ARLINGTON, VA – The head of the American Trucking Associations has called on the U.S. government to invest more in highway infrastructure to help the trucking industry keep up with growing demand for freight transportation services.

“The Highway Trust Fund is projected to run short of the revenue necessary to maintain current spending levels by 2021, creating a huge funding gap that could force states to cancel or delay critical projects. The U.S. spends less than half of what is necessary to address these needs,” said Chris Spear, associations president and Chief Executive Officer, when presenting to a senate panel. “As the investment gap continues to grow, so too will the number of deficient bridges, roads, bottlenecks and, most critically, fatalities attributable to inadequate roadways.”

He said the solution is in a Build America Fund that would be supported with a new 20-cent-per-gallon fee on transportation fuels collected at the terminal rack, generating $340 billion in the first 10 years. 

 “This proposal will stabilize the trust fund for many years and provide the resources necessary to reduce the project backlog,” he said.

Spear also stressed the need to focus infrastructure investments on freight movements. 

His full testimony can be found here.