Over the past year, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has visited more than 100 communities and heard one common story, about crumbling infrastructure and dwindling resources to fix it with. 

Monday, Secretary Foxx sent to Congress his solution to this problem: a long-term transportation bill that provides funding growth and certainty so that state and local governments can get back in the business of building things again.

The GROW AMERICA Act reflects President Obama's vision for a six-year, $478 billion transportation reauthorization bill that invests in modernizing America's infrastructure. As lawmakers try to fund transportation beyond May 31, 

GROW AMERICA provides members of the House and Senate with the option of increasing investment in surface transportation by 45 percent, and supporting millions of jobs repairing and modernizing roads, bridges, railroads and transit systems in urban, suburban, and rural communities.

“All over the country, I hear the same account: the need to repair and expand our surface transportation system has never been greater, and yet federal transportation funding has never been in such short supply,” Secretary Foxx said. “Our proposal provides a level of funding and also funding certainty that our partners need and deserve. This is an opportunity to break away from 10 years of flat funding, not to mention these past six years in which Congress has funded transportation by passing 32 short-term measures.”

INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS:

According to 2013 data, the Federal Highway Administration has determined that:

2,600 of the 14,769 bridges in Georgia are considered structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers 2013 Report Card statistics:

Driving on roads in need of repair costs Georgia motorists $374 million a year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs – $60 per motorist. 19 percent of Georgia's roads are in poor or mediocre condition. 

For state fact sheets, and to learn how much more transportation funding your state will have if Congress passes the GROW AMERICA Act, go to www.dot.gov/growamerica.