Transportation Nominee's Experience as Mayor Will Help Him Appreciate Need to Cut Years-Long Review Process, Promote New Sources of Transportation Revenue to Fix Aging Systems
The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement in response to the nomination of Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx to Serve as U.S. Secretary of Transportation:
"It is encouraging that President Obama has decided to nominate someone who has first-hand experience with the significant challenges posed by our chronic under-investment in infrastructure and years-long and broken regulatory review process. Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx has a unique opportunity to promote new sources of revenue to address chronic shortfalls in federal funding for our aging network of highways, bridges, airports and transit systems. In addition, he will be well suited to ensure that the Department of Transportation takes the steps required in the most recent surface transportation legislation to significantly reduce the time it takes for federal officials to approve new transportation projects. We will never be able to compete globally if it takes over a decade to approve new ways of moving goods and services from one point to another in this country.
"Assuming his prompt confirmation, Mayor Foxx can count on the support of the commercial construction industry for his efforts to address funding shortfalls and eliminate red tape. We wish him the best of luck as he works through the confirmation process and look forward to working with him and his team."