Mark Kennedy: “Our FAST Act does provide for those connections. It does provide for maintenance, and it is a perfect complement to some…”

“Our FAST Act does provide for those connections. It does provide for maintenance, and it is a perfect complement to some of the most efficient transit options that are out there in the form of bus rapid transit. If you use congestion pricing on a fast lane, which is provided for, you can make sure that everybody's going 50 miles an hour or above, make it a very attractive option for bus rapid transit. Bus rapid transit is allowed to use these lanes, paid for by the users, free. You can combine it with car pools. So this is not something that takes away any of the funding for transit that is currently available, can be meshed with bus rapid transit in a very complementary fashion; and when we talk about capacity, six States were mentioned by my friend from Illinois, but it is only six projects in six States. If we are concerned that this road bill does not provide enough capacity to end the congestion around the country that is keeping people stuck in their traffic too long and away from families and work, why are we not letting fully bloom the FAST Act which could be $50 billion or more if we then try to nitpick it around the six projects in six different States.”