IBTTA has welcomed US president Joe Biden's emphasis on the importance of infrastructure in last night's State of the Union address.
“We applaud President Biden tonight for highlighting the bipartisan action to improve and invest in America's transportation infrastructure and for remaining committed to those efforts,” said Pat Jones, executive director and CEO of IBTTA.
Jones also called on the Biden-Harris administration "to go full steam ahead on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act" and "to leverage the capabilities of the tolling industry – which invests nearly $25 billion a year in road infrastructure through toll finance – to supplement the great work of the Federal-aid highway programme".
"To make America’s infrastructure the envy of the world again, we need a multi-level approach that includes robust federal funding as well as toll financing at the state and local level that advances the user payment principle, sustainability, and equity."
Biden pointed out that US infrastructure is currently ranked 13th in the world, "but it should be ranked #1".
Jones concluded: “President Biden said it all when he remarked, ‘this is our moment.’ We have a chance as a nation, after the bipartisan success of last year’s infrastructure bill, to truly remake the American landscape in a way that promotes greater equity, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and creates more jobs for more American families."
