Proposed US transportation spending bill to boost cement demand: ACA

A bipartisan bill to reauthorize the US surface transportation spending bill for five years would boost demand for cement and other domestic construction materials, the American Cement Association said.

The US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee announced a deal to advance the BUILD America 250 Act, a bill to fund maintenance and construction of the nation's transportation infrastructure. Current funding expires Sept. 30.

The bill must be marked up by the committee, approved by both houses of Congress and signed by President Donald Trump.

ACA, which represents cement manufacturers across the country, applauded the deal in a May 18 statement.

"Not only will this critical work erase years of uncertainty regarding the upkeep and future construction of essential roads, bridges and highways, but it will jumpstart the overall transportation infrastructure market... spurring the creation of new jobs and growing the demand for all domestic construction materials, including cement and concrete," said Sean O'Neill, senior vice president of government affairs at ACA.

Earlier in May, the ACA joined 33 other associations and unions in the Transportation Construction Coalition to release updated principles for surface transportation reauthorization. These principles call for maintaining investment levels, adjusting for inflation, improving project delivery, and modernizing federal user fee structures to ensure sustainable revenue.

Industry groups have emphasized the importance of timely legislative action to prevent delays in infrastructure projects and to provide funding certainty.