Forty-two percent of America’s major urban highways remain congested. The Federal Highway Administration estimates that $101 billion is wasted every year in time and fuel. The steel industry, which employs nearly 3,000 workers in South Carolina, is a heavy user of the U.S. surface transportation system and supplier of transportation projects.
We need a well-maintained transportation system to move raw materials and products. The current infrastructure system is clogged with congestion that has crippled America by contributing to logistical delays, pollution and increased costs for manufacturers and consumers.
The Highway Trust Fund that pays for the vast majority of transportation infrastructure is expected to become insolvent once again this December.
Existing federal fuel taxes have not been changed since 1993 and have not been adjusted for inflation, and therefore are insufficient to meet the nation’s infrastructure needs.
As a result, the Highway Trust Fund has been kept afloat since 2007 through a series of short-term cash infusions that have not given states and municipalities the long term funding certainty they need to plan and invest in critical infrastructure improvements.
Consumers should not have to absorb unnecessary costs and employees should not be kept away from their families because of traffic bottlenecks. The steel industry is urging Congress to work toward a long-term solution to meet our nation’s transportation needs to attract new investment, deliver good-paying jobs and enhance quality of life.
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