    [United States Statutes at Large, Volume 132, 115th Congress, 2nd Session]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    Proclamation 9747 of May 11, 2018

    National Defense Transportation Day and National Transportation Week,
    2018

    By the President of the United States of America

    A Proclamation

    During National Defense Transportation Day and National Transportation
    Week, we celebrate the many forms of transportation and recognize the
    countless men and women who ensure that our transportation
    infrastructure systems operate effectively, efficiently, and, when
    needed, in support of our national defense. Since the early days of our
    Nation, the growth and expansion of the United States, as well as the
    strength of our country's national defense, have been inextricably
    linked to our investments into our transportation system.
    In 1919, a young lieutenant colonel named Dwight D. Eisenhower embarked
    on the United States Army's first transcontinental convoy from
    Washington, DC, to San Francisco, California. Over a trip that lasted 62
    days, covered 3,251 miles at a speed of 6 miles per hour, and overcame
    230 accidents, Eisenhower witnessed firsthand the need for an efficient,
    reliable, and safe national transportation system. Nearly 40 years
    later, as President of the United States, he signed into law the
    Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, which created our Nation's landmark
    system of interstate highways.
    In recent years, our country's infrastructure has fallen behind due to
    political inaction, poor resource allocation, and a broken permitting
    process. We must take bold action and renew our commitment to our
    transportation system through reforms, effective investments, and
    transformative technologies. I have proposed an infrastructure plan that
    will generate a $1.5 trillion infusion into our country's once-great
    infrastructure and help to build a more prosperous future for all
    Americans. These funds will help rebuild our roads and bridges and
    create incentives for new State and local investments in infrastructure,
    raising wages and improving the quality of life for American families
    for years to come. Additionally, my Administration is focused on
    eliminating the unnecessary redundancies and inefficiencies in the
    regulatory and permitting procedures that hold back American
    infrastructure development. Finally, we must take particular care to
    focus resources on rural America, whose infrastructure must be supported
    and modernized to promote economic growth and well-being.
    Taken together, these policies will help ensure the efficient and free
    flow of commerce across our beautiful Nation and unleash a new era of
    prosperity. Every American depends on our roads, rails, airports, and
    waterways. But a highly functioning infrastructure network is especially
    critical to our men and women in uniform, who rely on it to facilitate
    the flow of the equipment and supplies they need to stay safe and
    protect America. By taking the appropriate and necessary actions, we
    will restore our infrastructure to greatness so that it serves all
    Americans, including those in our Nation's military.
    To recognize the men and women who work in the transportation industry
    and who contribute to our Nation's well-being and defense, the Congress,
    by joint resolution approved May 16, 1957, as amended (36 U.S.C. 120),
    has designated the third Friday in May of each year as

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    ``National Defense Transportation Day,''; and, by joint resolution
    approved May 14, 1962, as amended (36 U.S.C. 133), has declared that the
    week during which that Friday falls be designated as ``National
    Transportation Week.'';
    NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of
    America, do hereby proclaim Friday, May 18, 2018, as National Defense
    Transportation Day and May 13 through May 19, 2018, as National
    Transportation Week. I encourage all Americans to celebrate these
    observances with appropriate ceremonies and activities to learn more
    about how our transportation system contributes to the security of our
    citizens and the prosperity of our Nation.
    IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eleventh day of
    May, in the year of our Lord two thousand eighteen, and of the
    Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-
    second.
    DONALD J. TRUMP