Transcript: Secretary Buttigieg Remarks AASHTO Washington Briefing

Thanks for that warm welcome! It is so good to be here – and it so good to actually be here, in a room with you. I have to say we’re still getting used to the return of convenings; as you know, when you’re in the business of transportation, it’s all about moving people and goods around, it’s a particularly strange one to find yourself doing from behind a desk or on a screen.  

So glad it was possible – even though I’ve met so many of you, across or a screen or when I’ve been fortunate enough to be in your states or territories, to be traveling with you – but really glad to be here. And I want to start just by thanking AASHTO for the work you do. Dr. Wilson, Vice President Millar, the staff of AASHTO, what you have done matters more than ever in this infrastructure season – what the president calls an infrastructure decade – that we are living in right now. 

The last time we spoke, virtually, at this convening, we were on what I was thinking of as the 1-yard line, pushing together to get this infrastructure bill passed. 

For decades, well-intentioned and passionate people have tried to get across that last yard.  

And so the biggest thing I have to thank you for, and celebrate with you today, is of course, with your help, shaping that legislation, making the case – we got it done, infrastructure week is no longer a punch line, and we are ready to get to work with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.    

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, I might add, in a season when many people were skeptical that you could have a bipartisan anything law of any consequence, we saw I think in the flavor of the arguments that were made about how important it was to make these investments, the fact that infrastructure touches everybody, and we had people in so-called red states and blue states and people with some very unlikely alliances that helped us to get this done. And now we have a $1.3 trillion nation-changing investment that you helped deliver for the American people.  

So, the hard part is behind us, and the really hard part is upon us.   

Because now we actually have to get it done.  The eye-popping figure is basically a number on a page until it’s turned into something tangible that improves life for all the people that we serve.  

So, the federal government, states, territories, localities, the private sector now have to do something even harder than getting the United States Congress to agree to $1.3 trillion in investment; and that is, we have to deliver $1.3 trillion in value. 

For our department alone, that’s about $660 billion in value, with you as our primary partners and often as the primary movers and decision makers on the front lines.  

And we know that people are counting on us. 

So how are going to deliver that much value with this much funding? In some places, I think the greatest value will actually be in what doesn’t happen; in crashes that no longer take place, avoidable crashes, because we’ve used these resources to improve safety. In other places, it will be by enabling economic growth. In other contexts, protecting people against climate change, delivering a more equitable transportation system, embracing a new innovative technologies that are really going to shape the future of what it means to get around communities and get around this country.  Your focus will of course reflect the unique combination of needs and challenges in your state and your community – but as long as we are delivering good projects that actually improve people’s everyday life, that I think is where we will find the value. 

I can’t help but reflect that in transportation there’s a bias toward talking about the objects that are involved – the roads, the bridges - the train sets, the planes, the trains and the automobiles – but this is a good time as we set our collective priorities to remember that the entire point of all of this is the people who count on it. The people whose lives down to the most intimate details of a daily routine get better or get worse based on whether there are clean, safe, efficient ways to get where you need to be. And of course based on whether there are efficient and effective goods movement chains that are moving goods to where they need to go. 

And we are the stewards of all of that; one project at a time, one community at a time, we are modernizing America's infrastructure to prepare for the future. 

We’re strengthening our supply chains; reducing costs for American families; making it easier and safer and more affordable for people to get where they need to be; and of course through this all, it’s called the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for a reason, we’re creating good-paying jobs building bridges, paving roads, electrifying buses, installing those chargers, and so much more.  

Now we as a department are working to meet this moment with an urgency that matches the scale of the challenge. Just in the last 90 days, our Department has already been able to make available a total of $60 billion in authorized funding to states and communities—and we’ve opened applications for another $2 billion in discretionary grant programs.    

But I do want to emphasize, this so different from 2009, for those who are veterans of the ARRA experience, this is not about short-term stimulus. We’re moving swiftly, but this is about improving transportation for decades to come – we’re only going to get to do this once, so it’s very important that we do it well.  

And we know that so many of the best projects, and ideas, and examples and approaches are not going be top down, they’re going to bubble up from the state level, they’re going to come from local governments and communities that you work with every day. 

And I’m confident about the spirit of innovation and creativity and problem-solving that you’re going to bring to this, because you’re doing it every day.    

I’ve heard about Ohio DOT’s work to install more than 2,000 proven safety countermeasures, like new street lighting, pedestrian hybrid beacons, raised beacons, to reduce pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries in over 400 locations. 

I’ve seen states stepping up to make sure that our economic growth reaches those who are so often left behind in our transportation investments. There is the ConnectU2Jobs partnership coming out of Texas DOT, which helps young people with prior involvement in the justice system get trained for careers in infrastructure. Or we can look to Oregon’s program that funds services like childcare, helping parents, women, people from underrepresented communities, complete training programs in construction. I would note that during this time of low unemployment, the infrastructure law’s new flexibility to use local and economic hiring programs is especially important--and we encourage states to take advantage of that flexibility. 

When it comes to addressing supply chain disruptions and helping make goods more affordable for Americans, I want to recognize places like Arizona, using the National Highway Freight Program funding to reduce truck parking shortages. And I’m sure every one of you is hearing as much as we are about this issue of truck parking. We’re asking every state to explore ways to use your dollars for truck parking. Because we owe it to America’s truck drivers, not just as a matter of convenience, but as a matter of safety – and there are a number of funding streams in the infrastructure law that you are able to use for those truck parking projects, maybe more than was understood before this issue came to such a head. 

To help protect our citizens against the climate crisis, and to ensure everyone can get the benefits of the cost savings of an electric vehicle, a number of states with large rural populations, including Utah, Tennessee, and Alabama, have already been at work building out electric vehicle charging in those states. I know in Massachusetts, MassDOT is working with Federal Highways on a pilot that would attach about 3,000 feet of solar panels to highway noise barriers. 

New York is proposing $3 billion in its budget for infrastructure projects that promote transportation equity and mobility, including reconnecting communities that were disconnected by past infrastructure, another enormous opportunity and responsibility that I think falls to all of us in this moment. Oklahoma is implementing an initiative to make public transportation meetings are more accessible for underserved communities. 

And, showing that innovation is something that comes from the public as well as the private sector, California launched the Integrated Travel Project to make traveling by rail and bus simpler and more affordable, with contactless payments, automated discounts, and better trip planning technology. 

I also want to affirm the virtue of what so many state DOTs—including Alabama, Virginia, my home state of Indiana, and many more—have been doing to focus on repairing the vital infrastructure we already have. This is something we at USDOT share with all of you who are working to maintain and modernize the roads, bridges, and other transportation infrastructure that people count on every day. 

And all those things I just rattled off are examples of what you all have accomplished during an era of underfunded transportation budgets.  

Which is why I am so excited about what we can do, building on your groundwork, now that we have the resources to do it. 

And I want you to know I recognize the value and importance of your flexibility to effectively deploy the resources coming from this infrastructure law. And I can commit that we will work with you to ensure you have the right level of flexibility, consistent of course with the infrastructure law and with the core priorities that guided its creation and guide our Administration. We know that there are many different ways to get to the goals that we share, and that there is no one size that fits all. 

I also want to say that I trust that you will exercise that flexibility with the knowledge of how much it matters what projects you choose to prioritize. And I know that I’m preaching to the choir here, and it’s a choir that has been courageous and innovative in so many ways, but I just want to reiterate our ask, our sense of the importance, that we not just look at what’s been done in the past to guide what has to be done for the years ahead. 

As one example, last time we spoke together, we talked about roadway safety, and since then we’ve issued the National Roadway Safety Strategy. I want to thank so many of you for your partnership on that. I want to thank you in advance for your continued partnership on that. Because you have the opportunity, with these dollars that are coming in, and I mean the safety dollars but not just the safety dollars, to make every transportation project one that makes roads safe for the people who use them. We have to get out of this mentality that it’s just normal to have the level of death that we have on our roadways. We will change this in our lifetimes, and you will lead the way. So I urge you to make use of that strategy. 

Similarly, protecting our citizens from the threat of climate change – it matters so much what you choose to do and how you choose to do it. There was a recent, comprehensive study that concluded that the way that highway formula funds specifically are spent will have a major effect, enough that you’ll see the needle move, on our entire country’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Many of you saw, I’m sure, earlier this week the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change talked about how time is running out, that we are living through a narrow and closing window, to avoid the most catastrophic outcomes. If more infrastructure law funds coming your way find their way to transit, rail, safe ways to walk and bike, transportation alternatives, maintenance of existing roads, you have a chance to lower carbon emissions by 28 billion pounds. So let’s meet that crisis, together. 

Another example of a project that helps bring so many of those things together - safety, climate, equity, economic growth – is Complete Streets. I know that AASHTO is proud that the vast majority of state DOTs have Complete Streets policies or programs in some form.  So I am pleased to share that the Complete Streets report that Federal Highway Administration just sent to Congress sets a goal to increase the proportion of Federal-aid-funded transportation projects that are Complete Streets. 

And in all of these efforts, we are looking to you as our state partners to work with us to squeeze every drop of value that you can out of these funds... because we know that even an astounding sum like a trillion dollars can go out the door all too quickly if we’re not smart about making sure we get the absolute most impact from it. 

Last thing I’ll end with is to tie back to the beginning, which is that very few people who have worked in transportation across American history have an opportunity on their hands like the one that all of us in this field have today. We are incredibly fortunate, and have an incredible level of responsibility at our feet, because we have these resources, because this Bipartisan Infrastructure Law brings about this once-in-a-generation opportunity to shape the way transportation is going to work in America for the rest of our lifetimes, one state and territory, one community, at a time. And I know that we are aligned on the vast majority of what we can deliver together, and we’re ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work with you. I’m so thrilled to be in this role working with you at this time, and I can’t wait to see what we’re going to deliver through these partnership in the years and even in the months and weeks that are before us. And with that, I think we get to do a little Q&A. Thank you again for the chance to be here.   

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