Skip to main content

US Tranportation Secretary pessimistic?

US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has expressed doubts that the reauthorisation bill will be passed in the current session of Congress, according to the Innovation Briefs report by Ken Orski.
March 15, 2012 Read time: 1 min
US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has expressed doubts that the reauthorisation bill will be passed in the current session of Congress, according to the 3949 Innovation Briefs report by Ken Orski.

LaHood spoke during the recent annual meeting of the 2774 Transportation Research Board in Washington, where six US transportation secretaries discussed challenges they had met during their time in office. LaHood’s comments drew some surprise given recent announcements from the US Government about the importance of infrastructure.

There have been some earlier comments that the Senate Finance Committee may have arrived at a bipartisan agreement on providing the US$13 billion needed to fund the bill. However LaHood pointed out that the politically polarised situation in the 10 months to the next US election will make it hard for sufficient agreement to be reached that would allow the reauthorisation bill to be passed.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Financing safer, more sustainable European roads
    April 12, 2012
    The future financing of the European road network has again become a hot topic in Brussels On 15 October, 2010 in the Belgian capital, the Council of Transport Ministers hammered out a political compromise on the revision of the Eurovignette Directive that paves the way for the imposition of additional charges on road transport as a means of internalising externalities. Whether the imposition of these additional costs is justified or not remains the subject of protracted debate.
  • Financing safer, more sustainable European roads
    February 10, 2012
    The future financing of the European road network has again become a hot topic in Brussels
  • Asphalt milling optimised by 3D controls
    February 20, 2012
    3D machine controls can optimise milling efficiency, Mike Woof reports. More efficient milling and recycling operations can be carried out by using the latest 3D control systems on the market. At the last Trimble Dimensions event in Las Vegas, the advantages of 3D controls for milling operations proved a key topic. The use of 3D control systems can offer huge advantages in milling operations. This technology helps increase productivity as the milling machine will only remove what is required, which also hel
  • EU biofuels strategy ‘criticised’
    July 3, 2012
    A NEW report revealed by the European Commission says that increasing the share of fuel used in transport beyond 5.6% could cause more harm than benefit to the environment. At the end of 2008 the EU agreed to set a target of 10% of transport fuel coming from renewable sources such as biofuels as well as hydrogen and ‘green’ electricity by 2020. The agreement also included a requirement that all new energy sources be sustainable, setting sustainability criteria for biofuels, and is this last point that is p