MEDFORD – Today, Congressman Tim Bishop was joined by Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and Long Island Contractors’ Association President Marc Herbst to call for a bipartisan, long-term plan to fix America's aging infrastructure, including the deteriorating Horseblock Road Bridge over the LIRR's Montauk Line in Medford, which was built in 1940 and is rated as “structurally deficient” by federal standards.

At a press event adjacent to the visibly rusted, pitted, and corroded bridge, Bishop, Bellone, and Herbst discussed their effort to ensure public safety and employ construction workers by performing necessary maintenance on transportation infrastructure.

Noting a nearby Komatsu Earth Mover provided by the Long Island Contractors' Association, Congressman Bishop said: "This equipment shouldn't be here, it should be on the job site. And if we can get this transportation bill passed, this equipment will be on a job site. The sooner we can do that, the better off we are from several different vantage points."

“There's  a multiplier effect that happens when you invest in transportation infrastructure and if the federal government is making the investment here, we will use those investments to grow the economy here in Suffolk County and put people back to work,” said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone.

The Horseblock Road LIRR Bridge, identified recently as one of the most structurally deficient bridges in Suffolk County, is not slated for improvements until 2015 and even that work is jeopardized by lack of funding, according to Suffolk's Department of Public Works. Bishop said a long-term Highway Bill that honestly accounts for the nation's infrastructure needs would help state, county, and local Departments of Transportation perform the work necessary to keep motorists safe.

“Now is the time to invest in infrastructure for the safety and the jobs we need,” said Marc Herbst. “I hope we are successful in convincing those in Washington of the needs not only for this bridge, but for all of Long Island and the nation.”

While investing in America's infrastructure has been a bipartisan issue in Congress in the past, last month the Republican majority in the House of Representatives was prepared to force a vote on a partisan Highway Bill (H.R. 7) that would have slashed transportation funding for New York State by approximately $1 billion over the next five years, as well as jeopardized future funding for mass transit.

Facing united opposition from Democrats and a Republican caucus divided over the controversial proposal, House leadership cancelled the vote on the bill nearly a month ago so it could be re-written. Bishop, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said Republicans have refused to reach out to Democrats on this top national priority thus far but said public pressure would compel work towards bipartisan bill that honestly addresses America’s need for efficient and safe transportation.