Now that a 2018 spending bill with a $21-billion hike for infrastructure programs is on the books, it looks like further public-works legislating will come in targeted bills, not a wide-ranging one.
In the first round of Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant awards under the Trump administration, the Dept. of Transportation has put a major emphasis on rural projects, awarding such proposals more than 60% of the $487.1 million total it distributed.
President Trump’s infrastructure investment proposal has moved to the next step—congressional scrutiny—and faces what looks like a steep uphill path to enactment.
A waterways industry organization would like to see some of President Trump’s proposed $1-trillion, 10-year infrastructure investment plan go for replacing decades-old river locks, but the group, Waterways Council Inc. (WCI), strongly opposes another administration proposal, levying a new tax on barge companies.