A new era in our Federal-aid highway program began last month when President Obama signed the new transportation bill into law. This bipartisan bill is going to strengthen our transportation system and grow our economy. It’s going to put people to work doing the work America needs done – repairing our roads and bridges.
For our state and local partners, it provides two years of steady funding and the certainty they need to invest in critical road and bridge projects.
The new law also contains a number of provisions designed to shorten project delivery, provisions that complement – and in many cases mirror – the strategies our Federal Highway Administration has been championing through the Every Day Counts initiative.
Thanks to Every Day Counts, this bridge on I-15 in West Mesquite, Nevada, was assembled and slid into place in 56 hours.
The transportation community and Congress had long been concerned about the pace of project delivery and the need to deliver transportation benefits sooner while still protecting the environment. Moving projects more quickly to construction is also critical to putting people to work faster.
But beyond a desire to accelerate projects, no one seemed to have a good plan for doing it. Then, in 2010, Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez launched Every Day Counts. Since then, the FHWA has worked with our state, local and private sector partners to implement a number of strategies that are making a real difference.
From design-build to Safety Edge to prefabricated bridge elements, Every Day Counts has been a tremendous success in states across the nation.
Continue reading "Second round of Every Day Counts
seeks to extend initial success " »