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Barack Obama

Tell the Highway Lobby About ’09 Transpo Spending

4:42 PM EST on December 1, 2008

Not to be outdone, the road-building lobbyists at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) have launched their campaign to influence federal transportation spending priorities over the next year, including the 2009 TEA package.

Last week, while encouraging team Obama to incorporate highway construction into its economic stimulus plan, AASHTO rolled out IToldThePresident.org, a web site that invites the public to submit written and video comments on what the president-elect and Congress "need to know to take action to improve transportation."

Courtesy of trucking trade pub FleetOwner, here's what AASHTO has in mind:

At the heart of the group’s effort is a call for $545 billion worth oftransportation infrastructure investment from 2010 through 2015 forhighways ($375 billion), transit ($93 billion), freight movement ($42billion, largely from sources outside the Highway Trust Fund), andintercity passenger rail ($35 billion).

As of this writing the AASHTO site has at least one video from a public transportation commuter, and a scan of written comments turned up a good number of pro-transit arguments. Let's keep 'em coming.

Brad Aaron@
Brad Aaron began writing for Streetsblog in 2007, after years as a reporter, editor, and publisher in the alternative weekly business. Brad adopted New York'’s dysfunctional traffic justice system as his primary beat for Streetsblog. He lives in Manhattan.

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