[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