President Biden, this week, will sign into law the largest federal spending package in history aimed at improving U.S. roadways, bridges, ports, and other transportation infrastructure. After previous presidents and congresses failed to address the nation's crumbling roads and bridges this century, the House finally OK'd the Senate's bipartisan infrastructure bill in a late-night vote on Nov. 5.
After watching previous presidents fail at significant transportation investments this century, trucking and transportation groups praised the bipartisan votes to get the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill to President Biden's desk. "I don't think it's an exaggeration to suggest that we took a monumental step forward as a nation," the president said on Saturday. "We did something long overdue that has long been talked about in Washington but never actually done."
About one out of every five miles of U.S. highways and major roads are in poor condition, according to federal data. About 45,000 bridges are also rated poor. The infrastructure bill reauthorizes surface transportation programs through 2026, replacing the Obama-era FAST Act. According to the White House, spending from the package could support more than 700,000 new jobs, including more than 100,000 new jobs in the transportation industry.
In August, the Senate passed the spending package with a 69-30 vote, a rare show of bipartisanship in a deeply divided legislature. It took months, but the House finally approved the bill with a 228-206 vote, which included 13 Republican representatives voting for the package. Those Republican votes were needed in the House as some liberal Democrats voted against the bill.
"Roads and bridges are not political—we all drive on them," Chris Spear, president and CEO of American Trucking Associations, said after the bill's passage on Friday night. "A majority in the House realized this today and did what's right for the country, not themselves. From farmers to truckers, the millions of hard-working people who make this country great won today. Those lawmakers who put their constituents before themselves to help seal this achievement have cemented a lasting legacy that the American people will now see, feel, and use for many decades to come."
About half of the $1.2 trillion bill includes new spending, representing the most significant infrastructure investment in U.S. history. The money approved by Congress would fix roads and bridges ($110 billion), build out a nationwide electric vehicle charging (and other alternative fueling) infrastructure ($7.5 billion), improve ports and waterways ($16 billion), fund public transit ($49 billion), boost freight and passenger rail ($66 billion), improve airports ($25 billion), and boost broadband internet infrastructure ($65 billion).
The bill appropriates at least $52 billion per year from 2022 to 2026 from the Highway Trust Fund for improvement and safety projects across the nation. The bill sets aside another $600 to $700 million per year for a bridge investment program. That program is designed to focus on bridges currently in "poor condition" or at risk of "falling into poor condition within the next three years," according to the legislation.
The Truckload Carriers Association praised the "significant investment in our nation's roads and bridges" and injection of money into the Highway Trust Fund, in a statement issued over the weekend. The bill includes a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) pilot program that would look at how to tax cars and trucks with per-mile user fees to fund the HTF. With a push for more electric-powered vehicles—and as vehicles have become more fuel-efficient—gasoline and diesel taxes can't keep the HTF solvent. At least three times this century, Congress has had to transfer billions of dollars from its General Fund to the HTF.
The bill also sets aside up to $1 billion per year for "nationally significant freight and highway projects" through 2026. These special projects, which would be awarded regionally through DOT grants, include programs to generate national or regional economic benefits through reduced highway congestion, improved connectivity between freight transportation modes, and other projects that address the impacts of population growth on freight and people movement.
All this spending appears to be good news for the trucking industry, which employs more than 8 million Americans and moves more than 70% of the country's freight along its roads. More than 3.5 million truck drivers move that freight along the nation's infrastructure every day.
"Of the 617,000 bridges across the U.S., nearly half of those are 50 years old," Spear said in September as the industry waited for the House to act on the measure. "And 46,000 of them are structurally deficient. Of our 4 million miles of public roads, nearly half are in poor or mediocre condition. This is embarrassing—and it's completely unacceptable."
Big win for what's not in
TCA also praised what isn't in the bill: "Even more importantly, Congress has heard our message concerning threats to the independent contractor business model and opted not to include any language regarding the PRO Act that would have jeopardized a business practice that has a long history of success in our industry."
Some earlier infrastructure bill versions and amendments pushed on the House side focused on more stringent independent contractor rules and higher liability insurance minimums up to $2 million—more than double the current $750,000 minimum.
Those two items not making it into the final bill was a win for the trucking industry, David Heller, TCA's VP of government affairs, told FleetOwner. "Because of the vastness of our industry, if you start raising the minimum insurance, it could have different effects on a smaller carrier versus a larger carrier," he noted. "If anything, trucking is one of those industries that's so vast and so different—ranging from an independent contractor to a large truckload carrier or a large LTL carrier—that it just demonstrates that there needs to be some flexibility in rulemaking and further conversation does have to be had on these topics."
He added that the PRO Act's removal from the final infrastructure bill will help trucking keep its current model of allowing independent contractors. "Some of your largest truckload carriers that are operating on the highway today started with that basic independent contractor model," Heller said. "They were able to grow their business from one truck to two to four to 12 to thousands of trucks that are operating on the road today. If (the PRO Act) had been in this bill, it would have made it more difficult to operate in that environment."
Driver outreach
The bill includes a few initiatives to grow the trucking workforce. From public service campaigns to "increase awareness of career opportunities in the transportation sector" to an apprenticeship program for drivers younger than 21 to work in interstate commerce, the bill addresses the growing truck driver shortage across the country.
"Younger drivers, certainly drivers under the age of 21, have never truly been exposed to interstate trucking," Heller told FleetOwner in a previous interview. "That it appears in this (bill) is a good victory for the industry that's advocated for this demographic. The lack of qualified drivers out there is certainly no secret to anybody involved in trucking. This is an opportunity to expand the trucking workforce."
Like TCA, American Trucking Associations have supported previous legislation to explore expanding interstate trucking to drivers younger than 21 years old. However, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has contended that for road safety, commercial driver age requirements should be higher, not lower.
"We are excited that this language provides an opportunity to expose a younger demographic to an industry that welcomes them and are pleased with the commitments the bill makes to establishing long-term improvements for infrastructure," TCA's weekend statement read.
In a Senate hearing earlier this year, Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska) noted that a 20-year-old truck driver could drive a tractor 517 miles from Omaha in eastern Nebraska to Harrison on the other side of the state. "However, that same driver cannot drive four-and-a-half miles from Omaha across the bridge into Council Bluffs, Iowa," she said.
The infrastructure bill would establish a pilot program for the FMCSA to allow 18 to 21-year-old drivers to participate in interstate commerce apprenticeship programs.
Along with finding younger drivers, the bill promotes outreach to women drivers. While women make up 47% of the U.S. workforce, they make up just 24% of all transportation and warehousing jobs, the bill notes. Just 6.6% of truck drivers are women, and women own only 8% of freight firms. The bill notes that adding women to the driver workforce could also make the roads safer, as women are 20% less likely than men to be involved in a truck crash.
The bill calls for creating a Women of Trucking Advisory Board to encourage more women to enter the field.
Emissions
Building a national network of electric vehicle charging stations has received a lot of headlines since the Senate passed the bill this summer. But the language in the bill also focuses on building out other alternative fueling sources—such as hydrogen, propane, and natural gas. It sets aside $300 to $700 million per year, through 2026, for this work.
The infrastructure bill also calls for reducing truck emissions at U.S. ports. It marks $50 million per year through 2026. Ports are ideal locations for battery-electric heavy-duty trucks because of their contained areas and shorter, internal routes.
Safety initiatives and studies
Among the many studies called for within the infrastructure bill is one on "commercial motor vehicle crash causation." It calls for the DOT to determine the causes and contributing factors to commercial vehicle crashes by monitoring data and trends to develop safety improvements and policies.
Underride guards on the back of trailers would become the law under the current proposal. These devices keep passenger cars that crash into the back of trucks and trailers from sliding beneath the trailer and severely injuring car occupants.
Trailers without them could soon be put out of service during roadside inspections. The bill also calls for a study on the effectiveness of side underride guards for trailers. Supporters point to crash studies done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety two years ago that demonstrated the effectiveness of side underride guard systems in protecting automobile occupants in a 30-mph crash.
The bill calls for all commercial vehicles to be equipped with automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems within two years, which is already a technology being built into most new commercial vehicles. "AEB technology is proven to stop accidents from happening," Heller said. "Our members at TCA support that type of technology. We give that language in the bill a big thumbs up."
The 20 automakers that produce 99% of the new passenger vehicles in the U.S. agreed to make AEB standard by September 2022 based on a voluntary commitment brokered by Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the National Highway Safety Administration during the Obama administration.
"We as an industry need to look to prevent accidents, not justify them," Heller said.
Autonomous
The infrastructure bill calls for the DOT to begin studying the "existing and future impacts of self-driving vehicles on transportation infrastructure," including the interstate highway system and urban and rural roads. That study is required to begin with 60 days of the bill's signing and is due within a year.
Leasing
The bill also creates a task force to examine commercial truck leasing agreements. It would look at how the agreements affect vehicle maintenance frequency and safe operations, including driver compliance.
Trucking's 'office'
"After countless hearings and meetings on Capitol Hill, ATA members will finally see the fruits of their labor—a 38% increase in road and bridge funding, and an infusion of highly-trained, younger talent into our workforce," ATA's Spear said Friday.
TCA's Heller previously praised the bill as "probably the biggest step forward we've made since the fuel tax was last increased in 1993. There's no doubt about that. We need to fix our nation's bridges and roadways. It is the office place for the professional truck driver. My employers want to give me a good office place to work in—I think we want to provide our truck drivers with a great office place to work."
