NY, NJ lawmakers call for increased federal infrastructure investment

U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York wrote a letter urging new Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to visit aging transportation infrastructure throughout their states.    Federal lawmakers from New York and New Jersey are urging the government to increase investment in transportation infrastructure following proposed budget cuts by the Trump administration.
   U.S. Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Robert Menendez, D-N.J.; Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.; and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., sent a letter to newly appointed Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao last week asking her to visit aging rail infrastructure throughout their states in order to “see firsthand the critical need for robust investment in our region’s rail and transit infrastructure.”
   “As you may know, the last two Secretaries of the Department of Transportation, Anthony Foxx and Ray LaHood, visited New York Penn Station during their tenures to discuss the importance of driving investment to the Northeast Corridor,” the lawmakers wrote. “Following in that tradition, a site visit, particularly one that allows you to witness the volume of passengers at peak travel times, will provide you detailed information about the status of the current infrastructure and the urgent need for federal investments in advancing the Gateway Project.”
   President Donal Trump in March released a preliminary budget proposal for 2018 that would cut funding for USDOT by 13 percent from 2016 levels to $16.2 billion and eliminate President Obama’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program, a move that was less than well received by members of the freight transportation industry. Obama launched the TIGER program in 2009 in an effort to revitalize ailing transportation infrastructure across the country.
   The senators noted the Trump administration’s budget proposal would also eliminate funding for the New Starts capital grant program, a move that “threatens to terminate work on critical components to the Gateway Program including replacing the century-old Portal Bridge in New Jersey and new trans-Hudson rail tunnels” and would have a “disastrous impact on our regional and national economy.”
   “Rather than slashing infrastructure investments, we should work together on a plan to provide the major increases in direct federal infrastructure spending that our country desperately needs,” they wrote. “Projects like Gateway and thousands of others across the country, including schools, roads and bridges, water and sewer systems, and more will only be advanced through a significant federal commitment to infrastructure investment.”