A final compromise on transportation reauthorization legislation recently cleared the conference committee and will head to the House of Representative on December 3, 2015, and the Senate the following week. The Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST ACT) is a five-year reauthorization with $281 billion in funding. A summary of the highlights can be found here https://gallery.mailchimp.com/6f332e973fea19c6d59ade453/files/FAST_Act_Summary.pdf . Since the current transportation bill extension expires on December 4, 2015, it's likely that another extension would need to be enacted before a final bill is ready for the President’s signature, hopefully by the end of 2015.

Update

Both the Senate and House of Representatives passed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) last Thursday which cleared the way for President Obama to sign the bill. Thank you to the Miami Valley’s delegation which unanimously voted for the bill in bipartisan fashion. Thank you to Senator Sherrod Brown for his service on the conference committee and Senator Rob Portman for voting for the bill. Thanks to Congressmen Mike Turner, Steve Chabot, and Steve Stivers for your affirmative votes! Thank you to everyone who reached out to your elected official, neighbors, and friends to support the bill.

In the coming months, MVRPC will be learning more about how the new 5 year transportation bill will affect the Region’s planning process and attributable Federal funding.