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Arlington, Virginia – Today, �Ӱɴ�ý President and CEO Chris Spear told a Senate panel that the federal government needs to invest more in highway infrastructure if the trucking industry is to keep up with growth in 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,” Spear said. “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.

“�Ӱɴ�ý’s proposed solution is the Build America Fund. The Fund would be supported with a new, indexed, 20 cent per gallon fee built into the price of transportation fuels collected at the terminal rack, which will generate nearly $340 billion over the first 10 years,” he said. “This proposal will stabilize the trust fund for many years and provide the resources necessary to reduce the project backlog.”

Spear also urged the Committee to focus infrastructure improvement efforts on freight movements – across modes – in order to maintain the smooth flow of commerce in the country and to support a “strong federal role in funding and overseeing highway improvements.”

Spear’s full testimony can be found here.