Janet Kavinoky, vice president of external affairs and corporate communications at Vulcan Materials Co., testified this week before the House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways & Transit.
According to the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA), Kavinoky emphasized the importance of a long-term, predictable funding plan for surface transportation infrastructure. Kavinoky also addressed the need for a long-term solution that ensures highway trust fund viability while highlighting several other industry matters – including maintaining the Build America, Buy America Act (BABAA) exclusion for aggregates, support for core highway programs, and the authority of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to administer federal-aid highway programs.
“A long-term Federal-Aid Highway Program authorization with reliable, predictable multiyear funding is the foundation upon which state and local governments and their partners across the construction industry plan, design, engineer, construct, operate and maintain infrastructure year over year,” Kavinoky says.
Kavinoky also discussed the Build America, Buy America Act limitation and the role it ultimately plays in the nation’s infrastructure.
“There are areas across the nation that lack the necessary natural resources needed to produce construction materials,” Kavinoky says. “For example, the Southeast and Gulf Coast [do] not have indigenous aggregates reserves, and suitable aggregates are imported to meet market demand. Congress and FHWA have long recognized these factors and responded to ensure domestic content requirements exclude aggregates materials. Preserving the BABAA limitation is critical to maintaining supplies of construction materials for our nation’s transportation infrastructure.”
Also in her testimony, Kavinoky urged a return to a more focused surface transportation reauthorization process rather than a comprehensive infrastructure package to ensure timely and effective legislation.
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