The Department of Transportation (DOT) frequently uses its transportation investments in the regions where they will most improve local economic development.
Financing the infrastructure of the U.S. is about more than payment. Local residents can have better access to education, jobs, and similar services that will improve their own personal economy while they, in turn, improve the economic growth of the larger community. Taxpayer dollars pay for construction jobs that are created during the building phase as well as the more permanent jobs that are made when companies begin to move into an area because of its transportation. Infrastructure investments benefit the nation multiple times at multiple stages as they inject the economy with activity and business.
The DOT has a lengthy list of projects that must be finished just to handle maintenance in a specific region. This list does not even include projects that will allow areas to improve their capacity, which would further improve the economy’s customers, markets and employees.
The current extension that Congress has made is the 34th of its kind. It is a short-term extension that will not be capable of fulfilling the goals of the DOT.
The DOT further supports the GROW AMERICA Act, which is a proposal for a six-year surface transportation law that is worth $479 billion. This bill would heighten transit investments over 70 percent. It would also offer $7.5 billion for TIGER, another DOT program that offers support to projects that improve the economy.
