Transportation

Ohio has an extensive transportation and infrastructure system comprised of over 123,000 miles of public roads, 28,000 bridges, 440 miles of inland waterways, 500 airports, and 36 freight railroads. This transportation system plays a central role in ensuring that Ohioans have safe modes of travel, while also promoting the efficient movement of goods.  The transportation industry also fuels our economic growth by employing hundreds of thousands of Ohioans.

I have met with transportation coordinating committees, metropolitan planning organizations, engineers, construction companies, and constituents who have all expressed the need for a long-term reauthorization of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users(SAFETEA-LU) bill. A long term reauthorization will allow our state, cities, and the transportation industry the stability and predictability needed for infrastructure and related projects. Congress must pass a multi-year reauthorization that prevents the Highway Trust Fund from going bankrupt, provides sufficient funding for transportation projects, and does not raise the gas tax.  The reauthorization should also consolidate duplicative requirements, streamline funding, and promote accelerating the planning and completion of cost efficient projects.

I am also working to include in the SAFETEA-LU reauthorization includes adequate funding for intermodal connecting roads, such as the East-West Connector at Rickenbacker.  These roads are key transportation routes for the shipment of goods.  However, there are insufficient connector roads being built and others in a state of inadequate repair.

Our nation’s airports have been operating for almost five years on short-term Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) extensions. Earlier this year, the House passed H.R. 658, which I supported.  H.R. 658 is a long-term FAA reauthorization which provides our airports and aviation industry greater predictability and long-term stability.  This long-term reauthorization also enables our airports to better plan finances and operations with timely access to obligated federal funding.  A final compromise between the House and Senate is still being negotiated.

Through my work with Chairman Mica and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, H.R. 658 also includes language creating unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) test sites. This language does not guarantee that Ohio will get one of the test sites.  However, the language does ensure that WPAFB and the Springfield National Guard will have an opportunity to prove that the Dayton region is a strong contender for a test site given the unique research and development being conducted by the Air Force Research Lab, manufacturers, and local schools.

I also secured language in the FY2012 Transportation,Housing and Urban Development (THUD) report which requires within 60 days of the bill passing, that the FAA report on the Agency’s progress on establishing UAV airspace. This language ensures that the FAA will continue to prioritize the establishment of special use UAS airspace while Congress negotiates a long-term reauthorization.

For more information concerning my work and views on transportation, please contact my Washington, DC office. I look forward to your feedback.