As a standing-room-only crowd of lawmakers, construction and transportation officials, and others in the White House's East Room looked on, President Obama on July 6 signed into law a long-overdue $104.4-billion, 27-month highway-and-transit authorization bill. Putting down the last of the 12 pens he used to sign his name, Obama said, "All right. It's done," to a round of applause from the audience.
The president's signature on the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) does put a welcome end to more than 33 frustrating months of funding via short-term stopgaps. But the enactment also launches a critical new phase as state transportation directors and construction industry officials begin to turn its funding into new road and transit projects and implement MAP-21's important policy changes.