Second round of Every Day Counts seeks to extend initial success

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.

Every Day Counts showed with great clarity that you can deliver projects faster while still protecting the environment. And I have no doubt that Congress took notice and saw Every Day Counts as a model for addressing a national need to deliver safer, less congested roads to people sooner.

Last week, Administrator Mendez rolled out the second round of EDC strategies and technologies. Once again we will advance technologies that speed up our efforts to enhance safety, reduce congestion, and protect the environment.

We have received more than 250 ideas and suggestions for the second round of Every Day Counts. The criteria for selecting the final list from these were clear:  We wanted strategies and technologies that were ready to go and would make a difference. And this fall, FHWA will work with the states so they can begin selecting and putting to work the most appropriate strategies from this new set.

The combination of a new transportation bill and another round of Every Day Counts is going to make a big difference in the everyday lives of Americans across the country. I am pleased for Administrator Mendez that Congress incorporated Every Day Counts elements into this new bill, and I congratulate him for his continued commitment to this signature program.

Comments

[Montway Auto Transport]

We can definitely confirm that and congratulate Victor Mendez for the Every Day Counts project and President Obama for signing this bill.
In Chicago metro area we see new highway exits and bridges being build - highway construction workers working day and night and this is a tremendous success!

We know that in Boston, Mass this has been the case for long time and could not understand why they don't work that way in Chicago. Now with this project, this summer we surely see a difference and hope it will stay that way!