Contact: Rob Ostrander 202.224.7627 Shana Stribling 202.224.0309
Wednesday, August 10, 2005

WASHINGTON, DC – As chairman of the Senate Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee, U.S. Senator Kit Bond today celebrated the signing of the federal highway bill, passed by the House and Senate earlier this month. Bond, one of the bill’s authors joined the President at the signing ceremony in Illinois, where he was thanked by the President for his hard work in ensuring the bill’s passage in the Senate.

“Finally, after years of hard work, and political delays beyond our control, we have won the resources we need to fix our crumbling infrastructure: a new highway bill,” said Bond, who co-authored the legislation. “This is a great day for transportation and safety advocates.”

After almost three years in the works, Congress passed the $286.5 billion federal highway bill signed into law by the President today. Bond stressed that this bill is a big win for Missouri, providing almost $1.3 billion in additional highway funding for the state over the life of the five-year bill.

For years, Bond has fought to increase the return on the dollar that Missourians pay in federal transportation taxes. In the bill signed into law, Bond successfully fought to increase Missouri’s share to 98 cents on the dollar. In 1987, when Bond joined the Senate, Missourians received 76 cents on the dollar.

The new formula ensures that Missouri will receive more than $200 million in new highway dollars each year. Under the bill, Missouri will receive $862 million through the formula programs each year, up from $661 million in the last transportation bill.

On top of the extra funding provided by the new formula, Bond also specified $467.5 million for Missouri transportation projects statewide, including over $265 million in additional new funds for specific Missouri highway projects.

Recent studies show nearly 43,000 Americans lose their lives each year on America’s highways. Almost one-third of those lives are lost because of inadequate highways.