A coalition of state transportation officials wants Congress to consolidate some of the environmental programs from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law so states will have more flexibility on how to spend the money if lawmakers re-up the law as planned this year.
The states are pushing to preserve the federal government’s top-line funding for roads, bridges, transit and railroads in the next transportation bill, but they’re urging Washington policymakers to shift the funds into long-established formulas rather than discretionary grants.
“We need to sort of get back to basics,” said Russell McMurry, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation and president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), on Tuesday at an industry conference.
The states, working through AASHTO, also want Congress to streamline environmental regulations, which would lower their costs, said McMurry on the sidelines of the Transportation Research Board’s annual meeting in Washington.
