We’re a little star-struck around here these days. Last month a clip of our head honcho, Ed Reiskin, was included in John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight piece about infrastructure. As Ed states in the piece, infrastructure isn’t sexy, but it is oh so necessary. To get the public to focus on this crucial issue, Oliver offered the solution of a star-studded Hollywood blockbuster, Infrastructure: If anything exciting happens, we’ve done it wrong. While this is an amusing idea, the actual solution won’t be nearly as entertaining.
As Oliver points out, the need for improving and repairing the nation’s aging infrastructure, roads, streets, transit, etc., is real. And it will require a big commitment from the government and from the public (i.e., you and me).
For years, the main source of federal funds for improving and maintaining our country’s highways and mass transit has been the U.S. Highway Trust Fund. It’s funded by gas taxes paid at the pump, and it’s at risk of running out of money this summer—unless Congress acts soon.
On Thursday, we’ll be joining our regional partners, along with 240 organizations in communities across the nation, for Stand Up for Transportation Day. The American Public Transportation Association is bringing together organizations and supporters to urge Congress to renew funding for the federal law that supports transportation investment nationwide and ensures the Highway Trust Fund stays solvent. Called Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act or MAP-21, the law is set to expire on May 31.
These funds are helping us replace the entire Muni bus fleet within the next four years and build the Central Subway, Muni’s first new subway line in decades. They’ll also help BART buy new train cars and electrify Caltrain.
We’ve compiled a few thoughtful pieces to help you learn more:
- The Source: The Downward Spiral of the Federal Highway Trust Fund (from our friends down the coast at L.A. Metro)
- Roll Call: Here’s The Need, Where’s the Money?
- City Lab: John Oliver’s Solution to America’s Infrastructure Crisis
Want to join us online for promoting Stand Up for Transportation Day? Download the image below for your social profiles this Thursday and use #SU4T, or add your voice to the petition to tell Congress you want them to pass comprehensive, long-term federal transportation funding at the local level for no less than six years.
This funding is not just important to transportation, but to the sustainability and overall growth of the Bay Area economy.
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