The U.S. House of Representatives’ passage on April 18 of a surface transportation bill that includes a 90-day extension (from July 1 through Sept. 30) at current funding levels, as well as language approving the Keystone XL pipeline, brings the nation “one step closer to passing a final [transportation] bill,” National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA) President and CEO Joy Pinniger said in an April 19 press statement.

However, Pinniger notes that “we’re not there yet.” She says that further delay “is unacceptable” [because] “America’s crumbling infrastructure can no longer wait.”

NSSGA Board of Directors Chairman Ron Summers, CalPortland Co., Glendora, Calif., says that association members “are pleased that the House overwhelmingly acted on a surface transportation bill, one that maintains current levels of funding and aims to speed up the project approval process. This is the ‘jobs bill’ members of Congress have been searching for and the aggregates industry anxiously awaits the final product.”