House T&I Director Touts FAST Act’s Freight Program

@IBTTA Chris Bertram, House T & I Comm. @ShusterForPA9 talks FAST Act, TIFIA pic.twitter.com/Da9u45sT77 — IBTTA (@IBTTA) March 14, 2016

WASHINGTON — Chris Bertram, staff director for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, touted a grant program in a 2015 highway law as a useful tool for advancing freight projects.

“The idea is that this is going to try to pay for and finance projects … that states or local entities, or a group of states, or even, maybe, a consortia of different public authorities, just don’t have enough money,” to fund large-scale freight connectivity projects, Bertram said at the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association’s policy summit here March 14. The summit concludes March 15.

“Right now, there really wasn’t a place for anyone to go,” he added.

The 2015 law, the FAST Act, includes a $4.5 billion grant program dedicated for freight and highway projects. In February, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that it is making available $800 million in fiscal 2016 as part of the freight program.

American Trucking Associations has praised the inclusion of the grant program in the FAST Act.