The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, unions and elected U.S. officials are urging Congress to take speedy action to dramatically boost spending on crumbling U.S. infrastructure.
This week, the largest U.S. business group will begin running local ads focused on the Brent Spence Bridge, a key crossing connecting Kentucky and Ohio which has been dubbed"functionally obsolete", to make the argument it is time for action on infrastructure after years of debate.Adding a second bridge would cost US$2.5 billion and officials in both states have not agreed on a way to fund it.
"It's going to be a big bill," said Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in an interview."The time for talk is over. The time for action is now." Senator Tom Carper, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said at a transportation infrastructure hearing Wednesday"the American people are counting on us to make this happen."