[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 151 (Thursday, November 29, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H6514]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        CRUMBLING INFRASTRUCTURE

  (Mr. HIGGINS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, our national policy for transportation and 
budgetary commitment is a disgrace and an embarrassment. Our roads and 
bridges are a mess. Transportation for America says that we have 69,000 
structurally deficit bridges in this Nation. We have over 2,000 
structurally deficient bridges in New York State, and we have 99 
structurally deficient bridges in my home community of western New 
York. Every second of every day, seven cars carrying our families drive 
on a bridge that is structurally deficient.
  In the city of Buffalo, we are preparing to make a decision about the 
future of the elevated Skyway bridge, a roadway classified by 
transportation officials as being structurally deficient, fracture-
critical, and functionally obsolete.
  Federal investments should help communities make smart decisions and 
become more self-sufficient. Investing in smart infrastructure is not 
simply about tearing down our crumbling bridges; it's about rebuilding 
our Nation.

                          ____________________