The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) has a bold new plan to “reform, refocus, restructure and refinance” the nation's federal surface transportation program for the future, and is re-launching an award-winning grassroots lobbying and advocacy communications campaign to help build political support for it on Capitol Hill.
ARTBA's “vision” for the next highway/transit bill calls for new user fees to protect and upgrade past infrastructure investments, and finance a 25-year “Critical Commerce Corridors” (3C) construction program to add needed multi-modal capacity across the nation to facilitate the safe and efficient movement of freight.
The current law—SAFETEA-LU—expires Sept. 30, 2009. Both House and Senate committees are already holding hearings about the future of America's transportation programs.
ARTBA's “Transportation Makes America Work!” (TMAW) campaign will utilize economic and policy research, print, radio and online advertising, opinion polling, coalition activities, special publications and national conferences to help frame the debate and build support for the transportation construction industry's legislative agenda among key “inside the Washington beltway” audiences.
The association used the TMAW model to successfully advocate a boost in infrastructure investment in the 1998 and 2005 federal highway/transit laws. These efforts earned national awards from the American Society of Association Executives, Construction Writers Association and the International Road Federation.
