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Newsline Washington
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House Action Jeopardizes MAP-21 Investment Levels
Highway & Bridge Contract Awards Down 3%
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to act this week on legislation to fund federal activities and programs for the remaining six months of FY 2013. The federal government has been operating under a governmentwide continuing resolution (CR) that held virtually all programs at their FY 2012 funding levels. As a result, the $550 million highway and $100 million Continued on page 4
Sequester & Market Report Focus of March 21 Webinar It’s now early March, the budget cuts known as the sequester, will begin to take effect in the coming weeks. And we are now facing a new congressionally-orchestrated budget crisis that requires Congress and the President to reach an agreement on funding federal operations for the Continued on page 4
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Despite enactment of MAP-21 last summer, the real value of highway and bridge contract awards over the last 12 months (Feb. 2012-Jan. 2013) was down three percent compared the previous 12-month period, according to the latest ARTBA analysis of data by McGrawHill Dodge released March 1. Contract awards are a leading indicator of construction activity at the state-level.
Taking into account changes in wages, materials and inflation, state and local governments awarded $54.3 billion in real highway and bridge contract awards between Feb. 2012-Jan. 2013, compared to $55.8 billion the year before. “We did see a significant jump in the value of awards in January 2013,” says ARTBA’s Chief Economist Dr. Alison Premo Black. “Although that is
a positive sign, the increase was primarily due to several large projects in Arizona, Arkansas, California, New York and Virginia.” The outlook on a state-bystate level is mixed. The real value of highway contract awards is down in 23 states and Washington, D.C., up in 20 states, and within a range of plus or minus five percent Continued on page 2
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Contract Awards Down Continued from page 1
in seven states. Bridge awards are down in 22 states and Washington, D.C., up in 24 states, and within a range of plus or minus five percent in four states. There is better news for contract awards for docks, piers and wharves, which were up nearly 30 percent in the past 12 months, to $1.4 billion. Awards in California, Georgia and New Jersey drove growth in January 2013. Transit and railroad awards were also up nearly 30 percent to $3.5 billion. The full report, which includes state-bystate data for each mode, is available on a subscription basis. For more information, contact ARTBA’s Sarah Crane.
Upcoming Events
2013
Visit our Events Page for more information. Federal Issues Program & TCC Fly-In June 3-5 Washington, D.C. [Add to Calendar]
Young Executive Development Program June 3-6 Washington, D.C. [Add to Calendar]
25th Annual ARTBA P3 Conference July 24-26 Washington, D.C. [Add to Calendar]
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ARTBA National Convention September 8-10 Milwaukee, Wis. [Add to Calendar]
5th Annual Transportation Construction Law & Regulatory Forum October Washington, D.C.
Dr. J. Don Brock TransOvationTM Workshop & Awards Program
Regional Meetings
Local Transportation Management Virtual Conference & Innovation Showcase (LoTransTM 2013)
Late November-Early December
October 28-30 San Jose, Calif.
November 19-20
Western: December, Austin, Texas Central: December, St. Louis, Mo. Southern: December, Charlotte, N.C. Northeastern: December, Baltimore, Md.
President Continues Push for Infrastructure President Obama urged the nation’s governors February 25 to lobby their congressional delegations to support his “Fix it First” infrastructure plan to speed project permitting, frontload an additional $40 billion investment in deferred maintenance projects, attract private resources, and establish a national infrastructure bank. Specifically, Obama announced the Administration will establish “regional teams” to speed project delivery timelines across a variety of infrastructure: “We’re setting up regional teams that will focus on some of the unique needs each of you have in various parts of the country. We’re going to help the Pacific Northwest move faster on renewable
energy projects. We’re going to help the Northeast Corridor move faster on high-speed rail service. We’re going to help the Midwest and other states, like Colorado, move faster on projects that help farmers deal with worsening drought. We’re going to help states like North Dakota and South Dakota and Montana move faster on oil and gas production. All of these projects will get more Americans back to work faster.” The President also discussed the incentive to invest heavily in infrastructure in the current environment: “Folks who think spending really is our biggest problem should be more concerned than anybody about improving our infrastructure right
now. We’re talking about deferred maintenance here. We know we’re going to have to spend the money. And the longer we wait, the more it’s going to cost. That is a fact… [C]ontractors are begging for work. They’ll come in on time, under budget, which never happens. And we could make a whole lot of progress right now on things that we know we’re going to have to do at some point. This is like fixing the roof or repairing a boiler that’s broken. It will save us money in the long term.” Congress has not indicated a plan to consider the President’s “Fix it First” proposal or his past calls for similar up front infrastructure investments and a national infrastructure bank.
N.J. Transportation Leader Bob Briant, Sr. Passes Away
Products & Services 2013 ARTBA Media Kit Available
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July-August 2012
Special Report: ARTBA Analysis MAP-21
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Among Bob’s survivors are Carole, his wife of 54 years, and Bob Briant, Jr., UTCA’s current CEO. Read the complete obituary and memorial donation suggestions. ARTBA expresses its deepest condolences to the Briant family and Bob’s many friends.
TRANSPORTATION DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION LEADERSHIP DIRECTORY & BUYERS' GUIDE
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Robert A. Briant, Sr., the retired CEO of the Utility & Transportation Contractors Association (UTCA) of New Jersey, passed away on February 27. He was 76. Working with a dedicated group of New Jersey contractors, Bob built the association from scratch and led it for 33 years. During that time, UTCA emerged as one of New Jersey’s most influential trade groups and Bob as one of the foremost advocates in Trenton. Since his 2006 retirement, he chaired the National Clean Water Construction Coalition, served on numerous governmental and civic boards, and continued to assist with UTCA activities. Long active in ARTBA, Bob served as chairman of its Council of State Executives in 1994, and received the Contractors Division’s Nello Teer Award for outstanding service in 2006.
Newsline Washington
AUGUST 6, 2012
ARTBA Continues Push for Transportation in Party Platforms Both the House and Senate adjourned last week for a recess that will carry through both parties’ political conventions (August 27-30 in Tampa, Fla., for the GOP and September 3-6 in Charlotte, N.C., for Democrats) and last until September 10. As such, both parties are developing their political message for the last few months of campaigning before November and are
Room Discount for ARTBA National Convention Ends This Week
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Senate Introduces Bipartisan Coal Ash Legislation A bipartisan group of 12 Republican and 12 Democratic senators introduced August 2 the “Coal Ash Recycling and Oversight Act” to prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating coal ash—used extensively in transportation construction projects—as a “hazardous substance.” The legislation, introduced by Senators John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) builds upon a Continued on page 2 Follow ARTBA:
The deadline for receiving the discounted $192 hotel room rate at the 2012 ARTBA National Convention in Memphis, Tenn. ends Aug. 10. The Peabody Memphis Hotel is a magnificent Forbes FourStar, AAA Four-Diamond, historic property, which has been described as “legendary, charming, elegant and grand.” In addition to top-notch speakers and networking opportunities, this year’s convention features a spectacular program of
events for spouses of ARTBA members. Spouses will have the opportunity to tour “Blues City,” learn about its past, and visit important cultural landmarks, such as the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, and Sun Studio and Stax Museum, where legends such as Elvis Presley, B.B. King and Tom Petty made music history. The program also includes a historical tour along the Mississippi River aboard the newly-refurbished Island Queen.
Attendees and their spouses will also have the opportunity to visit Graceland, the home of Elvis. The full program is available at www. artbanationalconvention.org. Contact ARTBA’s Ed Tarrant for information, or call the Peabody Memphis Hotel at 901.529.4000 to book your room. Reservations made after August 10 will be on a spaceavailable basis.
August 10 Deadline: Contractor Safety & Roadway Work Zone Safety Awards ARTBA Washington Newsline
2013 Media Kit
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View the 2013 ARTBA Media Kit online for the full range of advertising and other opportunities in our “Transportation Builder” magazine, “Leadership Directory & Buyers’ Guide,” and the “Washington Newsline.”
View the 2013 January/February “Transportation Builder” magazine
For more information on advertising, contact Peter Embrey at 202.289.4434. ARTBA Washington Newsline
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Overheard
FY 2013 Funding Legislation
“Republicans should also put rebuilding the nation’s transportation and energy infrastructure high on our political agenda. From Lincoln’s transcontinental railroad to Eisenhower’s highway system, Republicans have understood that investing in critical infrastructure projects creates jobs and expands commerce. And given that the Federal Reserve insists on giving us cheap money, let’s use it for the benefit of the country by issuing long-term debt to finance such projects and repay it over decades through dedicated taxes and user fees.”
transit investment increases provided in the MAP-21 reauthorization bill have been delayed for the last six months. Recent media reports suggest the House funding bill will again not include the MAP-21 levels. The ARTBA co-chaired Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) wrote members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees last week urging them to provide the full MAP-21 investment levels of $39.7 billion for the highway program and $10.6 billion for the transit program. The TCC letter pointed out that MAP21 ensured the Highway Trust Fund could support these levels of investment and that failing to release the fund provided would undermine the new law’s attempt to provide certainty about future levels of federal investment. Please use the ARTBA-toll free action Hotline, 1-888-4482782, to contact your House member to urge them to support fully funding MAP-21 in the FY 2013 continuing resolution that will come before the House this week.
Feb. 27 “New York Times” op-ed, “Grand Old Parity,” by former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chair Sheila C. Bair.
“TO GOVERN IS to choose. By missing Friday’s deadline for averting $85 billion worth of across-the-board spending cuts to defense and domestic programs, Congress and President Obama have chosen not to govern. Instead, each side has concluded that its interest lies in letting the “sequester” proceed as scheduled — and then trying to win the political blame game. This abdication is bad public policy.” March 1 “Washington Post” editorial, “Washington Fails to Govern, as the Sequester Arrives.”
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Legislative & Regulatory News
ART BA Washington Newsline
Continued from page 1
Sequester Hits President Obama and congressional leaders failed to strike a deal last week to avert the so-called “sequester”— automatic federal spending cuts enacted as part of the 2011 Budget Control Act. Federal core highway and transit formula investments are not subject to the acrossthe-board reductions. Highway emergency relief investment, however, faces a $136 million
reduction, while transit capital programs will get a $156 million cut. While leadership on both sides of the aisle and at the White House are looking at the politics of sequester and potential replacements for the cuts, some GOP lawmakers are looking to use the annual appropriations process to make these cuts permanent. As always, we will update you as developments occur.
Senate Budget Committee U.S. Department of Transportation Under Secretary for Policy Polly Trottenberg told members of the Senate Budget Committee February 26 the department needs Congress to come to a consensus on a long-term solution to the Highway Trust Fund. The hearing featured experts from various industries with long connections to federal investment, and Trottenberg detailed the relationship between federal transportation revenues and the long-term fiscal health of the nation: “I think on the transportation front, we
have had an extraordinary tradition in this country of bipartisan consensus. In part that is because I would say the funding mechanism we have used for the past 60 years, the federal gas tax, has risen pretty regularly and Congress has actually only had to raise it a few times. And because the amount of mileage that Americans are driving has increased every year, we had a pretty good stream of revenue and that enabled us I think to build a stable program and achieve political consensus. Obviously now…the gas tax hasn’t been raised in 20 years and we’ve been searching for a way to achieve consensus on how to fund the program going forward. We’ve put a lot of general funds into the program—something that we started doing about five years ago and hadn’t done prior to that at all. And, obviously, I think a lot of us worry that that is not something that is fiscally and politically sustainable. As Senator Sessions was saying, that’s adding to the debt future generations are
Multimodal News
Fostering Innovation
A service of ARTBA’s multimodal councils, it features current transportation developments making news across all modes and regions. Contact Sara Jones to become a subscriber or visit www.artbamultimodal.org.
Highlighting new research, technologies, industry best practices and information resources available to the transportation design and construction industry.
TRB Newsletter: Feb. 27
2013 Award Deadlines
2012 1 st Place Globe Award WInner: Wright Brothers Construction Company
2012 1 Place PRIDE Award Winner: APAC Missouri st
PRIDE Awards: Honoring excellence in community relations & public education that enhance the image of the U.S. transportation construction industry. Deadline: March 29 going to have to pay to keep the program going. So, for us, we clearly need consensus on a long-term sustainable funding path.”
Proposal Expediting Reviews for Certain Transportation Projects Put Forward The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) released a proposal February 28 which would allow transportation projects being built within an existing rightof-way or involving the use of minimal federal funds to be treated as categorical exclusions (CEs) for environmental review purposes. A CE is used when environmental impacts are minimal and involves less regulatory burden than more cumbersome reviews, reducing delay by as much as a decade in some instances. The FHWAFTA proposal is a result of MAP-21 provisions expediting and clarifying the CE process.
Globe Awards: Honoring U.S. transportation construction industry excellence in environmental protection & mitigation Deadline: April 12
ARTBA has consistently championed the greater use of CEs to expedite the delivery of needed transportation improvements and supports the proposal.
NAFTA Trade Down in December Trade using surface transportation between the U.S. and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners, Canada and Mexico, decreased 3.2 percent from $74.2 billion in December 2011 to $71.9 billion in December 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). In December 2012, 86 percent of all trade by value between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico occurred by surface transportation. Truck shipments accounted for $48 billion in trade and goods movement by rail totaled an additional $14 billion. The U.S. transportation network
Hall of Fame Class: From left to right: 2011 ARTBA Chairman Bill Cox with 2011 Hall inductees Jim Lammie, Denney Pate, and John Wight on behalf of Enoch Needles
Hall of Fame: Honors individuals or families from the public and private sectors who have made extraodinary contributions to the U.S. transportation development. Deadline: April 12
is the foundation for the U.S. economy and the nation’s global competitiveness. Despite recent monthly fluctuations, goods movement is expected to grow exponentially in the coming decades. As such, it is imperative the federal government prioritize investments to maximize productivity.
ARTBA News March 21 Webinar Continued from page 1
remainder of FY 2013 or risk a government shutdown. It raises the question: What do these developments mean for the U.S. transportation design and construction market in the months ahead? Dr. Alison Premo Black, ARTBA’s chief economist and Dave Bauer, ARTBA’s top government affairs expert, will address this question during
a live 60-minute March 21 webinar. Among the other topics they will cover: • Highway and bridge market conditions during the first quarter of 2013 and the outlook for the remainder of the year. • Trends in the airport runway, transit & rail, and ports & waterways markets. • An overview of which state markets are faring well… and which aren’t. • Status of new transportation investment proposals at the state level. • Legislative update on the Highway Trust Fund’s financial challenges, FY 2012 appropriations bill and the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA). This event is for ARTBA members, industry analysts and other construction industry executives. Participants will be able to ask questions and will receive a copy of the PowerPoint presentation. Registration for ARTBA members is $100.
Download a PDF copy of the digital “Washington Newsline.” ARTBA Washington Newsline
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Join the Next Generation of Industry Leaders...
The ARTBA Foundation Young Executive Development Program NOW Accepting Applications for 2013 June 3 - 6 in Washington, D.C. • More than 430 young executives from nearly 200 companies, public agencies and state contractor organizations in 40 states and Washington, D.C., have completed the program, including 2013 ARTBA Chairman Steve Wright of Wright Brothers Construction. • Participants gain a greater understanding about how they can play a leadership role in helping grow the transportation construction market in the future. • Application deadline is March 15. Download the application, or contact ARTBA’s Sara Jones.
“The [YEDP] experience left an indelible mark on me. I came away with a new awareness of the critical role that we, both as individuals and as an association, have to play in shaping the decisions that affect our livelihoods. Fourteen years later, I am humbled to be the first YEDP graduate elected as ARTBA chair, and to serve this wonderful organization that has taught me so much.” - Steve Wright, 2013 ARTBA Chairman and president of Wright Brothers Construction Co.
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