This year marks 70 years since President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 into law. For Kansans, that anniversary carries special meaning. Eisenhower understood that a strong transportation network was essential to the safety, commerce, and unity of the United States. His vision helped connect a growing country and gave future generations a highway system that changed the way Americans live, work, and move.
Seventy years later, America’s transportation needs have changed, but the basic responsibility remains the same. Congress has a duty to maintain a surface transportation system that allows people and goods to move across the country safely and efficiently.
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As a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I am working with my colleagues on the next Surface Transportation Reauthorization. This is one of the few bills Congress takes up on a regular schedule, roughly every five years, that is historically bipartisan because every district relies on roads, bridges, rail, and freight movement. Rural America, urban America, agriculture, manufacturing, emergency services, and families all depend on a transportation system that reliably works.
In the Big First District of Kansas, the scale of that responsibility is clear. Our district alone has more than 83,000 miles of roads, 4,000 miles of railroads, and more than 100 airports. That infrastructure supports the farmers, ranchers, producers, manufacturers, small businesses, schools, hospitals, and families that keep our communities strong.
When a rural bridge is closed, a highway is unsafe, or a freight route is inefficient, the consequences are real. A farmer may have to take a longer route to get grain to market. A rancher may face higher costs moving livestock. A manufacturer may struggle to ship products on time. A first responder may lose valuable minutes reaching someone in need. Infrastructure policy in Washington has a direct effect on the daily lives of people in Kansas.
That is why the next Surface Transportation Reauthorization bill must get back to basics.
In recent years, Washington has created new programs, expanded existing ones, and spent money our country does not have. The next reauthorization should focus federal resources on the fundamental needs of our transportation system: roads, bridges, freight movement, safety, and the infrastructure that helps Americans get where they need to go.
One of my priorities is maintaining and expanding flexibility in federal highway programs. States are in the best position to understand their own transportation needs. Kansas should not be forced into the same mold as New York or California. A rural road that carries wheat, cattle, school buses, and ambulances serves a different purpose than a major urban corridor. Federal policy should respect those differences.
Flexibility gives states and local communities the ability to direct resources where they are needed most. It also helps ensure taxpayer dollars are used effectively rather than being tied up in Washington-driven mandates that do not fit local realities.
We also need to fix the Highway Trust Fund. The trust fund was established to provide a dedicated federal revenue source for the construction of the interstate highway system. It was built on a user-pays principle, with federal fuel taxes serving as the main funding source. That principle is still the right one, but the current model is no longer sustainable.
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As vehicles become more fuel-efficient and transportation needs evolve, Congress must find a better long-term solution. We should preserve the conservative idea that those who use the system help pay for it, while modernizing the way we keep the trust fund solvent and focused on its core mission.
America is a nation that builds. That spirit helped Eisenhower, a proud Kansan, leave a transportation legacy that still serves our country today. As Congress writes the next Surface Transportation Reauthorization, we should honor that legacy by focusing on the basics, respecting states, spending taxpayer dollars wisely, and strengthening the roads, bridges, and freight networks that keep America moving.
Rep. Tracey Mann is a Republican from Kansas.
This content is part of a sponsored section by AEM.
