In Tuesday’s State of the Union address, President Obama called for better infrastructure development over the next years as war spending decreases. “So much of America needs to be rebuilt,” the president said. “We’ve got crumbling roads and bridges. There’s never been a better time to build, especially since the construction industry was one of the hardest-hit when the housing bubble burst.”

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday that he is not confident in Congress’s ability to come to an agreement for a long-term funding solution to the nation’s growing infrastructure needs. The last long-term bill expired almost three years ago, and transportation spending planners have been forced to work with merely eight short-extensions since then. Read an article about it here.

The proposed two-year Senate plan does not agree with the five-year House plan, which would both greatly reform the federal transportation bureaucracy and give a significant amount of spending authority to the states. Especially in Texas where our road usage is expected to grow by 214% over the next 25 years due to population increases, it would be beneficial for states to decide for themselves when, where and how much transportation spending is needed.

Following LaHood's "gloomy appraisal" on Wednesday, a Washington Post article said on Thursday that the Senate is taking action to reach a bipartisan agreement on the transportation bill. Senator Barbara Boxer, whose public works committee approved a two-year transportation bill in November, assured that "by the end of next week all the [Senate] committees will have done their jobs." Sen. Boxer also claimed that this bill will reach the Senate floor before transportation funding ends at the end of March.

The United States Congress must  continue working diligently to develop a long-term solution for infrastructure spending to stop roads from deteriorating across the nation. Americans deserve a safe and reliable transportation system they can depend on. Texans should take advantage of opportunities to encourage lawmakers to make decisions in the state legislature to support a fully funded transportation system for its citizens.

LaHood suggests how to get both politicians and the public invested in the transportation bill in his Web series “On the Go,” which can be viewed here.