage of the fleet in the future we're going to need to find a way to have them pay into the system uh for from a user fee standpoint right now uh the highway trust fund is supported primarily
▶ 2:39:56by the gas tax which is a proxy for use on our nation's transportation system uh and because uh electric vehicles do not obviously consume gas they're not paying in uh so I think there are a lot of States across the country that have enacted some type of a fee in order to approximate use of the system for electric vehicles and I do think it's something that Congress should take a look at um as they look at reauthorization for the next year how electric vehicles could pay into the Federal Highway trust fund
▶ 2:40:26thank you Mr tyman thank you for including in your testimony the it could cost up to $200,000 for local governments to develop a discretionary Grant application is a very significant issue in my district most local cities and M municipalities cannot spare $200,000 on a chance to receive federal funds to repair failing Bridges potholes or even repaving a road that has become even worse according to your testimony it took the city of Athens Georgia two years to receive funding after it was awarded to them two years is
▶ 2:40:57unacceptable to rural communities who drastically need funding to repair and or build infrastructure I'll open this question up to the whole panel what specific actions need to be taken by Congress to ensure awardees receive their funds in under a year especially our rural communities that cannot afford a full-time grant writer well I do think that one way to do that is uh to streamline the process at the federal level right now as as you mentioned uh there's just a lot of bureaucratic red tape that
▶ 2:41:27happens at usdot and fhwa to provide that funding and get a grant agreement especially with a locality um state doots are used to dealing with federal dollars they have an established relationship with the Federal Highway Administration those grants can absolutely be exibited if they treat them like they do formula dollars and just uh assume that states are able to to administer that the way they're able to administer over $40 billion of formula dollars in a year uh so I do think there are ways to streamline this by
▶ 2:41:57just addressing the bureaucratic red tape that exists in the programs any other Witnesses want to weigh in on that one okay and ju since I have a couple seconds left when we talked about the the fees for the electric vehicles in your experience how comparable are they to what you get from a a a say a diesel truck for their use of the highway year well it does vary from state to state but Most states have tried to set the fees for passenger vehicles
▶ 2:42:27uh equivalent to what a passenger vehicle would pay in gas tax uh over the course of that year so that it is uh essentially a fair treatment of electric vehicles comparable to what uh vehicles that are powered by internal combustion engines thank you very much Mr chairman I yield back Mr Stanton you're recognized thank you very much uh Mr chairman and thank you for the witnesses for being here at this important hearing uh I have dedicated my career to infrastructure
▶ 2:42:57investment as my previous job mayor of Phoenix I oversaw the largest investment in infrastructure to date in Arizona a 35-year 32 billion Transportation infrastructure plan plan expanding Light Rail bus routes road maintenance and repairs bikeability and walkability as well generating millions and millions of dollars for for Arizona infrastructure investment is some of the smartest ways to spend taxpayer dollars investment in transportation is investment in our economy
▶ 2:43:28investment in our Workforce so you can imagine my concern when I read section seven of President Trump's executive order unleashing American Energy issued January 20th the EO had broad language taken at face value it could put the bipartisan infrastructure law dollars at risk last night I sent a letter to the acting Secretary of the Department of Transportation asking for immediate clarification without clarification we do not know the true impact of this order what it means for ongoing funding
▶ 2:43:58uh of bipartisan infrastructure law dollars I saw this morning the White House put out a me memorandum to clarify that the Agency quote heads may disperse funds as they deem necessary after Consulting with the Office of Management and budget that provided some clarification but not enough too much ambiguity too much uncertainty around dispersement of these dollars that this Congress voted for in bipartisan
▶ 2:44:29way and that uncertainty that ambiguity is unacceptable to the people on this committee and it's unacceptable to the American people right now back home in Arizona construction crews are working to widen it 10 south of Phoenix with the promise of $95 million in federal funding this project was a bipar partisan priority Business Leaders elected officials at all level of government rural urban tribal leaders all coming together to push us over the Finish Line If the executive order is not
▶ 2:44:59further clarified to make it clear uh this puts billions of dollars in materials and labor at risk these Investments are important it's important to upgrade Arizona's airports water infrastructure roads and bridges Railways and more things that this very committee has worked on in a bipartisan way and I am hopeful and we should demand in a bipartisan way that more information and more clarity comes out today uh now I'll move on to a couple questions uh as we looked to our infrastructure future
▶ 2:45:29and advancing the next surface Transportation Bill a lot of attention will be placed on Sustainable Building Materials this is a topic that I have spent time on in Congress to ensure that we have the resources available to build infrastructure infrastructure in a more sustainable and resilient way in fact the Rocks act that was folded into the by part of infrastructure law specifically directs a working group in the Federal Highway Administration to study and use Aggregates and recommended practices and policies to ensure continued access to
▶ 2:45:59this important resource for growing communities Vulcan is one of our largest material providers in Arizona and we'll have a key role in delivering this future Miss kavano could you describe some of the efforts underway by Vulcan and the Aggregates industry to deliver sustainable materials to Market certainly uh sustainability for Vulcan has long been a part of what we do when when you operate in people's backyards you've got to do it well and so our commitments to people safety and health communities
▶ 2:46:29environmental stewardship are built into everything we do and that's reflected in our products sustainable Mix Design is business as usual in our concrete line of business we are using carbon cure technology oneel cement recycled materials we've been collaborating on a direct air capture pilot uh with another private sector company and then we are currently studying reduced heat requirements for asphalt we've collaborated on a study of electric and hydrogen vehicle options
▶ 2:47:00for our ready miix Fleet and we're in a number of Partnerships with commercial and academic institutions to look at how our products can be used differently including the use of fines or very fine materials um for carbon capture which was something that is fairly novel so we continue to do this uh this work I appreciate your leadership in that regard Mr delinger as you likely know I have a bill to allow Vehicles powered primarily by hydrogen fuel cells to exce exceed certain
▶ 2:47:30weight limits on highways can you briefly touch on how this legislation would allow states to incorporate sustainable infrastructure basically it's much like the the rule that's already in place uh for hydrogen vehicles uh and for electric Vehicles as well so ATA we do support the bill I appreciate that answer and I will back Mr brahan you're
▶ 2:48:01recognized thank you Mr chairman um a little bit about me I was a heavy Highway electrical contractor uh signatory to eight different collective bargaining agreements and uh as well as a chairman of a joint apprentiship training committee and something that I've seen in the trucking indry we had over 100 power units but was the reclassification of marijuana specifically as states start to evolve ahead of federal statutes so my question would be to
▶ 2:48:31Mr Dinger as these uh different standards change uh specifically relating to safety sensitive positions what challenges have some of your operators faced and how have they been able to stay ahead in as well as in compliance I think there's a misconception out there that um marijuana or cannabis being legal that people can operate uh vehicles uh under the influence and that is a problem we do not have a test that tells us if you
▶ 2:49:01are under the influence or not so we have to rely on the current urine test or or the hair test which test back um and and I guess the struggle we have in our industry is uh we can't compromise the system we have until there is a workable solution uh for a test to know whether you are actually under the influence at the time uh I I think in our company if we had an accident uh
▶ 2:49:31at any degree and we had a post random or or post test accident test and we tested positive uh you know we would we would struggle defending anything in that accident and uh the retribution we would get for that from the public from uh the media would be astonishing so our position is that right now I mean we we have to accept the testing that we have is there anything
▶ 2:50:02specifically that Congress can do or advocate for to detect that immediate level of impairment with the half- lives of marijuana remaining inside of systems I mean I agree with your sentiments there's not an immediate detection device to say yes this person is under the influence or not under the influence but is there anything specifically Congress can work on that would add some clarity to the processes without that solution I do not have the
▶ 2:50:33answer uh my next question will be for Mr culvin um I want to ask you about apprenticeship programs and the you made mention in your testimony about intelligent transportation systems that is a in my opinion one of the most efficient effective ways to increase travel commute times with uh congestion in various different Highway systems um in my district we have 22,000 workers in the construction industry 34,000 in manufacturing and nearly 30,000 in transportation warehousing
▶ 2:51:03and the Utility Systems uh we often speak of 21st century Workforce but we're already a quarter way into the century technology keeps evolving each day how can apprenticeship programs close the tech skills Gap in worker training and something that I've seen is that you the the its systems are a very finite industry so attracting Talent into those into those skill sets it's really a hybrid technology and oftentimes it's left under the the guidance of the employer to enhance
▶ 2:51:33the the Baseline of skills um how do you feel again as members of Congress we can start to train the next generation of worker so I think one of the the big problems that we've identified is that that we we simply aren't collecting good statistical data on what those jobs are going to look like what what the impact of new technologies is on the workforce and and um was maybe 5 years ago uh Bureau of Labor Statistics put out a pretty comprehensive report on how they could improve that and and the real failures of their
▶ 2:52:04current ways of measuring the impacts of Technology um could be improved to actually quantify what the impacts these are and help us sort of measure them and anticipate them and you know I think there's a lot of folks who think labor you know stands in the way of these Technologies uh you know I don't think that could be further from the truth we we want to just be very involved in um the conversations about how they're implemented but if if we can't track that if if the industry can't track that um and and we're just sort of responding on an ad hoc basis we're we're constantly
▶ 2:52:34behind um the game and and I think that does you know it impacts jobs it impacts our economy so um I I would you know strongly advise looking at at the foundational pieces of this the the data collection and evaluation is is really important here thank you I you'll back Mr Molton thank you very much um Mr um in 2022
▶ 2:53:05over 25,000 people died while using passenger vehicles seven died riding passenger trains generally passengers are 18 more times more likely to die in a passenger vehicle accident compared to a train Mr koven how would moving passengers and Freight from highways to rail improve safety conditions and efficiency for all users um you know I think whether rail or Transit um those are incredibly safe modes of transportation
▶ 2:53:35I think Transit um in particular you know mile for mile is probably the the safest um form of of Transportation in this country so you know expanding expanding those Services is you know is going to have a positive impact on safety um it's it's simply a question of um you know us us making sure that we're making those investments in increased rail uh passenger Rail and and increased transit services you know we've heard a lot of people talk about Highway congestion and widening highways and whatnot across the country
▶ 2:54:06um Mr Dinger about how many trucks does the average Intermodal train take off a highway would you repeat that I'm sorry about how many trucks does one Intermodal train take off the highway I did not have the answer to that about 173 thank you 173 for one train that's a lot of efficiency now the railroads actually have good Partnerships with some of the trucking companies JB Hunt was one of the first I do a lot of Partnerships with uh shipping companies like UPS FedEx
▶ 2:54:36is a bit behind on this but but they're catching up uh when we think about our overall transportation system and we think about the congestion that that so many motorists face on the highways today you know there's this option that we don't often consider which is that if we just got a bunch of Long Haul trucks onto trains sometimes in great Partnerships with trucking companies we'd have a lot less traffic for the trucks that need to be on the highway not to mention all the people trying to get safely to their destination what can we do to to work on
▶ 2:55:06this in a more Cooperative comprehensive fashion and you correct there are a lot of carriers a lot of large ones and JB hun is a big one that does that and use Intermodal but um I think the Intermodal capacity is limited as well and then you have the expectations of the consumer uh inter Moto traffic is not as quick as truck traffic is well and and our consumers have expectations
▶ 2:55:37that right well will you keep UPS if they promise you three-day service like they got to get it there in three days UPS is the single biggest Intermodal customer in the United States they figured out how to do it seems like they've got decent reliability do you ever get a package by UPS Mr Dinger yes I do yeah and they they often come on receiving one today right all right well there you go I don't know if that particular one is on a train or not but in the course of this uh hearing over the last few hours
▶ 2:56:07uh I know we've heard a lot from people about widening highways how many how many of my colleagues have brought up expanding Intermodal Service as an alternative to getting to getting traffic down or reducing congestion on our nation's interstates I have not heard that today not heard it once M chairman Mr Chairman's not paying attention but not heard at once that just shows that we really not thinking comprehensively about transportation in this country um but I'm delighted to hear on this panel there are I
▶ 2:56:37mean people like yourself who actually want to want to talk about this because every other country in the world thinks about Transportation holistically we don't just have an airline policy or a highway policy we think about how to solve transportation problems Virginia has tackled a lot of congestion on I95 by investing in the CSX right away entirely paid for by the private sector until now and that's getting a lot of trucks off the highway which is making the highway more efficient for the trucks
▶ 2:57:07that need to be there for the motorists and it also increases safety a lot as well speed limiters are one way to improve safety and I'm pleased that the ATA support 70 mph speed limit how would limiting truck speeds increase road safety for all users ATA has had a policy and actually the speed limit is 65 um I'm sorry 65 well six it's actually 65 with enhanced if you
▶ 2:57:37have uh a uh some of the enhanced safety features that up to 70 M an hour so um basically as a company um I actually joined a company in 1986 our speed limit was actually 65 miles an hour and and we've stuck by that even um you know when we had people that told us that we could get more drivers if we rais the speed limit but but we we think it is a safety Factor well thank you for your Le definitely I'm out of time but Mr
▶ 2:58:07chairman I you'll back thank you Mr sh you're recognized thank you Mr chairman and I appreciate uh our Witnesses sharing their expertise with us today I'm a new member um and this is uh for those of us that come into this body on a large committee subcommittee like this an extraordinary experience to kind of parachute in and out on on on on these hearings but I had the opportunity to to listen uh to your uh that what you shared with so many earlier and so many great questions were taken
▶ 2:58:38but uh I do want to uh just uh introduce myself um uh uh and thank you for your work it's a particular honor for me to serve on this committee given the importance of trans portation and infrastructure to Indiana's six District the crossroads of America is our state's official motto it was on my Cub Scout and Boy Scout badge uh when I was a kid and it's more than a motto it's Central to our hooer identity and Central to an economy that is increasingly distribution based
▶ 2:59:08uh Indiana's highways support hundreds of billions of dollars of Commerce freight trucks Traverse my district 247 across 29,000 Lane miles that are supported by indot uh my district the six District encompasses portions of the i465 Beltway uh and interstates 65 I69 I70 I74 significantly uh across my district uh we are
▶ 2:59:39early on in the uh throws of a crucial renewal project of I70 from the Maran County the Indianapolis line over to the Ohio state border that's that's that's my district um and we're going to with that add some desperately needed uh travor Lanes as you cross from Ohio into my state my district I'm I'm not proud of where we are today from the stpoint of our road condition but with the work that we're setting upon uh in in in
▶ 3:00:09today and this bill I know we can make some Headway uh miss kavano you may be best prepared to answer uh this question I have uh with regard to the design and Engineering of a highway rebuild as we go into an era where uh uh electric uh electrification in the fullness of time of at least some of the the Rolling Stock the heavy Freight traffic is coming at us
▶ 3:00:39um can you speak generally very generally as to the differential in the roadbed engineering for interstate highways to support over the next few decades the the the electrified uh tractor trailer traffic that will Traverse our highway system that is to say more generally will we be looking at a significant doover right now as we're preparing to to to to design
▶ 3:01:10and spend to rebuild a significant slice of I70 across the district that I now represent than thank you for that question unfortunately if I attempted to answer that the engineers I worked with would get me fired because there's no way I can give you probably the best or right answer on that I can tell you that moving to electrification as we know as a um as an Aggregates company requires a lot of different infrastructure it requires the ability to recharge our vehicles but I would love
▶ 3:01:40to get you a better answer from some qualified Engineers who can uh who can answer that question well we' we know of course that EES are heavier um I don't know as a percentage in terms of you know gross axle weight relative to the amount of freight that an electrified tractor trailer uh may be able to carry how much heavier is a percentage but I can't help it wonder if if the design standards for a new modern rebuilt Interstate segment
▶ 3:02:11is going to require a significant doover within the next 10 or 20 years and if it does I mean we as we work on this committee need off obviously to be very mindful of that I appreciate your attempt to answer the question it is a subject that I'd like to know more about and so if you through through your Association could be helpful I'd be grateful Mr chairman I yield back Miss Titus you're recognized thank you Mr chairman U I represent
▶ 3:02:41Las Vegas and parts of Southern Nevada we have a lot of people coming into the area from California from all over the world uh so we have to accommodate the moving them there and moving them around once they get there but as we expand our access we are building things in extreme heat uh this is something we put our workers out there on the highways on bridges on all kind of infrastructure projects in temperatures that often are 115 120 degrees even this
▶ 3:03:12year uh that was a record year I last week I joined several of my colleagues most mostly from the southwest but some from the south too sending a letter to OSHA to final asking them to finalize rules to protect workers from this occupational exposure to extreme heat um Mr cin could you talk to us and tell the members of this committee as we consider this reauthorization what we might build in to protect these transportation workers so they can do their job and also be safe
▶ 3:03:42yeah I want to be sure that I give you a good answer to that um I know we have a couple of unions who are are very inv D in this laborers um I know in particular um have have great expertise on this so if I can get a a more comprehensive answer and um provide it to you or your staff that that would be uh helpful to me I just don't want to misspeak on that I need I know we need cooling stations I know we need rest periods access to water those kinds of things but yeah if you've got some kind of policy already in place that would be
▶ 3:04:12helpful as we move forward sure uh another thing I want to talk about is safety we've heard a lot about safety over the last couple of hours in Clark County which is Las Vegas we've had over 230 fatal traffic accidents last year alone I think we're on record now to beat that this year um Mr timman I know ashto brought together a group last October uh some of the Departments of transportation from different states to talk about this issue of safety it's not just
▶ 3:04:42roadways it's in urban areas as well maybe you could tell us a little bit about what y'all came up with and the value of having States work together on this issue and how we might incorporate it well uh thank you for that question and for recognizing the uh the the efforts of ashto and the state dos in this area as I had mentioned earlier it is the number one priority for I think every state do in the country uh asto's president this year Garett ukalo has made his emphasis area for the year one of them um
▶ 3:05:12safety highway safety making sure that uh we're equipping all states with as many tools and resources as possible be able to address uh the safety crisis which I think as Mr Larsson said is really a Public Health crisis um so we gathered in Houston uh this year for our second uh annual safety Summit where we convene state do experts across all disciplines um both on the infrastructure uh design and maintenance side all the way to the behavioral
▶ 3:05:43uh safety side uh to be able to come together and identify what different states are doing to be able to drive that number down uh from the from the number of fatalities that we're seeing on our nation's highways uh ashto also uh passed a resolution two years ago uh reassuring every State's commitment uh to safety we uh we were one of the signatories to uh the Biden administration's national uh highway safety strategy uh and also you know we continue to
▶ 3:06:13invest in uh proven safety counter measures that have been identified by fhwa making sure that we're demonstrating where states have been successful I'll bring up one uh example it's more on the design side which is roundabouts uh 10 years ago 15 years ago roundabouts were kind of a a niche area that you saw in just a handful of communities you're seeing more and more States and localities adopt roundabouts because while they may seem quirky to drivers when they first see them
▶ 3:06:43uh there really are a safer design module for a lot of uh intersections that we have across this country and I do think that as we see more and more of those types of uh out of the boox thinking we're going to see the number start to to continue to decrease year after year uh so thank you for that question oh thank you that's encouraging I hope you'll provide us that information as we move forward with this absolutely I know people don't quite know how to do a roundabout when they first approach it but I I guess they'll learn I
▶ 3:07:13wish you could do something with as we increase the users on our roads whether it's walking or wheelchairs or scooters what about all these little Rena scooter motor things that you see all over town I think that's got to be part of the mix as well we can't just focus on the big modes of transportation well I I do think that uh you know when we think about safety it has to be an uh a holistic uh view of what safety means for the entire transportation system
▶ 3:07:44uh and for all users as well so uh not just for drivers uh for passenger vehicles or for commercial truck drivers but also for cyclists and pedestrians making sure that we're uh incorporating designs into our infrastructure Network that protects all users cyclists motorists pedestrians uh commercial truck drivers as well thank you thank you Mr chairman Miss King Hans you're recognized haidan
▶ 3:08:14um thank you Mr chair and thank you to our Witnesses for your time today my district is the Northern Mariana Northern Marian Island it's very remote and very isolated part of our country but like every part of our country uh we rely on a very functioning transportation system to efficiently move people and goods and like everywhere else our economy heavily relies on it the Northern Mariana Islands receives annual Federal Highway funding through the Federal Highway administration's territorial Highway program
▶ 3:08:45and we seriously need these funds due to our geography tropical climate limited access to Natural Resources Workforce and Workforce shortages Highway construction is significantly higher in my district than it is in many of the contiguous states this makes exemptions from build America by America requirements so crucial and critical to my district the Mariana shares about 46 million with three other territories American Samoa Guam and the US
▶ 3:09:15Virgin Islands the II a a has increased program funding annually and the territorial Highway program is scheduled to be authorized over 49 million in FY 26 and we receive about 10 10% of that uh distribution of funds which equates to about 4.9 million dollar however Mr chairman through some um administrative formulas set in 1992 the Marianas and American s asset only receives 10% of these on of this funding
▶ 3:09:45no matter how you slice it population highway miles and land mass we should uh be receiving a little bit more we're not asking for more actually just enough to be able to actually address our particular needs so as this committee looks to reauthorize surface program I ask that we take a serious look at the territorial Highway program allocations and require Federal highways to use a rational criteria that actually allows each of the insular areas to address its unique un particul um
▶ 3:10:15transportation issues this question is specific to miss kabaki because you've spoken about Baba right how could we further balance the need to buy America build America with remote and um remote and Rural communi ability to access um supply for construction materials how do we improve that policy I'm not sure I'm I'm equipped to address outside
▶ 3:10:46of the construction material industry and that's Aggregates asphalt binders cement cementitious materials because again I think what this this committee and others in Congress understood was we have geological and Geographic limitations and once you you look at that and how you have to get materials where they need to go it starts making more sense what I what I don't know and I I think would be a very interesting question is how does that apply to other materials
▶ 3:11:16and other good across the board I'd be happy to work with my Association and others to look into that for you I I think I was looking for you to be to expound just in the construction industry in general right um but we can have that conversation offline would love to do that thank you m' thank you I appreciate your time I Y my time Mr chairman Mr de sha thank you Mr chairman I want to thank the witnesses um and the and the committee
▶ 3:11:47as an exciting moment um this is the biggest investment the bipartisan infrastructure law since the Eisenhower Administration um where he advocated for good paying union jobs a Republican president who once said only a fool would get in the way of an American worker being able to organize so different time but I think in the context of what we look about at this investment we can't look at this as just the increase in one year's budget this is 70 years
▶ 3:12:17of trying to reinvest the civil engineers put out their annual report every year year I've been reading it for a long time they put us at the bottom of developed countries because of our investment in repair we haven't um indexed our gas tax for inflation at a federal level in California where I'm from we actually had the voters approve an increase and they improved it overwhelmingly because they knew it was a good investment so here's an opportunity to invest
▶ 3:12:47in a way that we haven't done for really 70 years that has multipliers throughout the economy and it was the B Administration that did this and it's a real accomplishment but this committee has historically been so uh bipartisan in a problem-solving way really appreciate the ongoing efforts to get this product out so that people can see it people get good paying jobs Main Street gets the benefit of that economy that as a former small business owner I know when the The Building Trades were working
▶ 3:13:18and the operating engineers were working I had more customers just like Executives so um we have $786 billion do backlog in of Road and Bridge Capital repairs according to civil engineers 435 billion needed just repairing existing roads 125 billion for bridge repair 120 billion needed for system repair now in all this context the area I represent in the San Francisco Bay Area as the economy's grown as Silicon
▶ 3:13:48Valley grew uh we moved away from the coast and as the American economy shifted to more of a Pacific Rim by Coastal economy uh the Port of Oakland Mr Dinger and I have a question for you and Mr Coven in the 680 Corridor which is at out the third tier of Interstate uh highways in the Bay Area in my district uh we have a grant that's now being held up because we're trying to figure out um what the consequence of the executive action have been
▶ 3:14:18on this grant $166 million in the 680 580 Corridor where it's been headquarters to companies like Bank of America and Chevron over the years it's also where silicon Valley's employees live uh in addition to that because the Port of Oakland being the fourth busiest port in the country and one of the biggest exporters to China so when we look at tariffs we have to consider that as well this investment that we ready to start putting people to work for in the fifth fourth
▶ 3:14:48fifth largest economy in the world uh what happens now so Mr koven you know this plan has been in our regional transportation plan since I was in local government um every two years we review it there's an urgency for it just like the civil engineers say nationally and now it's being held up what does that do to our Workforce Union and non-union these are all good paying union jobs but it goes to Main Street too what does that do when we're in this uncertainty where we're ready to start doing contracts and get our environmental
▶ 3:15:18review done what's the consequences for American workers when we have these kind of cases yeah I mean I think in the same way that that short-term uh extensions of the program are are you know really harmful to um spending in large um small and large projects I think you the the challenges extend you know to Workforce and other um I'm say I think you know sort of the absurdity of this is that that uh you know if you hold the majorities in the Senate house and and the presidency um and and you don't like some element of
▶ 3:15:49uh of an existing law then then you have the opportunity to change it um uh you know the the notion that I think was said earlier that the the vast majority of programs will will be unaffected I think that's inexcusable the the law is the law and um again there's a a path forward here if you don't like it which is change it um but but these these disruptions are are um arbitrary and and they just hurt this country that's all Mr D you just comment the fourth busiest port in the country where your trucks like to
▶ 3:16:19go East but we like to have them loaded going west so that we can export uh almonds and other products um out so we get that benefit can you speak to that briefly about the importance of getting these kind of projects done for your constituent groups as I've mentioned uh today on several occasions um the roads and and bridges are our workspace and anything we can do to improve is appreciated thank you thank you Mr chairman y back Mr
▶ 3:16:49Collins You're recognized thank you Mr chairman um I kind of want to take a little bit of different tact in in what I want to talk about and uh Mr Dinger I I like you I've got about 40 years of experience uh my dad really believed in child labor uh so I've got a little bit of experience in the trucking business as well and um I kind of want hit on a couple things I probably sound like a basketball
▶ 3:17:20the way I bounce around but if you'll bear with me a little bit I uh I want to tell and I saw your your and several of y'all's uh testimony and I kind of want to package all this and where I want to go talking about it whether it was truck parking or or or driver shortages or or just inflationary things that you've seen in trucking and and I want to ask you where Tor reform would fit into this equation because when I think of
▶ 3:17:50things like even like truck parking you know 10 15 years ago we parked at the Conan or the shipper that way we'd be there to get loaded or we'd be ready to get unloaded and now you can't do things like that because of the liability that is sitting out there and uh with all the nuclear verdicts that you see going on and and I would just like to get your input on on what you see as a specific if you see a need for Tor reform out there on the federal level I know that we're
▶ 3:18:20running a lot of of cases now we try to move them to the federal bench uh in transportation with interstate commerce let me go back to the park and I think you know you're correct um you know for many years you were able to park at the cons near the shipper and what's happened um I guess I'm planning a lot of times they don't plan for enough of the traffic that's coming in for their daily input or output
▶ 3:18:50and so a lot of times that isn't possible and then as you mentioned because of liabilities um and you talked about inflation and and uh before I touch on tort reform um we've seen our insurance our total insurance pack as I'm not going to say strictly liability increase uh since 2020 42% uh over the last 5 years and and it it is big for us and a lot of it
▶ 3:19:20is because of um I'm going to say U nuclear verdicts or things that take place out in the industry and buying insurance and the association has worked through the state Federation State byst State uh to change some of the laws and and I'm just going to mention one very quickly and that's the seat Bel gag rule you know you can have an accident and and be severe injuries but the
▶ 3:19:50injuries maybe are caused by the person being ejected from the vehicle because they didn't have their seat belt that's not admissable in court in the state of North Carolina or anywhere uh there's a few states that it has been changed but for the most part but but touching on the T reform if you know I guess there's three three things from a federal level and that's making it a a crime to Stage accidents um putting an end to third-party financing and if you don't
▶ 3:20:20know what third party financing I would challenge you to go to YouTube and look at uh a few years back 60 Minutes did a a episode on um third party financing but what they do is they tell you it's a lot uh it's a lot better investment than in the stock market the returns uh but the final being to to move claims um uh to the federal court when it when I say accidents and and maybe it's a certain dollar whether it's a 750
▶ 3:20:51you know million dollar claim or or $750,000 claim which is the minimum insurance or if it's a million dollars uh I know this would uh maybe tax the federal courts but um you know we we need some type of protection uh in our industry from these runaway claims yeah no and I agree and I I appreciate your your response and I want to tie that over to Mr chairman to even to to Mr timman and and I know you were talking about increases of 20 to 30% for every year that you don't get a project
▶ 3:21:22started or finished and and I know for a fact Road building contractors out there they pad their bids by 30% just for the permitting lawsuits from the environmentalists that are going to come with any project it doesn't matter what it is and and I would venture to say that that's probably a lot of the reason that you see um uh a lot of times these projects are being delayed well I do think that there are projects in every state that are delayed by lawsuits associated
▶ 3:21:52with uh the Nea process or other Federal resource laws uh and you're absolutely right every year that a project is delayed whether it's because of that or other reasons the cost of that project is going to go up and certainly for the last four or five years we've seen a uh those percentage increases year-to-year increase due to the impact of inflation right right Mr chairman I know I'm running over on time but I just wanted to add in there not only do we pay 145,000 Federal excise tax on trucks but we pay it on every Tire we
▶ 3:22:22purchase we have taxes when we buy our tags we have sales tax in every state that we have and that that's federal and state so Trucking is very well taxed we've got um five minutes into a roll call vote on the floor so I want to try to get our last two uh questions in real quick uh Mr Garcia you're recognized thank you chairman and I'll be brief I know votes just got called obviously I just want to say thanks to our Witnesses um I was the mayor of Long Beach for eight years right before I got to Congress uh we have a port it's a city Department
▶ 3:22:53um it's one of the largest SE ports in the United States and so I know that investment in infrastructure for goods movement for rail for highways for multimodal Transit all the above is really important um as we all know a huge chunk of America's Goods uh 25% of them come through Long Beach and Los Angeles uh to the rest of the country uh Investments like the infrastructure uh in the part the bipartisan infrastructure law were so important to our port to Long Beach to the region and to all the jobs that H that are happening not just at home but across the
▶ 3:23:23country thanks to investments in ports and the supply chain wanted to just um add really quick I know uh two things Mr Dinger I was really grateful that you had brought up congestion briefly in in in your subcommittee and I just want to just let you know also that I think it's important that as we're looking at highways that we're also looking at other ways that we can also take on congestion uh modernization of Highways a r other types of multimodal Transit um investments in sustainability these are also ways to address our congestion issues I just wanted to
▶ 3:23:54to to mention that and then also um just a shout out of course um Vulcan is in Long Beach really important for uh for us at the Port of Long Beach thank you for that and um Miss kinaki I just wanted to also just briefly if you can just say how important the uh infrastructure investment has been to Vulcan and to the port of LA Beach as I close my remarks for us it allows us to move material in and then get it to infrastructure projects public private residential non-residential across California um that efficient
▶ 3:24:24movement and having that having that pathway is essential for us to be able to distribute those materials thank you and in closing um Port Beach received 280 million plus recently as part of the port investment Mega Grant that's going to allow us to do a lot of onoc rail programs and get as you know uh Goods across the country faster so thank you very much to our Witnesses and to the chairman cie uh good afternoon uh Mr delinger uh as you know all too well uh California has imposed a number of nonsensical
▶ 3:24:55policies and regulations uh on trucking uh that have wrecked havoc on the industry and on uh on Commerce uh some of those are already being uh pulled back now with the change of federal administrations but if could you just itemize a few of those that are still standing uh that perhaps uh could be pulled back by resending waivers I think it's important that um the administration looks at the greenhouse gas 3 uh reopen that and and and and look at those
▶ 3:25:25items and uh I mentioned earlier today that basically carb um has been mandating things and there's been a patchwork of other states that have been involved as well with carb uh but we operate uh in all 48 states and and basically um we need the federal government to step forward and and take control of our destiny thank you and uh you've also
▶ 3:25:56testified about how a lot of uh truckers or independent owner operators uh who provide a vital part of our our Workforce and is are a great example of the American dream but how that model has come under siege both in California and nationally uh could you uh just uh uh talk through a few of some of the ways that we might be able to uh push back on what's happening in order to preserve the independent contractor model well it's a very important model uh for our industry it's been around for 90 years and it allows people uh to to own
▶ 3:26:26their own equipment um basically what they do is they lease to uh companies and and basically that model is being challenged that uh they're an employee and and not a owner operator so to speak uh so basically we need protection from a federal standpoint uh you know we don't need again a patchwork of states that are are telling us what needs to take place uh from that standpoint and then if you look at a lot of the companies that
▶ 3:26:56exist today that's how they started one truck one truck begat two we get 10 so thank you very much we'll be working on both things raining and carb uh as well as protecting independent contractors then finally Mr tyman I think uh the original witness from your Association was from Georgia I was going to ask him about uh wh's expansion into Atlanta uh but perhaps you could address the question sort of more generally in terms of uh uh how the uh likelihood that
▶ 3:27:26uh the that autonomous vehicles will become more prevalent has affected uh your planning and the issues that we've discussed today uh you you are right uh commissioner McMurray who was uh regrets that he is not able to be here because of the winter storm that's uh that the southern part of the United States is experiencing uh I would say is that the state do s across the country are preparing for um the growth of autonomous vehicles and connected vehicles uh within the transportation system as a whole
▶ 3:27:57uh we're seeing more and more of that in in certain urban areas with uh weo expanding operations in certain uh areas and other companies as well uh but I would say just as importantly as just the inclusion of Technology as a whole in what we do from a transportation networks not just autonomous vehicles or connected vehicles but how we're incorporating technology into how we operate our nation's transportation system because uh rather than first looking at expanding capacity uh within our nation's
▶ 3:28:27Highway infrastructure State dos are looking at how to better operate the existing system using technology and we're seeing more and more technology uh being incorporated into what state dos and localities are doing with their transportation Network um because it's a a good use of the money and it certainly is cheaper than say add additional lanes that might be a solution in certain areas but we're certainly also looking at how we can better leverage technology uh to better utilize the existing capacity within our Highway Network thanks
▶ 3:28:57I think that's a very important point I yield back gentleman yields back uh seeing no other uh questions from any other member of the committee uh this concludes our hearing for today I want to thank each of our Witnesses uh for your great testimony and uh uh for your uh answer to the many questions that have been presented I think is very very helpful to have for the record as we embark on reauthorizing uh surface Transportation so thank you again
▶ 3:29:27with that the committee subcommittee stands in adjournment for