The BUILD America 250 Act: What Counties Need to Know about the House Surface Transportation Reauthorization Bill

On June 15, NACo joined a letter calling on the U.S. House of Representatives to hold a floor vote on the Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development for America’s 250th (BUILD America 250) Act (H.R. 8870). The bill would reauthorize and reorganize federal highway and surface transportation programs for 5 years. 

County budgets are being eroded by unrelenting cost inflation, federal permitting delays stalling projects and competition for labor and materials often directed to federally subsidized state projects. It's time to fix federal funding for infrastructure.

Counties stand to receive a healthy infusion of funding to address bridges under the surface transportation bill, BUILD America 250 Act.

Research released today by the National Association of Counties (NACo) underscores a national road funding crisis and the large role counties play in the U.S. transportation network, as infrastructure investment needs outpace available revenue due to aging infrastructure, rising construction costs and weakened purchasing power. The American Society of Civil Engineers projects a $684 billion national funding shortfall for roads over the next decade, of which counties own a significant share. 

On May 17, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) introduced the Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development for America’s 250th Act (BUILD America 250 Act), a bipartisan bill that would reauthorize surface transportation programs through the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) for five years. After continuous advocacy from NACo, county leaders and coalition partners, the BUILD America 250 Act contains a number of key county priorities.