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Big Bertha’s Face Lift Begins.
According to Seattle Tunnel Partners, construction on the newly redesigned seal system for the SR 99 tunneling machine has begun. Crews lowered the new outer seal ring into place the first week of June, marking the first new piece to be installed in the machine as part of STP’s effort to resume tunneling. The new inner seal system arrived last week and is currently being installed. |
Senate introduces long-term highway bill.
On June 23, a bipartisan group of Senate lawmakers introduced a six-year highway spending bill, "Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act" or DRIVE Act, that would fund federal highway and transit programs through fiscal 2021 and replace a stopgap infrastructure spending measure that expires at the end of next month. Lawmakers need to find about $90 billion in new funding to keep the transportation program at current spending levels over the next six years. The proposal would include roughly $42 billion per year in highway spending, plus a 3 percent annual increase in highway spending over the last surface transportation bill, known as MAP-21, which passed in 2012. |
House hearing on highway-funding deadline.
On June 24, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit held a hearing on the congressional stalemate over a long-term fix for transportation funding. The Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015 (HR 2353) expires on July 31. Congress has not passed a long-term transportation funding measure since 2009, meaning American infrastructure has been supported by sporadic, short-term cash infusions. Transportation advocates are promoting a six-year funding bill, but that would require nearly $100 billion in additional revenue over that span, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The options for long term funding are controversial. They include increasing the federal gas tax that has remained at 18.4 cents per gallon since 1993, indexing the gas tax to inflation, or other funding options related to amending the tax code. |
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