May 7, 2015
By Neal Tepel
Washington DC – President Barack Obama’s Grow America plan will provide $478 billion in funding over six years to boaster transportation infrastructure across the United States. This money will be critical so that transportation resources and crumbling infrastructure can be upgraded and repaired throughout the country. The plan will also create hundreds of thousands of new construction jobs.
Indeed, Vincent Alvarez, president of the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, says that funding allocated under the Grow America Act would finally allow New York City to make vital transportation infrastructure upgrades and repairs, while also creating well-paying union jobs for working men and women.
"New York City's Transit system transports millions of people each day, and our roadways and bridges are among the most heavily traveled in the nation, yet our crumbling transportation infrastructure poses a serious threat to our health, safety, and economic well being," Alvarez said in a recent statement.
Estimated spending for projects includes $317 billion for highways and roads, and $115 billion for transit systems. An essential component of the Grow America Act also includes better funding for the federal Highway Trust Fund, now inadequately funded by a federal gas tax.
Mark Henry, chair, ATU NYS Legislative Conference Board and president/business agent, Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1056, says the country simply needs a “transformative, long-term initiative to make our transportation system best-in-class.”
”We need Congress to pass the Obama administration’s Grow America Act,” says Henry.
