Congress Must Act Before the Clock Runs Out on America’s Infrastructure

While most Americans are thinking rightly about who they will vote for next week, millions of workers across the country are starting to become concerned about a problem Congress left unresolved before heading home to campaign. They left town before deciding the fate of desperately needed funding to secure the future of our nation’s roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure. 

On December 11, the current extension of the federal surface transportation funding expires.  This funding is the backbone of state and local infrastructure investment, and supports a substantial share of transportation capital programs nationwide, including in New York. Knowing what level of funding they will receive allows state and local governments to plan, design, and deliver the major projects that keep our communities connected and our economy moving. Without reliable, long-term funding commitments, those plans are thrown into uncertainty, and critical projects have to be shelved.

State and local transportation departments cannot responsibly plan multi-year highway projects when they do not know whether critical federal resources will remain available. Counties and municipalities on Long Island, who also prudently plan work several years in advance, cannot confidently advance road improvements and safety upgrades without assurance that Washington will uphold its financial commitments. There are also real impacts for industry, as construction companies cannot invest in equipment, expand their workforce, or provide long-term employment opportunities when the pipeline of future projects remains uncertain because of dysfunction in Washington.

Here on Long Island, these concerns are particularly acute. Our region depends on an aging network of highways, bridges, and local roads that millions of residents and businesses rely on every day. We face unique challenges due to coastal erosion, flooding, and extreme heat that makes repairing our essential infrastructure costly, and makes us particularly reliant on support from the federal government. Failure to adequately maintain this infrastructure is both dangerous to the public and harmful to our economic growth.

It’s also important to remember that these dollars both repair our infrastructure and support thousands of family-sustaining jobs right here on Long Island, from skilled workers uniquely qualified to work in our challenging environment. Predictability does more than support government planners, it keeps our workers here, and not having to look to New York City for opportunities.

For decades, reauthorization of these funds has been a bipartisan exercise, given the fundamental and national impact of the legislation. Congress must now demonstrate that same commitment by again providing a durable funding framework for the years ahead. Another short-term extension may temporarily prevent disruption, but it will not deliver the predictability necessary to tackle Long Island and the nation’s growing infrastructure needs.

Our roads and bridges do not stop deteriorating because Washington is gridlocked. Construction costs do not stop rising while lawmakers debate. And the men and women who build our infrastructure cannot put their livelihoods on hold indefinitely.

Election Day will come and go. The responsibility to govern remains. Congress must return to Washington, put partisan differences aside and pass a long-term surface transportation reauthorization without delay. America’s infrastructure, economy and workforce cannot afford to wait.

Marc Herbst is the Executive Director of the Long Island Contractors’ Association.