Jobs — our country’s priority in 2012 — are also at the top of WCI’s list. It just so happens our nation can create U.S. jobs while at the same time improving U.S. inland navigation system reliability over the next 20 years through the passage of the Inland Waterways Capital Development Plan.
Waterways infrastructure — more than 50 years old in many cases — requires recapitalization. Lock and dam investment is critical to U.S. competitiveness in world markets, to our economy, to our environment, to reducing traffic congestion on our highways and, yes, to jobs.
In 2012, WCI will continue to urge lawmakers to push for the consensus-based Capital Development Plan that was formulated by a working group of the industry and the Corps of Engineers to address needs of the inland navigation system and provide more funding for infrastructure improvements.
The plan nationally prioritizes navigation projects through objective criteria such as economic benefit and project condition; efficiently funds 25 navigation projects in 20 years vs. just six projects under the current mechanism; better utilizes taxpayer dollars to complete projects by American workers on time and on budget; seeks standardization and design centers of expertise; and identifies a user-financed revenue source to accomplish these goals.
Last October, President Obama said, “We’ve lost our ambition, our imagination, and our willingness to do the things that built the Golden Gate Bridge and Hoover Dam and unleashed all the potential in this country.”
We agree America must reinvest in the foundations that made our nation strong and competitive. Our nation’s waterways and its transportation infrastructure top that list.