County Leaders Present Transportation Priorities in Washington, D.C. Advocacy Push

WASHINGTON – County leaders from 15 states convened this week in Washington for a transportation-focused fly-in hosted by the National Association of Counties (NACo). In 27 meetings on Capitol Hill, visiting leaders emphasized key priorities for counties in the next surface transportation reauthorization bill. 

Attendees championed priorities developed in partnership with the Local Officials in Transportation (LOT) Coalition, aimed at addressing five major areas: 

• Increasing access to federal formula funds to better align with the volume of infrastructure owned and maintained by counties. Local governments – including but not limited to counties – receive 14 percent of federal formula funds, despite counties owning more than a quarter of Federal-aid highway miles and almost half of poor-condition bridges. Expanding programs like the Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG) program, while requiring suballocation of programs like the Bridge Formula Program, would empower counties and other local governments to use important federal formula dollars for critical projects in their communities.
• Preserving and improving discretionary grant opportunities to ensure that these opportunities remain available for counties to undertake essential, county-led infrastructure projects, while also reducing those programs’ administrative burdens and barriers to entry.
• Improving planning and the project selection process to ensure that federal formula dollars intended for local control are actually used for locally led, locally selected projects.
• Funding rural planning by providing federal funding for Regional (or Rural) Transportation Planning Organizations (RTPOs). Currently, only areas with populations over 50,000 receive federal funding for planning organizations, widening disparities between urban and rural communities
• Reforming the environmental review process by eliminating overly burdensome elements of the federal permitting system that drive up costs and limit the impact of federal funding. County projects with low costs or within existing rights-of-way, in particular, should not be subject to the same level of permitting scrutiny as new starts. 

“Counties own 44 percent of public road miles and 38 percent of bridges nationwide,” said NACo Executive Director Matthew Chase. “We are important stakeholders in our nation’s transportation system, and keenly aware of the need to invest in locally owned infrastructure. The priorities laid out for the surface transportation reauthorization are rooted in that desire to see transportation infrastructure that’s safe and robust enough to meet the needs of our residents and support economic growth in our counties.” 

Since the start of this year, NACo has been vocal in sharing its priorities with partners on Capitol Hill and in the Administration. This includes submitting letters to the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the U.S. Department of Transportation outlining policy priorities for the next surface transportation reauthorization bill. By following up on these asks, fly-in participants this week reinforced the importance of these priorities and highlighted their potential impact in counties of all sizes.

“Every year, county governments invest more than $146 billion of our own funds into infrastructure and an additional $60 billion into transportation. Restrictions on local fiscal authority limit our ability to spend further, and yet our infrastructure lags behind,” said Chase. “Counties are asking for increased, direct federal investment to support the bipartisan goal of having a world-class transportation system.” 

For more information about surface transportation reauthorization, click here. For more information about NACo’s broader advocacy in transportation and infrastructure, click here.