{"id":10522,"date":"2022-07-26T17:43:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-27T00:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/?p=10522"},"modified":"2022-07-26T17:43:00","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T00:43:00","slug":"buttigieg-84b-in-iija-transportation-grants-awarded-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/buttigieg-84b-in-iija-transportation-grants-awarded-so-far\/","title":{"rendered":"Buttigieg: $84B in IIJA transportation grants awarded so far"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Department of Transportation has already announced recipients of nearly $84 billion in grant funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg during a daylong hearing Tuesday\u00a0<\/strong>of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The hearing was held to review the implementation of the IIJA, the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.<\/p>\n

Amtrak and high-speed rail programs, the rollout of electric vehicles and the future of the Highway Trust Fund were major areas of questioning for Buttigieg, who was the hearing\u2019s only witness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rep. Rodney Davis, R.-Ill., asked about the status of Amtrak\u2019s intercity corridor plan<\/a>, which could connect more cities with at least 30 new routes and provide increased service on many existing lines. Buttigieg explained that the plan consists of \u201ca mix of things that could be done relatively quickly and things that would take more extensive work.\u201d Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., said he was optimistic about Amtrak\u2019s proposal to connect Phoenix and Tucson with rail service, while Rep. Steve Cohen, D.-Tenn., asked about the possibility of passenger rail service connecting Memphis and Nashville, adding that there are no direct flights between the two cities. <\/p>\n

Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., asked whether any potential corridors for high-speed trains have been identified for IIJA support. Buttigieg referred only to existing public- and private-sector projects: the publicly-funded Los Angeles-San Francisco line in California, Texas Central\u2019s proposed Houston-Dallas project and Brightline West\u2019s Las Vegas-Victorville, California plan.<\/p>\n

In response, Moulton \u2014 a longtime supporter of high-speed rail \u2013 said, \u201cWe’ve got to pick a couple of high-speed rail projects that will succeed and so that Americans can see the value of high-speed rail.\u201d<\/p>\n

On electric vehicles, Rep. Thomas Massie, R.-Ky., questioned the ability of the nation\u2019s power grid to handle the expected increase in the number of EVs. \u201cDo you think by 2030, which is when [President]\u00a0Biden says 50% of cars sold should be electric, do you think the grid will be capable of handling electric cars?\u201d he asked Buttigieg.<\/p>\n

The transportation secretary replied, \u201cIt’s going to need to be, and we are working with the Department of Energy every day.\u201d He said the two cabinet departments\u00a0<\/strong>established the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation<\/a> \u201cto map out some of the needs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rep. Scott Perry, R.-Pa., questioned Buttigieg on the cost of new electric vehicles: \u201cI’m wondering what the administration and you are doing other than subsidizing\u00a0<\/strong>…\u00a0to lower the cost.\u201d In response, Buttigieg said, \u201cNobody I know, certainly not me, thinks that all or even most Americans can easily afford electric vehicles.\u201d He continued to note that some vehicles are available at more moderate prices and that used EVs are also an option for some buyers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ranking committee member Sam Graves, R-Mo.,\u00a0and Rep. Daniel Webster, R.-Fla., asked about ways to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent. Funded primarily by federal fuel taxes, shortfalls have required Congress to fill the gap through general fund appropriations, including a $118 billion transfer included in the IIJA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But, the transportation secretary said, \u201cAs we continue the transition toward electric vehicles and zero-emitting vehicles, it means that we’re going to need to have other means for filling gaps in the Highway Trust Fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This item was originally posted here: Read More<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Department of Transportation has already announced recipients of nearly $84 billion in grant funding from the Infrastructure Investment … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1066,457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-posts","category-construction-dive","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}