National Highway Bridge Reconstruction and Inspection Act of 2008

NATIONAL HIGHWAY BRIDGE RECONSTRUCTION AND INSPECTION ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - July 23, 2008)

Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida. Madam Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today to offer a very straightforward amendment, but first I would like to thank Chairman Oberstar not only for this amendment but for always working with me on issues of importance to my constituents. Also, the Transportation Committee staff has been very easy to work with, especially Jim Tymon, who is here, for working with me and my staff, Lauren Robutaille, to help draft this important amendment. And, of course, I always have to thank Ranking Member Mica. The State of Florida is truly fortunate to have such a passionate champion and such a passionate advocate for issues that are important to our State.

My amendment simply seeks to emphasize the importance of public safety in prioritizing new highway bridge funding as well as place risk-based priority for rehab and repair on deficient or obsolete bridges that serve as emergency evacuation routes.

Transportation infrastructure, especially bridges, obviously, play a vital role during emergency situations, during natural disasters. And we've all seen that from time to time in many coastal areas, and I refer to especially obviously to Southern Florida. Bridges, frankly, sometimes provide the only mainland access for millions of residents and visitors, and during times of emergency, these bridges provide sometimes, again, the only emergency evacuation options, period. And as I said a little while ago, in the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, unfortunately, that emphasized the need for safe emergency evacuation routes when millions of Americans, millions of Americans, faced mandatory evacuations.

Now, Florida bridges--as you all know, we are a peninsula surrounded by oceans. Florida bridges sustain additional wear and tear to frequent storms and saltwater corrosion.

My amendment, Madam Chairman, simply emphasizes the importance of ensuring public safety as well as ensuring that Americans have access to safe evacuation routes during times of disaster, during times of danger.

I again urge my colleagues to support this straightforward amendment. Once again I want to thank the chairman for his great work and for always allowing me to go to him and his staff and the committee staff on issues that are important to my constituents, my State, and, I think, the country.

With that, Madam Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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