Five measures focused on transportation and infrastructure were included in an appropriations act that passed the House Tuesday.
The legislation is called the Commerce, Justice, Science, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, Interior, Environment, Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act of 2020.
The measures were introduced by Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA). One of the measures commences a study on the impact of climate change on our transportation systems.
“From commercial air travel to our crumbling infrastructure, climate change and volatile weather patterns are changing travel for the worse,” DeSaulnier said. “Travel times, delays, and congestion are just some of the ways we are seeing the impacts of climate change every day. My amendment will allow us to better quantify the concrete effects climate change is having so we can address it and the impact it has on how we travel.”
The other measures include $15 million for transit-oriented development grants, $15 million for new Tier I University Transportation Centers, a 10 percent increase in Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development grants, and economic development improvements.
These improvements include funding transportation infrastructure, especially for transit and passenger rail projects, and using infrastructure as a tool for economic development.
DeSaulnier is a member of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee.