Archives for January 2025

Evers sets stage for busy 2025 session with focus on prioritizing children

January 24, 2025 by Lane Kimble

MADISON, Wis. — Declaring 2025 the “Year of the Kid” in Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers laid out his vision for the state’s future Wednesday night.

The governor only used the word “roads” once early on during his 60-minute State of the State speech, noting the work our industry does is truly bipartisan and a key to improving people’s lives.

Still, Gov. Evers alluded to the importance of funding transportation while subtly acknowledging some of the budgetary challenges ahead.

“We must continue to make smart and strategic investments while staying within our means,” Evers said in the speech’s final minute. “We must continue to invest in needs long neglected while still finding ways to save where we can. And we must continue to go, as ever, forward, together.”

The governor’s annual address before the Assembly, Senate, state Supreme Court, and special dignitaries, allows him to set the stage for releasing a biennial budget plan in February.

Evers spent most of this speech prioritizing schools, mental health, childcare, and gun safety.

Transportation funding will certainly be a major talking point moving forward. Legislative Fiscal Bureau reports released earlier in the week detail a significant Transportation Fund shortfall to the tune of about $1 billion.

“Governor Evers’ administration has been an advocate for the work our members do since day one in office,” WTBA Executive Director Steve Baas said. “I’m confident his budget plans next month will place transportation system development front and center because it truly impacts everyone, kids and adults alike.

“WTBA staff is already working with lawmakers to drive this point home and find long term fixes to pay for our roads, bridges, and highways.”

Senate committee approves Duffy as Transportation Secretary on 28-0 vote

January 23, 2025 by Lane Kimble

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy easily cruised through a Senate committee vote this week, securing unanimous bipartisan approval to serve as the next Transportation Secretary.

The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee voted 28-0 to send Duffy’s confirmation to the full Senate.

Wednesday’s vote followed a three-hour hearing the previous week where Duffy spoke to his bona fides for serving as President Trump’s transportation secretary, answering dozens of questions from lawmakers while his family watched.

“Duffy will take the helm of a department with more than 55,000 employees, leading the administration’s efforts to make it easier and faster for families, commuters, truckers, and fliers to get around without running into traffic, potholes or delays,” committee chairman Sen. Ted Cruz said. “To quote Senator Baldwin at his hearing last week, quote, ‘Sean is the right person for this job.’

“I hope we can agree Mr. Duffy is the kind of consensus-driven leader we need to oversee the Department of Transportation.”

“President Trump is a builder,” Duffy said during his hearing last week. “He has told me that this department is a top priority for him and he wants to invest in rebuilding our nation’s crumbling infrastructure,” he explained. “He asked me to focus on big, durable projects that connect our country and people.”

Committee member Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) noted she had fond memories of working across the aisle with Duffy to secure funding for the St. Croix River Crossing Bridge.

“I thought he did a good job at his hearing, I told him that, but I think it’s really important with his words and with this vote that he follow through on that bipartisan work,” Klobuchar said. “To work with members about projects in their district to make sure that the funding gets completed from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill.”

The Senate has yet to schedule a full vote on Duffy’s nomination.

Trump executive order causes concern, confusion over federal transportation funding

January 22, 2025 by Lane Kimble

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Billions of dollars in money committed for infrastructure projects is flowing again after a brief but nerve-racking pause this week.

One of President Donald Trump’s many executive orders signed Tuesday–his first full day back in office–ordered the federal government to stop spending money that supports electric vehicle charging stations.

However, the order inadvertently stopped all payments to the massive Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, too, according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).

Politico also reported on the delay and confusion that followed.

In a note to members late Wednesday, ARTBA said it was immediately in contact with the Trump administration and Capitol Hill and BIL payments to states resumed shortly thereafter.

Thursday, the White House Office of Management and Budget issued a special memoclarifying the executive order’s intent, which was to specifically block only investments toward EVs and the Green New Deal.

However, ARTBA also reports the U.S. DOT will pause awarding any new infrastructure grants without a signed agreement already in place. This is common under an administration change, ARTBA said.

President Biden signed the $1 trillion BIL into law in November 2021. It’s led to more than $1.5 billion in discretionary grants for Wisconsin alone, including money to replace the aging Blatnik Bridge in Superior.

However, the BIL also committed billions to projects that prioritize clean energy and EVs, which the Trump administration has pledged to target.

Despite the confusion over the executive order, legal experts like the University of Michigan’s Nicholas Bagley say the action is likely not a major problem for transportation projects in general.

“These executive orders, as a general matter, they come out with some really aggressive rhetoric, and then back it up with fairly milquetoast instructions to agencies,” Bagley told Politico.

The president also announced major private investment commitments into developing Artificial Intelligence data centers across the country.

The so-called “Stargate” project would harness $500 billion in investments from companies such as Oracle and OpenAI to build out massive data centers and put the United States at the forefront of AI development.

WTBA’s partners at ARTBA provided the following further analysis on Trump’s series of executive orders:

Regulatory Freeze – Federal agencies may not propose or finalize any rule changes until they have been reviewed and approved by a Trump appointee or designee at that agency. For rule changes that have been published but are not yet in effect, agencies should consider postponing their effective date for 60 days to enable further review. These actions are similar to those of incoming administrations in the past.
NEPA – President Trump is revoking a Carter-era EO which empowered the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to issue regulations for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The CEQ chair is to organize a work group tasked with expediting and simplifying the permitting process through more consistent and improved agency-level NEPA regulations.
DEI Programs – The White House has ordered the dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, particularly relating to federal hiring, training and “environmental justice” efforts. While the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program remains part of federal law, these principles could affect the new administration’s approach to administering DBE requirements for federal-aid highway and transit projects, or defending the law against challenges in court.
Rescission of Biden Executive Orders – President Trump explicitly revoked 78 Biden-era EOs, including Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act implementation principles focused on union labor, disadvantaged communities, and climate change, among other priorities.
DOGE – An EO formally establishes the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), a reform initiative led by Elon Musk, as a temporary entity within the White House. It will focus on “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity,” with representatives dispatched to each agency

‘A phenomenal opportunity’: Record-setting crowd packs Kalahari for C-E Conference

January 20, 2025 by Lane Kimble

WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. — A record-setting crowd of more than 750 attendees packed day one of the WTBA/WisDOT Contractor-Engineer Conference on Thursday. The sheer number of people had WTBA President Brian Endres pondering future venues.

“I think we will have to go to Lambeau Field next year,” Endres said with a smile. “It’s a tribute to the content that we’re putting out at WTBA and also the PDHs (professional development hours) with the amount of engineers we have involved.

“The desire to collaborate and get to know and have a space to build those relationships, this is a great forum for that.”

CLICK HERE FOR THURSDAY’S PHOTO GALLERY

The day’s general session began at 12:30 p.m. and featured WisDOT Secretary Kristina Boardman and updates from WisDOT division leaders.

Later, Federal Highway Administration Wisconsin Division Administrator Glenn Fulkerson and American Road and Transportation Builders Association General Counsel Rich Juliano both provided federal updates.

The annual conference also marked the addition of vendor exhibition booths for the first time. Breakout rooms featuring eight topics filled out the afternoon’s learning opportunities ahead of the evening festivities.

“This is a phenomenal opportunity in the offseason to continue to work on that relationship with our biggest customer, which is WisDOT,” Endres said. “The better you can know someone or build a relationship when there’s nothing going wrong, it builds a nice foundation to handle conflict when you’re in the heat of the battle during the season.”

The two-day conference concluded Friday with topics such as work zone safety, utilities, ethics, and more.