[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 93 (Tuesday, June 4, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S3219]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. JONES (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Cassidy):
  S. 1709. A bill to direct the Secretary of Transportation to 
establish a grant program to improve evacuation routes in rural 
communities, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Environment 
and Public Works.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. President, while it is critical that communities get 
the disaster relief they need after the fact, it is also important that 
folks can better prepare for natural disasters and help make our 
communities safer so that we can reduce the impact and costs of the 
inevitable severe weather we will have in this country.
  The 2019 hurricane season is upon us. It started just last Saturday. 
Folks in my neck of the woods and especially down in South Alabama know 
that means storms can come at any time. Fortunately with hurricanes, 
they can get some warning, but for tornadoes like the ones that hit Lee 
County, it is just minutes.
  It is not a question of whether severe weather will happen; it is a 
question of when and where. It is also a question of whether we will be 
prepared when it strikes again. That is why today I am introducing two 
bills. The first is cosponsored by my Louisiana colleagues, Senators 
Kennedy and Cassidy. It would establish a new grant program through the 
U.S. Department of Transportation that would award up to $100 million 
for projects to improve emergency evacuation routes in small and rural 
communities.
  Generally in our State and in a lot of the coastal States, there is 
only one or two major evacuation routes, which is just not enough to 
handle the situation should another hurricane hit the gulf. This grant 
money would help expand those routes.
  The grants would be used for two purposes: to build State and local 
connector roads that would improve access to the broader thoroughfares 
and to expand existing roads and bridges so that folks can evacuate 
safely during extreme weather events. These infrastructure investments 
would also have the additional benefit of serving rural Alabama 
communities year-round and expanding and improving some of our aging 
roadways. With expanding and improving aging roadways and giving better 
access to rural communities, economic expansion will follow.

                          ____________________