Railroad advocates honored Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio today for his work in supporting rail transportation and infrastructure improvement. KLCC’s Brian Bull reports.
The Association of American Railroads and GoRail bestow the Railroad Achievement Award to members of Congress who support issues related to the U.S. rail network. DeFazio’s role as Ranking Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, helping get the FAST Act Passed in 2014, as well as the reauthorization of Amtrak were all factors in their recognition.
Congressman DeFazio said if there’s any chance of bipartisanship left in Washington, it’s for funding infrastructure.
“40 percent of the road surface on national highway system, is deteriorated to the point where we have rebuild the road bed, not just resurface it," DeFazio told the crowd.
"140,000 bridges repaired substantially, or replaced. And we have more than $100 billion backlog in transit. Just to bring it to a state of good repair, not to get people new transit options.”
The Railroad Achievement Award was started just this year. Other recipients include Republican Senator John Thune of South Dakota, and Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson.
Copyright 2017, KLCC.
