At the first infrastructure stakeholder summit to be held under its new chairman, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, the National Governors Association (NGA) discussed potential solutions to U.S. infrastructure concerns, with a particular focus on congestion reduction.
The NGA is particularly interested in repairing, enhancing, and modernizing the country’s infrastructure. The hope is that by doing so, states could see a potential boost to economic competitiveness. Congestion, however, is a significant roadblock in meeting those goals. The Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s latest annual Urban Mobility Report noted record levels of congestion in most U.S. cities adding around 8.8 billion hours of travel time and 3.3 billion gallons of extra fuel consumption in 2017. Federal action has yet to materialize, so these governors hope to take the matter into their own hands.
While federal action has been lacking in sustainable solutions to the congestion problem in the United States, state and local leaders, such as those represented at the NGA meeting, are working to ensure Americans’ right to safe and effective road and bridge systems.
The NGA infrastructure meeting is the first Hogan will lead as part of his national infrastructure initiative, Foundation for Success. It stresses the challenges of roads, bridges, airports, railways, transit, energy, water and broadband internet systems and other infrastructure and seeks to meet those challenges through shared lessons and ideas between experts and politicians.
“Through this first Infrastructure Stakeholder Summit, we proudly highlighted the great work of our governors and brought together leaders from government, business, non-profits, and academia to come up with new ideas to help solve the infrastructure crisis in America,” Hogan said. “In the states, there are still leaders who are willing to work together across party lines to take on the big problems, including the urgent need to rebuild, repair, and modernize America’s infrastructure to meet the needs of the 21st century.”