WASHINGTON — It’s déjà vu all over again — with the threat of a federal government shutdown at the end of the month, and a deadline in late October to keep much-needed highway construction and maintenance projects going.
While there are a few multi-year funding proposals, Congress could pass another short-term extension to push the deadline back again. If nothing is signed into law, U.S. Deputy Transportation Secretary Victor Mendez says it would stop projects across the country aimed at reducing congestion and maintaining crumbling roads and bridges.
“It will be very difficult for many of these projects to move forward,” he says, referring to what could happen without a full multi-year funding deal.
While ongoing projects help, Mendez says even the proposals on Capitol Hill with the largest amounts of additional funding may not turn America’s infrastructure issues around.
“Americans are not using our roads and bridges less. In fact, over the next 30 years we predict that freight will increase somewhere between 45 and 50 percent, and population will increase about 70 million people,” Mendez says.
A significant part of that growth is expected in the D.C. region.
