Crucial infrastructure funding for roads, bridges is fading - White House
A federal fund employed to improve roads, bridges, and ports in the United States is dangerously bare, the Obama administration told Congress.
According to the White House, over 112,000 ongoing projects - that come with around 700,000 jobs - could fall idle without action in Congress to boost the Highway Trust Fund.
US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the project delays would have a terrible effect on commerce.
"We have an infrastructure deficit in this country," Foxx said Monday from the White House.
Financed by gasoline taxes, the Highway Trust Fund could run dry by the end of this summer, according to the administration.
"We cannot meet the needs of a growing country and a growing economy by simply maintaining our current level of effort," Foxx said. "We must do more."
President Barack Obama will speak on Wednesday at the Hudson River’s Tappan Zee Bridge north of New York City to tout the administration’s plan for the fund.
Of the four-year, $302 billion transportation proposal, half would be in addition to programs funded by fuel taxes. Additional revenue would come from closing corporate tax loopholes and other business taxes.
