The American Public Transit Association (APTA) released a new demographic study on public transit. The report Who Rides Public Transportation demonstrates how integral public transit is to the economy by connecting riders to employers and to retail and entertainment venues.

The study reports that 87 percent of all transit trips have a direct impact on local economies, with the following breakdown:

* 49 percent of all transit trips are for traveling to and from work,
* 21 percent are for shopping, and
* 17 percent are for recreational spending.

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The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) recently released its quadrennial infrastructure report card. The Report Card examines current infrastructure conditions and needs, assigning grades and making recommendations to raise them. Most American’s won’t be surprised to learn that the U.S. received the lowly grade of D+. From mass transit, to roads and bridges, to water works and more, lack of investment and neglect over generations has led our country to the brink of disaster.

These reports should serve as a wakeup call to all our elected officials and government agencies. If we don’t prioritize investment in our public infrastructure, our economic future will deteriorate with it.

It’s time for some bipartisan common sense solutions to these challenges. Proposals to increase funds for infrastructure, like raising the gas tax, and others to reduce cumbersome and expensive regulations, like design build, are just a couple of ways we can jumpstart our infrastructure renaissance.

Let’s not wait another four years to potentially find out what an F looks like.

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To start the New Year, the General Contractors Association hosted a three-day project management workshop for certified DBE and MWBE heavy civil and specialty trade contractors.  The workshop focused on the essentials for successful project delivery.  Topics covered included estimating, understanding the terms of a subcontract, working safely, working under a collective bargaining agreement or a project labor agreement, and government agency processes and paperwork requirements.

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Elaine Cho was confirmed as the next U.S. Transportation Secretary. Chao served as Secretary of the Department of Labor from 2001-2009, Deputy Secretary of Transportation from 1989-1991 and is the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

She is widely respected on both sides of the aisle as someone who understands the inner your-pharmacies.com workings of the federal government and the private sector. President-elect Trump has said that infrastructure redevelopment will be a priority of the first 100 days of his administration; his transportation secretary will have to get an infrastructure spending bill passed through Congress.

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“New York may depend on mass transit to get people to work; but what they eat, the office supplies they need, the milk their children drink, the clothes they wear and much more all arrive on the Interstate road system. And that road network is in slow motion disintegration because Congress refuses to consider raising the excise tax on a gallon of gas,” stated Denise Richardson, GCA’s executive director.

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November 29, 2016

“The General Contractors Association of New York congratulates Elaine Chao on her appointment and looks forward to working with her. Investing in our nation’s transportation infrastructure is key to strengthening our national economy and is critical to the country’s future economic success. We are hopeful that her vast experience in government and dealing with labor issues will enable her to meet the challenges that have confronted previous administrations. We look forward to working with her to advance critically needed infrastructure projects. President-elect Trump has signaled that he intends to pursue a vigorous improvehearingnaturally.com infrastructure agenda and we believe Ms. Chao is the professional who can convert policy into action.”

About the General Contractors Association
The General Contractors Association represents the unionized heavy construction industry in New York City that constructs New York’s building foundations and public works infrastructure. Our 300 members employ 20,000 hardworking professional and trades workers across New York State. In addition to New York City, our employees come from 702 New York State zip codes, as far east as North Haven, as far north as Champlain and as far west as Chautauqua.

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June 27, 2016

On the 60^th anniversary of the creation of the nation’s Interstate System, the General Contractors Association of New York (GCA) the Long Island Contractors’ Association (LICA), the Construction Industry Council (CIC), AAA New York State, and the Trucking Association of New York are warning the region’s congressional delegation that some seventy-two percent of the goods shipped annually from sites in New York are carried by trucks driving on deteriorating Interstate shopantibioticsonline.com roads; but without an increase in the federal excise tax on gasoline, the city’s very ability to function will be placed at economic risk.

“New York may depend on mass transit to get people to work; but what they eat, the office supplies they need, the milk their children drink, the clothes they wear and much more all arrive on the Interstate road system. And that road network is in slow motion disintegration because Congress refuses to consider raising the excise tax on a gallon of gas,” stated Denise Richardson, GCA’s executive director.

Richardson said the region’s Interstate system is becoming a victim of time, advancing automotive technology, neglect and the lack of political will. “The gasoline tax is the single largest source of transportation infrastructure funding.  For over two decades, the federal gas tax has remained at a flat rate of 18.4 cents per gallon, meaning that the typical driver today is paying approximately the same $3 per tank of gas to support our road network that they did during 1993.  Those dollars don’t even begin to cover the cost of repair and upkeep and the imbalance is only getting worse.”
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