WASHINGTON — Trucking Moves America Forward (TMAF), the industry-wide education and image movement, is advocating lawmakers to invest in better and safer roads and bridges as part of its affiliation with the seventh annual Infrastructure Week, which runs through Saturday.
“With 3.5 million truck drivers on our highways every day working to deliver America’s goods, it’s imperative that we have safe and modern roads,” said Kevin Burch, co-chairman of TMAF and president of Jet Express. “A strong infrastructure network is critical to the success of the trucking industry and all of America. Our lives, businesses and economy depend on it. Our leaders must address the nation’s infrastructure gap and provide the proper funding to #BuildforTomorrow because, as the industry’s latest television commercial shows, life won’t wait.”
To help promote Infrastructure Week and its message, TMAF published an op-ed article in the publication of Morning Consult titled, “The Time to #BuildForTomorrow is Now” speaking to the importance of excellent roads and bridges
Morning Consult is a global technology company revolutionizing ways to collect, organize, and share survey research data to transform how decisions are made, according to its website.
“Despite poor road conditions and the traffic that results from it, 3.5 million professional truck drivers travel America’s roads every day,” Burch wrote. “Trucking professionals travel over 462 billion miles each year to make on-time deliveries to every corner of America. That’s because more than 80 percent of American communities rely solely on trucking for the delivery of their goods, including the gas in our car, food in our fridge, supplies in our office and medicine in our cabinet.”
But, Burch noted, a faulty infrastructure is threatening to slow down the trucking industry as well as America as a whole.
“According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, one of every five miles on our highways is in poor condition. More than one in eight bridges are considered functionally obsolete, which means that they can’t serve the current traffic demand. Congestion and traffic, which result from poor and inadequate infrastructure, are also problems. The ASCE found that more than two in every five miles on our interstates are congested, which costs Americans $160 billion in wasted time and fuel each year. In fact, the average commuter wastes 42 hours a year in traffic, costing us an average of $1,600 annually. Poor roads and congestion also have a very personal impact because life won’t wait when it comes to missing out on important life events.”
Throughout Infrastructure Week, TMAF is sharing messages about how strong infrastructure is critical to the success of the industry on its other social media properties, which include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
In addition, TMAF provided social media content for the industry to use throughout Infrastructure Week, including shareable images, in their monthly social media content calendar, which is available to members of the trucking industry.
To join the list and start receiving free social media content, email [email protected].
The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
