State Infrastructure Focus of Senate Hearing

Press Release

Senator Kent Conrad today welcomed state officials testifying at an official field hearing of the Senate Budget Committee to detail the importance of a new federal highway bill. Senator John Hoeven joined Senator Conrad at the hearing where state officials testified on the importance of the legislation critical to shoring up the nation's roadways, while providing certainty to small businesses on the eve of construction season.

Senators Conrad and Hoeven voted in favor of legislation known as MAP-21 --Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century -- which holds federal spending at current levels and provides more than $527 million over the next two years to support North Dakota highways, roads and bridges. MAP-21 passed the Senate with strong bipartisan support, 74-22, on March 14.

"The Senate bill makes the infrastructure investment our nation so desperately needs. For North Dakota, it means new roads, new bridges and an improved public transportation system," Senator Conrad said. "Without a multi-year bill, investments will lag and jobs will be lost. Traffic bottlenecks will increase, slowing the movement of oil and other goods, while creating safety hazards. The time to address our crumbling infrastructure is now. And to do that we need a multi-year bill."

The new highway bill will enable us to do good things across North Dakota, and at the same time is fully paid for, so it won't contribute to the deficit and debt," Hoeven said. "Combined with the $317 million we worked to secure through the DOT's Emergency Relief Program, and additional transit program funding, North Dakota will receive a combined total of nearly $870 million, record funding, over the next two years to address critical infrastructure needs across the state. It comes at a time when our economy is growing and we need to address both flood impacts and infrastructure development in western North Dakota and across the state."

Instead of taking up the two-year Senate bill that enjoyed strong bipartisan support, the House of Representatives opted for a short three-month extension of current legislation.

Senator Conrad noted that passage of the two-year, $109 billion highway bill provides greater certainty for North Dakota and other states across the nation that have been operating under a series of small extensions since 2009, making it difficult for states to plan investments.

Specifically, the Senate bill maintains strong funding for North Dakota under the federal highway program. The state will receive $261.5 million in Fiscal Year 2012 and $266 million in Fiscal Year 2013. North Dakota will also receive an additional $12 million in both FY12 and FY13 for transit programs.

Testifying at the Budget Committee Hearing today were: North Dakota Department of Transportation Director Francis Ziegler; Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker; North Dakota League of Cities President Don Frye; and Paul Diederich, President of Industrial Builders.

The senators noted that the MAP-21 legislation would help address the infrastructure needs in western North Dakota, where additional stress and traffic on roadways has made getting state energy and agriculture products to market a challenge.

At a national level, MAP-21 consolidates the number of federal transportation programs by two-thirds, from about 90 programs down to less than 30, to focus resources on key national goals and reduce duplicative programs.

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