The Nation

LAKE CHARLES, La. — With a badly aging bridge as his backdrop, President Joe Biden stood in reliably Republican Louisiana on Thursday, May 6, to pressure GOP lawmakers to support his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan — and yet express a willingness to compromise on the corporate tax hikes he’s recommending to pay the cost. Biden leaned into the stagecraft of the presidency by choosing to speak in the city of Lake Charles, which has been battered by historic storms and is home to a 70-year-old bridge that is two decades past its designed lifespan. Where to find the money for replacements and repairs here and elsewhere? The Democratic president, who wants to raise corporate taxes, challenged Republican dogma that low taxes for corporations and the wealthy fuel economic growth. But he also declared he was willing to make a deal and dared them to do the same. “I’m willing to hear ideas from both sides,” said Biden. “I’m ready to compromise. What I’m not ready to do is, I’m not ready to do nothing. I’m not ready to have another period where America has another Infrastructure Month and it doesn’t change a damn thing.” Even as he engages with Republicans in Washington, Biden is trying to sell their voters on the idea that higher corporate taxes can provide $115 billion for roads and bridges and hundreds of billions of dollars more to upgrade America’s electrical grid, make the water system safer, rebuild homes and jump-start the manufacturing of electric vehicles. To drive home the point, he also toured a water plant in New Orleans. He’s proposing to pay for his plan by undoing the 2017 tax cuts signed into law by President Donald Trump and raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. Biden contends his programs would bolster the middle class and make the country stronger than tax cuts for big companies and CEOs. “You’re entitled to be a millionaire, be a billionaire; just pay your fair share,” said Biden. “I’m not looking to punish anyone. I’m sick and tired of corporate America not doing their fair share.” The White House has found little support from congressional Republicans, none of whom voted for the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 bill signed into law in March and who have, so far, uniformly opposed the infrastructure plan. But the West Wing has pointed to polling that suggests the plan is popular with GOP voters and notes that some Republican officials do back it. “I find more support from Republican governors and mayors and Democratic governors and mayors around the country,” Biden said, “because they’ve got to answer the question: Is life better in this town, this city, this state than it was before I got elected?” To emphasize that point, Biden was introduced in Lake Charles, which still has blue tarps where roofs once were and plywood replacing glass in office buildings, by a Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards, and the city’s Republican mayor, Nic Hunter. Hunter outlined his many political differences with the president before focusing on their common ground. “I do believe we can agree on the dire need here in Lake Charles for an infrastructure plan that can build us a new bridge and I do believe we can agree on the dire need to support disaster relief in Southwest Louisiana,” Hunter said. “Any member of Congress out there listening: Lake Charles needs help right now. And we are asking for it.” Louisiana has a long history of accepting federal money for storm recovery — most notably after Katrina and Rita in 2005. And the Army Corps of Engineers has been a staple in the state managing the Mississippi River levees and drain basins, demonstrating that the conservative lean of voters has been tempered by that established relationship with the federal treasury. Republican lawmakers, however, are firmly sticking with low taxes as a pillar of their ideology and partisan identity. Several GOP senators favor spending $568 billion on infrastructure over five years, a small fraction of what the Democratic president has proposed — a sign of how difficult a deal might be. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said that Republicans would rather finance infrastructure through user fees such as tolls and gasoline taxes, though he declined to specify which fees he would back. McConnell has also said that “100%” of his focus was “on stopping this new administration,” echoing similarly obstructionist threats he made during President Barack Obama’s term and underscoring the challenge Biden faces in trying to work across the aisle. Biden brushed off that talk, noting that as vice president he was “able to get a lot done” with McConnell during the Obama era. And after landing in New Orleans ahead of his water plant tour, he spent time on the tarmac talking with Louisiana’s two Republican senators, John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy. But the president’s true audience has been Republican voters, not GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The administration is banking that its message on infrastructure could play in Louisiana, which last backed a Democratic presidential candidate in 1996. Louisiana has been barraged by 30 extreme weather events over the past decade that caused $50 billion worth of damage. Biden is seeking $50 billion to make infrastructure better able to withstand storms, winds and flooding. Hurricanes battered Lake Charles, a city of 78,000 residents, twice last year over six weeks. Trump, whose administration’s planned “Infrastructure Weeks” became noted for being anything but, had promised to fix the city’s bridge were he to be reelected. Rep. Steve Scalise, the Republican whip who represents portions of Louisiana, derided Biden’s plan as a “budget-busting tax hike spending boondoggle masquerading as an infrastructure bill.” “Raising taxes that will force middle-class jobs overseas is not infrastructure,” Scalise said. “Unionizing health care workers is not infrastructure.” There is general agreement among Democrats and Republicans in Washington about the need for infrastructure spending, but the GOP wants to define the term more narrowly, concentrating on roads, bridges, airports, transit and broadband rather than renewable energy and access to caregivers. They object to undoing the 2017 tax cuts and imposing higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy. By Josh Boak and Jonathan Lemire, The Associated Press. Lemire reported from New York.

DENVER — A coalition of lawmakers, municipal officials and business interests have thrown their support behind an ambitious proposal to tackle Colorado’s years-long struggle to pony up billions of dollars for its aging transportation infrastructure — and plan for the future. With weeks to go in the 2021 legislative session, Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis joined legislators and others to introduce a bill that would raise billions of transport dollars by imposing new gas and diesel fees on drivers, fees on electric vehicle registrations, and fees on deliveries and rideshare services. The Colorado Sun reports the fees would raise roughly $3.8 billion over the next 10 years. General fund spending would raise the total to more than $5.3 billion. For years, lawmakers have struggled to find funding for an estimated $9 billion backlog in state infrastructure projects and maintenance. A major reason: Colorado’s 22 cents-per-gallon gasoline tax, used to pay for highway funding, hasn’t changed since 1992. Republicans generally have favored bonding, while interest rates are low, for projects that focus on increasingly congested roads and aging bridges. Democrats have advocated for solutions designed to ease the growth of traffic by emphasizing public transit and other commuter options. Voters repeatedly have said “no” to ballot initiatives proposing sales tax hikes or issuing new bonds. The new bill addresses both roads and so-called “multimodal” transit funding of public transport and other projects as well as the increasing electrification of the U.S. motor vehicle market and proposals for a commuter rail line that would serve the Front Range from New Mexico to Wyoming. It would allocate funds to mitigate severe air pollution generated by traffic in certain urban areas. “This is the year we will make it happen,” Democratic Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg said at a Capitol news conference May 4 that was attended by Polis and bill supporters. The bill: Would impose gas and diesel fees at 2 cents per gallon in July 2022, increasing 1 cent each year to 8 cents. Impose a 27-cent fee for deliveries. An annual $50 fee for electric vehicle owners would increase to up to $159. Enact a new 30-cent fee for each ridesharing trip in 2022. The fee is 15 cents for carpooling or electric vehicle trips. Some $1.5 billion would come from the Legislature’s discretionary spending fund. John Suthers, the Republican mayor of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and a former attorney general, threw his support behind the plan, emphasizing the longstanding and continuing cost to Colorado’s economy of delayed action. “While I personally would prefer perhaps a greater contribution of general fund, or more money into highway construction and less into multimodal, I’m a political realist and I understand political compromise,” Suthers said. “And I don’t see a better package coming through the Legislature or the voters anytime soon.” The conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity Colorado has long protested a fee-based plan as an attempt by Democrats to evade the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, a constitutional amendment that, in part, requires voter approval of tax increases. The group is pushing a ballot initiative to ask voters to reduce the gasoline tax as a response to the infrastructure bill. And some Republicans, including state Sen. Ray Scott, argue that imposing fees at a time when residents are struggling financially during the coronavirus pandemic makes no sense. Scott told a recent Sun forum on transportation that Colorado should devote $4 billion in federal coronavirus relief funds for the state to its infrastructure needs. The bill has been assigned to the Senate Finance Committee for its first hearing.

WASHINGTON – During the last week of April, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) observed the 50th anniversary of its National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS), the basis for the federal program that helps protect nearly 620,000 bridges across the country. “For a half-century, NBIS standards have been at the core of federal infrastructure safety efforts,” said Acting Federal Highway Administrator Stephanie Pollack. “The data we collect under the program help keep bridges safe and identify areas where maintenance is needed before problems arise.” The number of bridges in the NBIS program has grown from 588,735 to 618,456 — that’s nearly 30,000 new bridges — over the past 20 years, and the program has continued to ensure these bridges are safe for those who rely on the structures for travel and commerce. The NBIS requires regular and thorough inspections of highway bridges by trained inspectors to detect potential structural problems early and to ensure maintenance efforts are being carried out. State departments of transportation inspect bridges, on average, once every 24 months and report the results to FHWA. If a bridge is rated as potentially unsafe, immediate actions are taken, which could include closure, prompt repairs or load posting to restrict use by heavy vehicles. In addition to specialized training for bridge inspectors, the program also requires the collection of bridge condition data for inclusion in FHWA’s National Bridge Inventory (NBI), which helps transportation officials make informed decisions about funding priorities. “The NBIS is vital to bridge safety in our nation,” Pollack added. “The (Biden) administration’s American Jobs Plan proposes significant investment in our nation’s bridges to continue improve their condition and make them even safer.” FHWA officially adopted the NBIS regulations in 1971 after the collapse of the Silver Bridge in West Virginia. The bridge collapsed into the Ohio River in 1967 because of a crack in the bridge’s suspension chain. The tragedy, which cost the lives of 46 people, brought national attention to the issue of bridge condition safety and led to a systematic effort to ensure oversight at the national level. Since the program’s inception, FHWA has worked to update training requirements for bridge inspectors and replace narrative bridge inspection summaries with specific assessment criteria to improve consistency. According to a statement from the FHWA, President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan would provide an additional $115 billion to modernize the bridges, highways, roads, and main streets that are in most critical need of repair. It will fix 10 significant bridges in need of reconstruction and repair the worst 10,000 smaller bridges to reconnect communities across the country.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) Commissioner Clay Bright in late April released the department’s annual three-year transportation program, which features approximately $2.6 billion in infrastructure investments for 68 individual project phases in 45 counties. The program supports Lee’s first executive order by funding work on 58 highway and bridge projects in economically distressed and at-risk counties. “Investing in infrastructure is an important part of driving economic opportunity throughout our state,” Lee said. “This funding, particularly for rural Tennessee, will help to keep Tennesseans safe and moving in the right direction.” The program emphasizes the repair and replacement of bridges, with activities beginning on 55 structures in 33 counties. Twenty-one of those bridges are on the state highway system; the other 34 are on local roads. The program also continues to build on the IMPROVE Act, which provides for infrastructure investments in all 95 of the state’s counties. This year’s program budgets dollars for 123 of the 962 projects listed as part of the 2017 legislation. Construction will begin in 2022 on several critical transportation projects across the state, including: Blount County: Relocated Alcoa Highway (State Route 115/U.S. 129); Davidson County: Nolensville Pike, from Old Hickory Boulevard to Mill Creek (State Route 11/U.S. 31A); Hamilton County: Interstate 75, interchange modification at Interstate 24, Phase II; Sevier-Jefferson counties: Newport Highway (State Route 35/U.S. 411); and Shelby County: Interstate 55 interchange modification at Crump Boulevard. A complete list of projects and programs funded through the multimodal program is available on the TDOT website.

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Drive Oklahoma mobile travel app and its companion website, oktraffic.org, now offer motorists an enhanced travel experience with the addition of several navigation tools and options to check traffic on interstates, U.S. and state highways, and Oklahoma turnpikes. The Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA) worked together on the Drive Oklahoma app and website, which provide services such as real-time speed data and live traffic-camera views of many Tulsa and Oklahoma City metro locations. The resources also provide digital message sign information by location, real-time weather radar information and more. The updated versions of the app and website offer a tutorial of the new features. “Both ODOT and OTA are committed to improving motorists’ experience on our highways and turnpikes,” said Terri Angier, ODOT spokesperson. “We encourage motorists to use these additional mobile app features to plan their routes before getting behind the wheel or asking their passengers to navigate for them.” The mobile app debuted new branding with the name Drive Oklahoma. The app added real-time turnpike speed data in 2020. Additional upgrades include: Press and hold on the map to enable Auto Tracking Mode, which automatically switches the view to the closest traffic camera as a motorist’s location changes. This also includes a swipe feature to see all available traffic-camera angles at a location. Mobile app and website users may customize a favorite traffic camera, digital message sign and map locations that they use most to be their default when opening either application. New data overlays are included to provide an even more inclusive experience, including weather radar data. Electric vehicle charging station locations also have been added. Navigation tools at the top of the map help users easily toggle between the various maps and features, including the map legend, menu options and links to surrounding states’ traveler information sites. Users may also notice an improvement in the traffic-camera images as new technology upgrades to the system allow a higher resolution livestream image. Finally, the mobile app now provides an area to report issues and feedback. The new map legend also features new, clearer symbols to help motorists. One example is a dollar sign that highlights the state’s turnpikes to help denote when a motorist is moving onto a toll road. The app update also includes useful links to more highway safety information, such as Oklahoma Transportation’s new year-round safety initiative, Make Safety Stick: Everybody Click. ODOT and OTA have also partnered with the Waze app to incorporate self-reported Waze-user information into the Drive Oklahoma maps, providing additional real-time data on what could be ahead on the road, such as construction or crashes. “All of these tools are designed to help motorists reach their destination safely and more efficiently; however, we want to remind drivers that they are our No. 1 partner for highway safety,” Angier said. “Please check the Drive Oklahoma mobile app before getting behind the wheel, and always put away all distractions and buckle up for a safe trip.” The Drive Oklahoma mobile app is available from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Holding a cell phone or other electronic device while driving in Ohio would be illegal under legislation introduced May 3. The legislation takes aim at distracted driving by targeting not just texting, but also scrolling through social media and other hands-on phone uses. Having an electronic device in your hand while behind the wheel would also become a primary offense, meaning police wouldn’t need another reason such as speeding to pull drivers over, according to the bill introduced by Rep. Cindy Abrams, a Republican from Harrison in southwestern Ohio, and Rep. Brian Lampton, a Republican from Beavercreek in suburban Dayton. The bill would ban all hand-held uses of a phone, from sending a text to checking Facebook to punching in an address on a mapping app. However, the bill provides exceptions for first responders on their way to an emergency, and it also includes a “one-swipe” exception to allow people to answer incoming calls and then disconnect them. The measure incorporates many of the concepts pushed unsuccessfully last year by Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, and that were proposed again in this year’s state budget. Senate President Matt Huffman, a Lima Republican, previously expressed concerns about municipalities using such a law to generate revenue through ticket writing, along with worries about the law impinging on drivers’ freedoms.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Love’s Travel Stops is now serving customers in Diamond, Ohio, with a travel stop that opened April 29. Located on State Route 225, the travel stop adds 65 jobs and 93 truck parking spaces to Portage County. “We’re excited to open our 18th location and add nearly 100 truck parking spaces in Ohio,” said Greg Love, co-CEO of Love’s. “Our team members will help get professional drivers and four-wheel customers back on the road quickly and safely while providing a good value at competitive prices.” This location is open 24/7 and offers a variety of amenities, including: More than 12,000 square feet. Godfather’s Pizza and Subway. 93 truck parking spaces. 64 car parking spaces. Three RV parking spaces. Eight diesel bays. Seven showers. Laundry facilities. Speedco (opening on a later date). Bean-to-cup gourmet coffee. Brand-name snacks. Fresh kitchen concept. Mobile to Go Zone with the latest GPS, headsets and smartphone accessories. CAT scale. Dog park. In honor of the grand opening, Love’s will donate $2,000 to the Palmyra Township Fire Department.

BILLINGS, Mont. — A bill that strengthens penalties for drivers endangering first responders and highway workers on Montana roadways has been signed into law. Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the measure April 29 increasing fines for reckless driving around emergency personnel to a maximum of $500 for a first offense and $1000 for a second offense. The bill from Fairfield Republican Rep. Ross Fitzgerald also included tow-truck drivers among those people who drivers can be punished for endangering. The bill was co-sponsored by Bozeman Democratic Rep. Jim Hamilton. Support for the legislation was driven in part by testimony from family of Casie Allen and Nick Visser, tow-truck operators who were hit and killed by a truck while clearing a crash on Interstate 90 between Park City and Columbus on an icy morning in October, the Billings Gazette reported. Montana Department of Justice statistics show the Highway Patrol averaged 149 citations a year over the last five years for people improperly approaching emergency or police vehicles.

WASHINGTON — Peter Albanese on April 15 pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to wire fraud, Social Security fraud and making false statements, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Office of Inspector General (DOT-OIG). Albanese was previously indicted Dec. 1, 2020. The Dec. 1 indictment alleged that Albanese defrauded the Social Security Administration (SSA) by falsely claiming a disability. From 2017 through October 2020, Albanese collected more than $80,000 in Social Security disability benefits while concealing work and income as a commercial motor vehicle driver. The indictment further alleges that Albanese presented a fraudulent Medical Examiner’s Certificate during a federally regulated roadside inspection to conceal the fact that he was not medically examined and certified as required by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. The DOT-OIG is conducting the investigation with the SSA-OIG with assistance from the FMCSA.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on April 21 named Robert Hampshire, PhD, as the chief science officer for the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT). The appointment marks the first time since 1980 that the spot has been filled. The department has taken several steps to act on President Joe Biden’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’ commitment to address the climate emergency. The department also announced it has begun work to reestablish its Climate Change Center and to restore public access to climate-related reports, program information and other scientific and technical information. In his role as chief science officer, Hampshire will serve as an advisor to Buttigieg on science and technology issues. He is charged with ensuring that the USDOT’s research, development and technology programs are scientifically and technologically well-founded and conducted with integrity. “Climate resilience and environmental justice are at the heart of this administration’s mission to build back better — and that effort must be grounded in scientific expertise,” Buttigieg said. “We’re thrilled to officially name Dr. Hampshire as our chief science officer, and look forward to his contributions to this historic effort.” Hampshire was previously an associate professor at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and at both the U-M Transportation Research Institute’s (UMTRI) Human Factors group and Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS). He earned his doctorate from Princeton University. “The reintroduction of a chief science officer underscores transportation’s key role in addressing the complexity and criticality of our dynamically changing climate. I look forward to working across all modes of transportation to address the immediate concerns, and to ensure our future transportation system is sustainable,” Hampshire said. “It is important that USDOT incorporate scientific research to advance climate change initiatives that are fair and equitable to all.” According to a statement from the USDOT, the department’s actions stem from President Biden’s executive order on protecting public health and the environment, restoring science to tackle the climate crisis, and the memorandum on restoring trust in government through scientific integrity and evidence-based policymaking. The Climate Change Center will help coordinate the USDOT’s related research, policies and actions, and support the transportation sector in moving toward net-zero carbon emissions. The USDOT Center for Climate Change and Environmental Forecasting was established during President Bill Clinton’s administration to serve as the multimodal focal point for information and technical expertise on transportation and climate change. The center has been dormant since early 2017. The department has assessed public websites and information repositories, including the National Transportation Library, and identified 24 websites and 33 reports and other publications which had been removed after Jan. 21, 2017. All materials have been restored to public access. The department will also redesignate a scientific integrity officer who will be responsible for research policy implementation and will report directly to the chief science officer.

CARSON CITY, Nev. – Commercial truck restrictions and roadway shoulder closures will be in effect as the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) launches a two-year project to repave and enhance two mountainous Tahoe-area highways. Beginning May 3 and continuing through this fall, commercial trucks weighing 26,000 pounds or more will be prohibited from traveling westbound over Mt. Rose Highway and further than the Mt. Rose ski area. Trucks will be allowed to travel eastbound from Incline Village to Reno, Nevada. The truck closure is a safety precaution to prevent trucks traveling down the mountain potentially encountering brake issues in the road work zone, according to NDOT. Over the next two years, drivers should also anticipate shoulder and single lane closures on Mt. Rose Highway from the summit to Incline Village and on State Route 28 from Crystal Bay to near Sand Harbor State Park as NDOT repaves nearly 15 miles of the highways. The repaving will help repair damage to the mountainous highways caused by freeze-thaw conditions, which can deteriorate roadway surfaces. The project will make the following improvements over the next two summer construction seasons: State Route 28 from the Nevada to California border to Ponderosa Ranch Road in southern Incline Village 4 inches of roadway asphalt will be removed and repaved. Select roadway cross slopes will be reconstructed for enhanced roadway alignment and drainage. Drainage and guardrail improvements will enhance roadside safety and water quality, ensuring additional stormwater treatment before reaching Lake Tahoe. Enhanced sidewalks, sidewalk ramps and driveway accesses will provide additional roadway connectivity, accessibility and safety. An aging timber retaining wall on State Route 28 approximately half a mile south of Memorial Point lookout will be reinforced with a soil nail wall. Anchor bars and concrete will create the soil nail wall to help reinforce against age-related settlement. Drainage improvements will be made where Marlette Creek crosses beneath State Route 28, enhancing water quality and ensuring additional stormwater treatment before reaching Lake Tahoe. State Route 431 on Mt. Rose Highway from State Route 28 roundabout in Incline Village to Tahoe Rim Trailhead at Mt. Rose Summit 3 inches of roadway asphalt will be removed and replaced. New concrete barrier rails will be added, and aging roadside concrete barrier rail will be upgraded on multiple segments of the corridor. Select roadway shoulders will be reconstructed and flattened. As many as 10,000 drivers travel this stretch of highway every day. The highways were last fully reconstructed nearly 14 years ago, according to NDOT. For more detailed project information, visit the NDOT website.