Viewpoint: Infrastructure spending awaits congressional approval

In November, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law, marking a significant commitment to invest in all major sectors to confront new and enduring issues facing the country. The law established a $1 trillion infrastructure package, which includes about $550 billion in new spending on roads, bridges, broadband access, and more. Now, Congress must pass appropriation bills to define the law’s spending guidance.

With the many competing priorities in Washington, the appropriation process has predictably fallen victim to disagreement and delays. Thankfully, the House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution this week to avoid a government shutdown, fund the government through mid-March, and provide much-needed time to resolve appropriations. 

The law and its subsequent appropriations will deliver a vital and long-overdue investment in repairing and rebuilding the country’s roads and bridges. The White House reports that currently 1 in 5 miles of highways and major roads, and 45,000 bridges, are in poor condition. Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers publishes a report card on U.S. utilities and infrastructure, and rarely issues grades higher than a D.

The country’s poor infrastructure threatens the safety and effectiveness of the trucking industry, which supplies the nation’s essential goods. Inadequate and unsafe roads create traffic congestion worsened by freight bottlenecks – resulting in an annual loss of 1.2 billion hours of productivity in trucking. The excess fuel burn of trucks in traffic amounts to $74.1 billion in added operational costs for carriers. The new infrastructure funding, if managed properly, will help alleviate some of these issues.