Transportation

Healthy transportation infrastructure—roads, airports, bridges, ports and rail—is essential to our region’s quality of life and economic vitality.  The 7th District has many critical needs and I’m committed to working with state and local leaders to build and strengthen Southwest Louisiana infrastructure.
 
Highways and Transit

Boustany meets with a worker at the port of Lake Charles

The 2005 federal highway bill expired in 2009 and Congress has passed short-term extensions in recent years to ensure critical programs don’t lapse.  States and localities need certainty to plan long-term infrastructure projects and ensure taxpayer dollars aren’t wasted and it is important Congress complete a comprehensive highway bill.  As federal gas tax revenues decline and infrastructure demands increase - developing a new funding source is the major challenge standing in the way of passing a new bill.  I am working closely with my colleagues on the Ways & Means Committee to develop new revenue mechanisms to support the American highway system.  It is clear that more needs to be done to repair and restore our highways and infrastructure and I remain actively involved in this process, fighting to ensure the priorities of my constituents and local communities are addressed.

Water Resources and Development

Maintaining Southwest Louisiana’s waterways is also a top priority and the maritime industry is a vital economic driver in our region.  Each year private industry pays billions of dollars into the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to help maintain federal waterways and promote U.S. commerce.  Yet these critical funds are continually held hostage by Washington bureaucrats as maintenance and dredging backlogs across the country rise.  I am leading a bipartisan coalition calling for $5.1 billion in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to be released in order to properly maintain Louisiana’s navigation channels. 

This issue is critical to Louisiana’s federally maintained ports and to not dredge these waterways impacts regional and national commerce, affects Southwestern Louisiana job growth, reduces our economic competitiveness and increases the risk of vessel groundings, collisions and pollution incidents.  For example, the Port of Lake Charles, the nation’s 11th largest port and is critical to our economy in Southwest Louisiana, exports Louisiana-produced goods across the globe.  With the Calcasieu River Ship Channel now being returned to pre-Hurricane Rita depths, the Port of Lake Charles is critical to our economy in Southwest Louisiana and the operability of the Calcasieu River will boost commerce. 

 

I am always eager to hear from my constituents.  If you would like to speak with my staff about transportation and infrastructure legislation, please contact Washington, D.C. office at 202-225-2031.