Carper Highlights FHWA's Critical Role in Safety and Emissions Reductions During Hearing

Hearing

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"Could you please talk with us this morning about the role that the Federal Highway Administration will play in coordinating with state and local agencies to respond to the bridge collapse and restore the movement of goods and people around the Philadelphia region while the bridge is being rebuilt?"

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"The agency must also use its regulatory authority to address ongoing needs. One such need for regulation is to help reduce emissions from our transportation sector, which accounts for nearly 30 percent of our nation's greenhouse gas emissions--the largest single source in our economy … Last July, the Federal Highway Administration proposed a rule that would require states and metropolitan areas to measure their performance on greenhouse gas emissions and set targets to reduce those emissions. Once finalized, this will be a critical tool to steer infrastructure investments toward better climate outcomes, and I hope that the agency will move quickly to finalize that rule."

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"I would like to emphasize the importance of improving safety. Last year, nearly 43,000 people tragically lost their lives on our nation's roads--the highest number in 16 years … The U.S. Department of Transportation has taken an important step toward this goal by releasing the National Roadway Safety Strategy, which set a goal of zero fatalities for U.S. roads for the first time … Still, there is more work that the Federal Highway Administration can and should be doing to prioritize safety. That includes working with states and metropolitan areas to plan streets that are safer for all users and choosing highway designs and roadway designs that don't encourage speeding and other unsafe behaviors."

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"How does the existence of multiple industry standards affect the build out of EV charging infrastructure and what is the FHWA's role in facilitating convergence around a single standard? … Additionally, if a single charging technology emerges as an industry standard, how will the Federal Highway Administration make sure that it's open, accessible, and reliable for all EVs?"

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