ARTBA Washington Newsline

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NewslineWashington

GOP Ticket Complete with Ryan Pick

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Rep. Mica De-feats Primary Challenger

Register for ARTBA’s 24th P3 in Transportation Conference, October 10-12

The annual Transportation Construction Law and Regulatory Forum scheduled for October 24-25 in Washington, D.C. at the ARTBA building will feature multiple sessions on the legal and regulatory impacts of the new highway and transit law–MAP-21. In its fourth year, the forum provides an excellent opportunity for industry professionals to learn

After months of speculation, presumptive GOP presidential nominee Governor Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) announced August 11 House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as his vice presidential running mate. Ryan’s area of expertise is the federal budget. As a result, many of his past positions are likely more focused on transportation investment issues have been influenced by their budgetary impact.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

more about the latest trends in transportation construction law and regulatory requirements. It will also include sessions on environmental compliance, labor law, DBE compliance, insurance coverage & alternative project delivery, risk management & alternative project delivery and public-private partnerships. Federal Highway Administration Chief

Counsel, Fred R. Wagner is confirmed as the keynote speaker.

Registration is $495 for past attendees (rate is transferable to a co-worker), $595 for ARTBA members, and $795 for non-members.

Register today, or contact ARTBA’s Sara Jones for more information.

ARTBA’s October Legal & Regulatory Forum to Focus on MAP-21

House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) August 14 easily defeated his primary challenger, Rep. Sandy Adams (R-Fla.), by a 61 - 39 percent margin. The Tea Party-backed Adams made headlines with notable endorsements from former Governor Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and by heavily targeting Mica’s support for

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Upcoming EventsVisit our Events Page for more information.

National ConventionSeptember 11–14 Memphis, Tenn. [Add to Calendar]

LōTrans Virtual Conference & Innovation ShowcaseSeptember 18 - 20[Add to Calendar]

P3s in Transportation ConferenceOctober 10–12 Washington, D.C. [Add to Calendar]

4th Annual Construction Law & Regulatory ForumOctober 24-25Washington, D.C.

Western Regional MeetingNovember 27-28San Francisco, Calif.[Add to Calendar]

Central Regional MeetingNovember 29-30Chicago, Ill.[Add to Calendar]

Southern Regional MeetingDecember 3-4Atlanta, Ga. [Add to Calendar]

Northeastern Regional MeetingDecember 5-6Boston, Mass. [Add to Calendar]

2012

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T&I Chairman Defeats Primary Challenger

infrastructure investments throughout his career, including MAP-21.

Mica is now expected to easily win reelection in November, but faces an uncertain future come January. House Republicans have a self-imposed rule that limits, to six years, the tenure of its members as the ranking member or chairman of a committee. Mica has served four years as ranking member and the past two as chairman. Regardless of which party emerges from November with control of the House, leadership has the opportunity to grant a waiver to Mica to remain at the top post in T&I or give him a leadership role on another committee. Mica has said that he expects he will have a chairmanship in any case.

The impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) on highway construction activity is rapidly coming to an end. AARA highway fund outlays to-taled $170 million in July 2012, the lowest monthly total since June 2009, as the above chart shows, and just over one third the outlay rate of $473 million during July 2011. Most outlays reimburse state and local governments for payments to contractors for work performed on ARRA-financed highway and bridge projects. View full report.

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Products & ServicesConnect with Industry Leaders: Advertise in ARTBA’s Digital Buyers Guide

Promote your firm’s products and services before a wide audience of material suppliers, manufacturers, design firms and contractors.

Contact ARTBA’s Peter Embrey for more information.

Share your company or agency’s best photos!

The editorial staff of ARTBA’s “Transportation Builder” magazine is plan-ning its annual special section in the September/October issue featuring outstanding photos of transportation infrastructure projects from across the nation.

Send photos to ARTBA’s Jenny Ragone by Thursday, September 13. Here are the entry guidelines:

• Maximum two photos per member company.• At least 300 dpi as a TIF or JPG file. Do not send images over 10 MB.• Include captions, location, photographers name, and submitting

company.

9th Annual “Through the Lens” Transportation Design & Construction in Pictures

ARTBA Launches “Multimodal” WebsiteARTBA launched a new “Multimodal

Website,” August 8 to spotlight important

issues and developments within each modal

sector of the transporation network. The

website (www.artbamultimodal.org) is part

of an ongoing effort to expand the reach

of ARTBA’s Multimodal Councils, which

include Bridge Policy and Promotion,

Airports, Highways, Ports and Waterways,

and Rail & Transit. The councils are

comprised of ARTBA members from

various divisions and provide a forum for

the discussion and advancement of sector-

specific issues and policies.

In addition to the website, a

“Multimodal E-Newsletter” containing

links to recent news articles on specific

sectors of the transporation design and

construction industry is distributed

weekly.

Contact ARTBA’s Sara Jones to

sign-up for the e-newsletter or get

involved in a multimodal council.

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Overheard“ ”

TRB Newsletter: Aug. 14 Highlighting new research, technologies, industry best practices and information resources available to the transportation design and construction industry.

A service of ARTBA’s multi-modal 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.

Fostering Innovation

MultimodalNews

Legislative & Regulatory News

“... If I’m president... I believe infrastructure is going to see very substantial investments over the coming decade. I’m talking about highways as well as rail and air and communications infrastructure.”

Gov. Mitt Romney in an August 13 interview with “Fortune” magazine.

“The Romney/Ryan plan, if you will, has to cut drastically discretionary spending — investments in education, innovation, infrastructure, Department of Transportation — everything that people think of as federal investments dramatically.”

White House Spokesman Jay Carney during an August 16 press briefing.

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Ryan Selection

Smart Growth Grows in Small Communities

Notably, Ryan has voted for both surface transportation reauthorizations during his career, SAFETEA-LU in 2005 and MAP-21 this year. Both measures increased federal highway and public transportation investment. He has also supported all three aviation reauthorizations during his tenure: AIR-21, VISION-100, and the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. However, Ryan, like all House Republicans, opposed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009—the economic stimulus bill, including the $48 billion federal investment in infrastructure.

Further, Ryan’s budget resolutions for FY 2012 and FY 2013 both called for reductions in federal highway investment of 34 and 46 percent respectively. However, these proposals were not overt attempts to cut transportation investment, but rather reflections of the levels of investment existing Highway Trust Fund revenues could support.

Ryan was also one of the 82 House Republicans that supported a non-binding motion that called on negotiators of the final product of the surface transportation bill, MAP-21, to virtually eliminate any new highway spending in FY 2013. The proposal would have only allowed enough resources to fund projects already underway and was opposed by all Democrats and the majority of

House Republicans.As ARTBA has done in

the past, we will provide you with a complete record of the transportation positions of both the Democratic and Republican presidential tickets in the weeks

A new report released by Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition finds 350 communities have adopted so-called “Complete Streets” policies as of the beginning of 2012, with smaller communities in the Midwest driving the movement. It should be noted, however, that over half of all policies cited in the report are adopted as non-binding resolutions or internal policy. By comparison, just under a third are passed as traditional legislative initiatives or as official policy adopted by an elected board, lending to a wide variance in implementation.

According to the report, a “Complete Streets” approach “breaks down the traditional separation of highways, transit,

and biking/walking and instead focuses on the desired outcome of a transportation system that supports safe, and universally inclusive roadway use.” Critics of the approach note that significant resources are diverted to install streetlamps, paint bike lanes, add landscaping, and alter sidewalks in lieu of badly needed roadway improvements and capacity expansion on the same facility or elsewhere in a transportation system.

FHWA Launches MAP-21 Resource SiteThe Federal Highway Administration has launched a comprehensive MAP-21 resource site containing state-by-state apportionment charts for FY 2013 and 2014 as well as implementation guides for various programs. It also provides registration links for a number of upcoming webinars that will examine the legislation in-depth and provide viewers with an opportunity to ask agency officials specific questions about the new law. Explore the website.

5ARTBA Washington Newsline

Download a PDF copy of the digital “Washington Newsline.”

ARTBA News

LōTrans™ 2012, the Local Transportation Asset Management Virtual Conference & Innovation Showcase featuring “Best Practices in Work Zone Safety,” is scheduled for September 18-20 at a computer near you.

This industry-first event is primarily aimed at public officials and will feature more than 30 educational sessions from national industry leaders.

There are no travel costs. No booth shipping and set-up costs. You can monitor activity from your office computer and talk with visitors to your booth in real time.

You’ll also have the ability to select from a series of booth options and we’ll help you put it together.

Most importantly, LōTrans™ will help you reach your target audience: key decision-makers at public agencies.

View the exhibitor prospectus by clicking on the image above or visit: www.lotransvirtualconference.org.

Questions? Contact ARTBA’s Peter Embrey or Ed Tarrant: 202.289.4434.

1connections collaborations solutions

LoTrans™ 2012Local Transportation Asset Management

Virtual Conference & Innovation Showcase

Featuring Best Practices in Work Zone Safety

September 18-20 at your desktop

Exhibitor Prospectuswww.lotransvirtualconference.org

LōTrans™ 2012 Exhibit Opportunities

ARTBA Supports Reconsideration of Proposed EPA Cement Standards RuleARTBA submitted comments August 17 in support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) reconsideration of proposed Clean Air Act standards for portland cement production. EPA’s reconsideration comes as the result of an ARTBA-supported federal court settlement earlier this year. Specifically, ARTBA approved of EPA’s decision to allow an additional two years to develop standards, which

will result in a higher quality rule that reduces emissions of hazardous air pollutants while still allowing production of portland cement—a material critical to the nation’s infrastructure. ARTBA’s comments can be found in the “regulatory affairs” section of www.artba.org.

Voting Begins for 2013 ARTBA Officers and Board of DirectorsThe annual “Officers/Directors Ballot” was sent to ARTBA members via email August 13. The “official” slate of nominees for the Executive Committee and Board of Directors listed

Obama Administration Makes $473 Million Available for InfrastructureThe U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced August 17 $473 million in unspent earmarks from FY 2003-2006 will be made available to states for projects. Appropriations bills covering those years contain provisions that authorize the Secretary of Transportation to make the unused funds available for other eligible surface transportation improvements, including highway, transit, passenger rail, and port projects. According to a DOT release, states must identify the projects they plan to use the funds for by October 1, and must obligate them by December 31, 2012. Funds not obligated by the December 31 deadline will be proportionally redistributed in FY 2013 to states that met the deadline.

View a list of available funds by state.

on the ballot were selected by the ARTBA Nominating and Leadership Development Committee chaired by Bill Cox, Corman Construction and committee members Charlie Potts, Heritage Construction & Materials, Larry Tate, Caterpillar Inc., Larry Peterson, Kleinfelder, Inc. and Steve McGough, HCSS. Members can vote for the entire slate as presented, or write in names of other nominees.

The deadline for submitting your vote is September 4. Those selected to serve on the 2013 Executive Committee and Board of Directors will be installed at the ARTBA National Convention in Memphis, Tennessee Sept. 11-14.

If you have not already done so, vote online or contact ARTBA’s Kate Lammie with questions.

October 10 -12, 2012Renaissance Downtown Washington, D.C. Hotel

The ARTBA P3 Conference is the private infrastructure investment community’s premier opportunity to connect with hundreds of key decision makers, project sponsors, private sector finance execu-tives, consortium leaders and officials from all levels of government.

For more information, contact ARTBA P3 Division Manager Hank Webster at hwebster@artba.org or 202.289.4434.

24th Annual P3s in Transportation Conference

Re g i s te r : w w w. a r t b a p 3 . o rg