William Pryor: “I rise in support of the highway bill conference report. This legislation is 2 years overdue, and I am pleased that we…”

“I rise in support of the highway bill conference report. This legislation is 2 years overdue, and I am pleased that we are finally completing this very critical piece of legislation. I would like to thank Senators Inhofe, Bond, Jeffords, Baucus, and their staffs for their very hard work on this bill and commend them for the bipartisan way in which they have proceeded. I would also like to thank Senator Lott and Senator Inouye, the chairman and co chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine, for their work on the safety portions of this bill, as well as Senator Stevens, the chair of the full Commerce Committee. I was proud to have worked on these very important motor carrier and passenger safety provisions. I have addressed this body before with my concerns about the need for a highway bill. In America over one-third of our major roads are both deteriorating and congested. In Arkansas, 47 percent of our roads are in poor or mediocre condition--almost half. Additionally, over one in four bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that close to 42,800 persons died in car crashes in 2004. Over 2,000 Arkansans have died on our highways over the past several years. Too many families die on our highways--plain and simple. The amount of freight expected to travel on our Nation's highways over the next 20 years is expected to double.…”