Environmental Changes in Transportation Bill: A Win for Industry

This article describes how the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) lobbying efforts in Congress have proven to be successful. More than 10 years after the expiration of the previous federal transportation law, “Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users” (SAFETEA-LU), the $105 billion dollar “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century” (Map-21) bill was signed into law in July 2012. This new law provides up to $39.7 billion dollars in FY 2013 and $40.25 billion dollars in FY 2014 to fund the federal-aid highway program. The law also increases funding for, and expands, the Transportation Infrastructure Finance & Innovation Act (TIFIA) program. The article discusses how this two-year guarantee of funding for highways is important for the construction industry. The short-term funding extensions of the previous transportation bill put pressure on state departments of transportation (DOT) as well as contractors because it was impossible to plan for the future. Even though the duration of the law is only for 27 months, as opposed to five or six year authorizations of the past, there are a number of important reforms included. There are significant environmental review reforms, which include the encouragement of early coordination between federal agencies and it also establishes a deadline in the project approval process. These reforms will decrease the amount of time between the decisions to move forward with a project to the completion of construction.