On the recordJuly 29, 2019
I rise today to discuss America's Transportation Infrastructure Act, legislation that I introduced today with the chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, John Barrasso, along with our subcommittee chair on Transportation and Infrastructure, Shelley Moore Capito, and our ranking member from Maryland, Ben Cardin. Our legislation reauthorizes our Nation's surface transportation laws and makes a historic $287 billion investment in our Nation's roads, highways, and bridges. Our Nation's first highway bill was enacted just a few years after the world's first concrete highway was paved outside of Detroit, MI. Henry Ford had just introduced the Model T, and the first stop-go traffic light would soon be installed at the intersection of East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, OH. A century ago, the idea of speedy and safe transcontinental travel was beyond our imagination and even further from being realized. We have come a long way since then. Today, more than 4 million miles of roadway and 600,000 bridges help link our country together. Some 220,000 of those miles combine to make up our national highway system. Our transportation infrastructure is essential to America's economy, to our society, and to our way of life. It connects us to commerce; it connects us to service; and, more importantly, it connects us to one another.…





