United States infrastructure was once the envy of the world. But after years of under-investment, the World Economic Forum now ranks it only number 11 in the world. What was once a critical economic advantage is being squandered while other countries like China and India are investing meaningful sums to upgrade and expand their infrastructure networks.
While Washington deals with a summer of legislative uncertainty, one area that leadership on both sides of the aisle should be able to come to agreement on is the need to reclaim our infrastructure advantage.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao recently visited the Doosan Bobcat North America headquarters in West Fargo to help celebrate the completion of a $9.5 million expansion. She was joined by elected leaders who also support infrastructure investment, including Republican North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Republican North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven. It was a strong show of support both for the equipment manufacturing industry, as well as the meaningful investments the U.S. needs to make to reclaim its infrastructure advantage.
Since that visit, progress has been made. As an equipment manufacturer with facilities in North Dakota, Minnesota and North Carolina that rely on the U.S. network of roads, highways and ports to distribute product domestically and internationally, it was encouraging to see the U.S. Department of Transportation recently announce updates to criteria in the FASTLANE program. This discretionary grant program, authorized through the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act of 2015, helps facilitate the upgrades that America’s network of roads and highways need. In addition to renaming it the INFRA grant program, project criteria will now place a greater emphasis on projects in rural America, technology upgrades, cutting through bureaucratic red tape, and upgrading freight and multi-modal assets.
These are several of the same short-term recommendations that the equipment manufacturing industry proposed in the recently released “U.S. Infrastructure Advantage” – a road map to the safe and efficient movement of people and goods, connectivity between and within rural and urban America, strong economic growth and robust job creation.
During their visit to Doosan Bobcat North America headquarters – one-on-one, outside the Beltway – Chao and the leaders who joined her reaffirmed their commitment to repairing and modernizing America’s infrastructure. In her leadership role of rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure, Chao and her department are making short-term changes. Incrementally, we’re making progress on that commitment to reclaim the U.S. infrastructure advantage. However, there is much more to do.
Leadership in Congress must get serious about a long-term legislative plan. Short-term individual fixes, while helpful and meaningful, will not get the job done. Neither will one agency or elected official acting alone. As we continue to ask our elected officials to support infrastructure investment in one-on-one meetings, phone calls, e-mails and letters, we must also insist that they act as leaders who are part of one legislative body, empowered by voters to do great and vast things for the country they serve – things like reclaiming our infrastructure advantage.
Rich Goldsbury is President of Doosan Bobcat in North America and Oceania. He is currently Vice-Chair of the AEM Board of Directors and also serves on AEM’s Infrastructure Vision 2050 Task Force.
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