President Obama's fiscal year 2015 budget request would give big boosts to federal highway and transit programs as well as to General Services Administration federal buildings accounts. But the proposal, sent to Congress on March 4, also would slice a variety of other construction-related areas, including Environmental Protection Agency water infrastructure, Dept. of Defense construction, Army Corps of Engineers civil works and Dept. of Energy defense environmental cleanup.
Perhaps the biggest construction winner is the Federal Transit Administration, whose total spending would jump 63%, to $17.6 billion. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx says, "It's increasingly clear that the population surges are happening in metro areas." He adds that, in DOT's view, access to public transit will become more important and improve both quality of life and regional economies.