By Everett Lott, Vice President, Federal, State and Local Affairs | EXP
In February, EXP team members attended the 2025 AASHTO Washington Briefing and had the opportunity to connect with transportation officials from across the country and to hear from newly appointed cabinet member, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy. Secretary Duffy shared his vision for transportation and infrastructure projects, which is to build faster, better and safer and eliminate bureaucratic processes that will impede on efficiency for major infrastructure projects throughout the country.
The goal: Build better, bigger and faster
Major infrastructure projects are often complex and require close coordination between various organizations, which can cause significant delays in progress. The federal government’s goal is to help states build bigger and better projects more efficiently. There is also an emphasis on building projects that serve the community and are aesthetically pleasing. To make both of these priorities possible, there will be a renewed focus on sending money to the states in a timely manner to decrease potential delays.
There is a renewed focus on efficiency
The common theme in this year’s presentation was efficiency. Infrastructure projects can experience major delays, which can inconvenience surrounding communities and tie up resources. The federal government discussed strengthening partnerships with the states and bestowing more responsibilities to the states to complete projects more efficiently while using budgets conservatively. To reduce delays in projects, there will be a focus on improving and streamlining the permitting process and to find ways to reduce or eliminate extraneous permitting requirements. Most projects will still require site evaluations and permits, but the emphasis will be on reducing or eliminating bureaucratic, cumbersome and redundant permitting requirements that inevitably delay projects and drive up the cost. Additionally, projects that have been in the pipeline for years may be eliminated to conserve budget and resources.
The federal government aims to foster impactful relationships with the states
Many discussions centered on empowering relationships that allow states to work on projects their residents need. While this partnership requires collaboration between the state and US DOT, the federal government is aiming to give more autonomy to the states and reduce the oversight US DOT currently has on major infrastructure projects.
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