Foxx bus tour to highlight need for infrastructure investment
The GROW AMERICA Express will visit communities that have created jobs and new opportunities by investing in transportation, as well as communities with transportation projects that are waiting on much needed funding.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx today will launch a four-day bus tour, beginning in Tallahassee, Fla., on Feb. 17, which will visit five states and the District of Columbia, to highlight the importance of investing in America’s infrastructure and to encourage Congress to act on a long-term transportation bill.
With the Highway Trust Fund once again nearing insolvency and federal funding for transportation projects set to expire at the end of May unless Congress acts — just at the start of the construction season — funding for projects across the country will be put at risk while other major initiatives will be delayed because of a lack of federal funding certainty.
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The GROW AMERICA Express will visit communities that have created jobs and new opportunities by investing in transportation, as well as communities with transportation projects that are waiting on much needed funding. As he travels through five states — Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia — and ending at Union Station in Washington, D.C., Foxx will make the case for the Administration’s plan, the GROW AMERICA Act, a six-year transportation proposal that would put more Americans to work repairing and modernizing our roads, bridges, railways, ports and transit systems.
“Congress continues to pass short-term measures with flat funding that falls short of meeting our country’s needs,” said Foxx. “I am once again taking my message directly to the American people because they know that Band-Aid funding measures don’t build bridges; they don’t create jobs; and they don’t help us compete in the 21st Century. We need to put our country back to work with a long-term funding plan.”
Foxx’s bus tour will include visits to universities, manufacturers, bridges, freight facilities and highway projects in an effort to raise awareness of America’s infrastructure deficit. Foxx will visit with students, business leaders, transportation stakeholders and community residents to discuss the projects that work, projects that are needed and to ask them to commit to standing up for a future with an American transportation system that is second-to-none.
The region’s fixed-route system finished out the year with a total of 373.5 million rides. Adding 12.3 million rides over 2024 represents an increase that is equal to the annual transit ridership of Kansas City.
The service is a flexible, reservation-based transit service designed to close the first- and last-mile gaps and connect riders to employment for just $5 per day.
The upgraded system, which went live earlier this month, supports METRO’s METRONow vision to enhance the customer experience, improve service reliability, and strengthen long-term regional mobility.
The agreement provides competitive wages and reflects strong labor-management collaboration, positive working relationships, and a shared commitment to building a world-class transit system for the community, said RTA CEO Lona Edwards Hankins.
The priorities are outlined in the 2026 Board and CEO Initiatives and Action Plan, which serves as a roadmap to guide the agency’s work throughout the year and ensure continued progress and accountability on voter-approved transportation investments and essential mobility services.
