In response to President Biden’s first State of the Union Address on Tuesday March 1, the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) issued a statement welcoming the pledge to upgrade the nation’s infrastructure and urged a ‘multi-level’ approach that harnesses the power of tolling to further bolster funding.
Patrick Jones, executive director and CEO of IBTTA, the worldwide association for the owners and operators of toll facilities and the businesses that serve them, said: “We applaud President Biden tonight for highlighting the bipartisan action to improve and invest in America’s transportation infrastructure and for remaining committed to those efforts.
“President Biden said it all when he remarked, ‘this is our moment.’ We have a chance as a nation, after the bipartisan success of last year’s infrastructure bill, to truly remake the American landscape in a way that promotes greater equity, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and creates more jobs for more American families.
As the President said, our infrastructure is currently ranked 13th in the world, but it should be ranked #1. To get it there, and keep it there, we encourage the Administration to go full steam ahead on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. In addition, we encourage the Administration to leverage the capabilities of the tolling industry – which invests nearly $25 billion a year in road infrastructure through toll finance – to supplement the great work of the Federal-aid highway program.
“To make America’s infrastructure the envy of the world again, we need a multi-level approach that includes robust federal funding as well as toll financing at the state and local level that advances the user payment principle, sustainability, and equity.”
