By Congressman Ciro D. Rodriguez (TX-23)

Are we there yet?  Many will hear this question yelled or pleadingly asked from children in the backseat as folks travel to visit family and friends this holiday season. But this question also applies to our infrastructure. Are our well-traveled roads, bridges, train tracks and other areas there yet? Are they prepared for the millions of Texans and Americans traveling before and after Thanksgiving?  High quality infrastructure is crucial to ensuring the safety of those traveling not just during the holiday season but every day as our children travel to school, our loved ones travel to work and to other activities.

As a member of the subcommittee on Appropriations for the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which distributes funds for improvements to our infrastructure, I've worked to secure important funding for our communities and I will continue to work for these improvements.

Recently I've secured funds for Alpine and Horizon City to fix and improve their infrastructure, and have announced grants in Maverick, Reeves, Zavala and Culberson Counties. But we have a great deal of work to do across our district to improve our quality of life.

With our national economy facing a downturn, infrastructure improvements also provide services that support economic growth by increasing jobs while at the same time making improvements to our communities.

We all look forward to gathering with family and friends and enjoying a Thanksgiving feast. On Christmas Eve, many of you will be shepherding your kids to bed early so you can wrap gifts away from their prying eyes. But, for many, before we can enjoy any of these moments we may have to get in our cars and drive for hours.

When your children ask you if we're there yet, you can feel more secure in knowing I am doing my best to ensure our roads are safer regardless of how close you actually are to your destination.