In The News
Foxx: 6-year highway bill would 'vanquish spector of uncertainty' of state road projects
LINCOLN, Neb. — A six-year highway bill would "vanquish the specter of uncertainty" that haunts roads projects across the country, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said Wednesday during a visit here.
Foxx came to Nebraska as a guest of Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb.
Fischer was one of the driving forces in the Senate to get lawmakers to pass a long-term surface transportation bill.
The Senate passed the bill last month, but the House has yet to take up the measure.
Congress is in recess until September 8.
Foxx acknowledged short-term extension of MAP-21, but decried the fact that states are caught in a "cycle of short-term extensions."
Fischer was one of the lead architects of the long-term bill passed by the Senate, including language to create a pilot program to test the feasibility of truck drivers under the age of 21, but who have a CDL, to drive interstate routes.
The Lincoln Journal Star reported that Foxx said he was pleased Fischer supported the Senate bill, and that asking if he would have preferred the administration's bill is "like asking a college professor if he or she is satisfied with the number of books in their library."
The U.S. transportation system "needs to remain in top condition" to compete globally, Fischer and Foxx wrote in a column that appeared in Wednesday's Journal Star.
Foxx and Fischer appeared together at the future site of Nebraska's first diverging diamond interchange on Interstate 80 at Northwest 48th Street in Lincoln.
Foxx said the goal of his visit was to listen to people there and "to let the transportation community know that we've still got a fight on our hands and we need to keep working back in Washington to move the dial."
The Trucker staff can be reached to comment on this article at [email protected].