U.S. Reps. Rodney Davis (R-IL) and Sam Graves (R-MO), along with other Republican House members, have asked the Biden Administration to rescind an order they say would delay or deter road and highway expansion projects.
In a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the Congress members said they are concerned that the guidance from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) would be a “blatant misapplication of the Infrastructure Investment and jobs Act (IIJA).”
“We write to ask that you promptly rescind guidance issued by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on December 16, 2021, that impermissibly contradicts and seeks to replace important sections of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Pub. L. No. 11758,” the legislators wrote. “Specifically, FHWA’s guidance improperly promotes the administration’s policy preference that was both considered and rejected during development of the IIJA in Congress. This policy, now being pushed through agency guidance, is intended to delay or deter critical road and highway expansion projects in clear defiance of the law and Congressional intent.”
Davis, the ranking member of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee, and Graves, the ranking member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said the guidance from the FHWA favored non-motor vehicle modes of transportation over expanding existing roads. The Congressmembers said the new FHWA guidance discriminates against road and highway projects in favor of projects more in line with the administration’s policies on climate change, transportation equity, and non-motorized transportation.
“The guidance dictates that FHWA take action to encourage or require “recipients of Federal highway funding to select projects that improve the condition and safety of existing transportation infrastructure within the right-of-way before advancing projects that add new general purpose travel lanes serving single-occupancy vehicles,” the members wrote. “In sum, this guidance wrongly seeks to ban what most areas need most – more capacity.”
The letter asks that the Biden Administration rescind the guidance promptly.