With federal transportation funding set to run out, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) said on Friday that it has launched a new digital media campaign to stress the importance of maintaining and upgrading transportation infrastructure.
The main focus of the campaign is to maintain the Highway Trust Fund, the source for over half of all capital investments made toward transportation infrastructure nationwide, this including highways, bridges and public transit. Federal highway/transit funding authorization is set to expire on May 31 unless Congress takes action.
The campaign utilizes digital social-media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to raise awareness of this issue. ARTBA said that over 1,000 phone messages, emails and social-media posts have been sent to or directed at members of Congress.
ARTBA has partnered with Phone2Action to better enable members to connect with their respective U.S. senators and representatives.
ARTBA said that a long-term solution is needed in terms of transportation funding and that Congress' use of continuing resolutions hinders the ability of states to plan infrastructure improvements with regard to the public sector and other factors. The group also said the highway fund has seen shortfalls five times between 2008 and 2014.
ARTBA represents the transportation construction and design industry's interests before Congress, the executive branch and other governmental entities.
The campaign can be accessed at http://p2a.co/ARTBA.
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