FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NARC Contact: Anna Rosenbaum / anna@narc.org
Transportation Contact: Erich Zimmermann / erich@narc.org
NARC Responds To Trump’s Infrastructure Proposal
Washington, D.C. (February 12, 2018) – With today’s release of the Trump administration’s Infrastructure Plan, the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC) appreciates the national conversation regarding the important role the federal government plays in supporting the significant investment local governments make in the nation’s infrastructure. The federal government is crucial in the unique federal-state-local partnership that forms the cornerstone of the nation’s infrastructure investments.
“The release of today’s proposal is an important first step in the process of developing a bipartisan proposal that can help bolster local efforts to create and maintain our country’s world-class infrastructure,” said Bob Dallari, NARC President and Seminole County, Florida Commissioner. “We now look to Congress to continue the momentum and craft legislation that can help ensure stable and robust federal spending to support the infrastructure investments local governments across the nation are making.”
NARC has outlined several key points that will help ensure a final infrastructure investment plan that is responsive to local and regional priorities:
- Resolve the funding shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund to ensure financial resources are available to support, at a minimum, existing funding levels beyond expiration of the current FAST Act authorization.
- Increase direct funding for the nation’s infrastructure, with incentives provided for the subset of projects that will generate revenue and therefore are appropriate for private or other financing.
- Ensure a portion of new funding flows directly to local areas via their regional planning organizations, and through existing channels of distribution such as the Surface Transportation Block Grant Program (STBGP).
- Support multimodal investments and ensure that new funding provides flexibility in the types of projects it supports, and explicitly recognize that transit, rail, bike and pedestrian, and other similar projects are important federal priorities. Increased federal funding through existing channels for TIGER, STBGP, New Starts, FASTLANE and Transportation Alternatives will support multimodal investments.
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