Commissioner Melissa Daub Advocates for County Funding in the Build America 250 Act
By Solina Robles
WASHINGTON DC-Infrastructure Week is an annual occurrence that brings together organizations to acknowledge the importance of infrastructure investments, their impact on public health, the job market, and how they strengthen our nation’s economic security.
Counties maintain 44 percent of public roads and 38 percent of bridges, yet funding is often limited and routed through state government. Over 16 different county officials with the National Association of Counties (NACo) traveled to Washington D.C. to change that.
Currently, the historic bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, or IIJA, has been the forefront of the country’s infrastructure projects. Despite its intentions, counties are proportionately left out, particularly rural counties.
Congresswoman McDonald Rivet of Michigan was one of the co-sponsors of the bipartisan Bridges and Safety Infrastructure for Community Success (BASICS) Act.
The BASICS Act would give local governments easier access to important infrastructure funding.
“What we’re hearing from our communities is that they need a system that actually works, a federal partner they can rely on. The fix is simple. Have more funds that go directly to local government, to make critical road and bridge repairs without taking on massive debt,” said Representative Kristen McDonald Rivet.
The framework would increase federal funding for local projects, require a suballocation of bridge and safety programs, and strengthen local planning organizations with federal dollars.
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The BASICS Act does not take funding away from the states. Instead, it preserves the level of access for counties created by IIJA.
Wayne County Commissioner and NACo Board Member Melissa Daub was one of the 16 county officials to attend the fly-in.
During the fly-in, she took meetings with 33 House and Senate offices, including Gary Peters and Lisa McClains’, the Federal Highway Administration Administrator, and the White House, to advocate for local and state municipalities.
“I attended the NACo Infrastructure Week fly-in to remind our federal representatives how important counties are. We are responsible for so much of our states’ infrastructure,” said Commissioner Daub.
NACo reports that 73 percent of all of Michigan’s roads are owned by counties, and 22 percent in Wayne County. The BASICs Act would provide county-owned roads easier access to funding and project research.
On May 22, county advocacy was proven to work. The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure approved the BUILD America 250 act.
The BUILD America 250 Act is a bipartisan reauthorization bill that will authorize funding for Federal-aid highways, bridge construction and rehabilitation, highway safety programs, transit programs, and rail programs, and for other purposes.
J.D. Clark is the Board President of NACo and the County Judge of Wise County, Texas. He said, “The focus of every meeting was the proposed BUILD America 250 Act and the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization process. Counties own 50% of the roads in this country and 40% of its bridges. We are not secondary players in American infrastructure — much of our economy starts and ends on a county road.”
Some of Wayne County’s current projects are the Miller Rotunda Bridge replacement and the Allen Road Grade Separation project. The BUILD America Act will make even more projects like this available in the future.
The BUILD America 250 Act reiterates that local government is most important in infrastructure conversation.
