Blog: Pickaway County Connector Project a Key to America's Economic Strength

Statement

This morning, I traveled to Pickaway County, Ohio to kick off my "Invest in America, Commit to the Future" bus tour. Over the next five days, I'll be traveling to eight states -- and logging roughly 2,000 miles -- to raise awareness about the difference transportation can make in our country and the importance of investing in better transportation -- and a brighter future.

There's no better example than the work taking place right now Pickaway County to improve our ability to move freight in Ohio and across the country.

This road project received $16 million from DOT's TIGER program. And it's a worthwhile investment because it's going to make a difference in the lives of hundreds -- if not hundreds of thousands -- of Americans.

The road will provide a way for hundreds of commercial trucks to bring their goods to market more affordably and efficiently every day. Already, a quarter-million shipping containers pass through this freight corridor every year. Now, even more will. And that's a good thing, since we need to find a way to move 14 billion more tons of freight by 2050.

Whole industries of jobs are created in this way. To build the road, construction and the engineering jobs were created of course. But truckers, manufacturers, and retailers will be able to add jobs as well, because all those sectors rely on good routes of transportation.

Across the country, countless communities want to invest in projects like this one and create jobs, but they can't because we're running out of money. As early as August, the fund that pays for rebuilding and repairing this country's highways will essentially run dry. States are already canceling projects because of the uncertainty.

This is why we're out in America this week: Because the American people have a chance to convince Congress to fix this emerging crisis.

Stay tuned for more reports from the road as we visit work we should be doing more of, projects that are waiting to get started because of our lack of funding -- and our plan that will help us accomplish both, by Investing in America and Committing to the Future.

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