Washington, D.C. - Congressmen Dave Loebsack (IA-02) and Bobby Schilling (IL-17) today called on the Leaders of the House Appropriations Committee to fully fund the Projects of National and Regional Significance (PNRS) program for Fiscal Year 2013. Earlier this year, Loebsack and Schilling worked to include an authorization for $500 million in the recently passed Highway Bill for the PNRS program to fund large, interstate bridge projects, such as the I-74 Bridge. Loebsack and Schilling called on House Appropriators to fully fund this program while crafting future appropriations bills to ensure I-74 can compete for funding and move forward as quickly as possible.
"In 2005 the I-74 Bridge became the most traveled bridge in the Quad Cities with an average of 77,800 vehicles crossing daily, despite the fact that it was built for 48,000 such crossings," wrote the Congressmen. "Replacement of the I-74 Bridge would not only generate national economic benefits, but would create jobs, expand business opportunities, reduce congestion, and aid commerce in traveling to and from our communities, but would - most importantly - improve safety. For this project and others like it to more quickly move forward, it is clear that the new PNRS program needs to be funded at the fully authorized level for FY13."
A copy of the letter is available here.
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