Political Quotes

“I wish to clarify today a provision included in the FAST Act conference report. In order to build and restore the Nation's highway infrastructure without breaking the bank to do so, we are going to need the best and latest in cost-saving construction technologies to help us attain that goal. I supported a provision in the Senate bill that would do just that with regard to construction for key highway components, such as bridge abutments, erosion control on highway waterways, and sound walls. My language specifically identified ``innovative segmental wall technology for soil bank stabilization and roadway sound attenuation, and articulated technology for hydraulic sheer-resistant erosion control'' as technologies for research and deployment action by the Federal Highway Administration, FHWA. A core value shared by all three technologies is that they can save taxpayer dollars. And we should certainly encourage FHWA to engage in research and deployment on them. For example, one of the practical and expensive problems with highway construction is moving and dispensing with excavated dirt. Segmental retaining wall, or SRW, technology can reduce transportation construction costs to the taxpayers by allowing the use of in situ soils in building segmental retaining walls rather than treating the excavated dirt as waste and hauling it away.…”