The American Trucking Associations has launched a new initiative, dubbed Road to a Better Future, that highlights the nation’s infrastructure needs by demonstrating the extreme costs of traffic congestion and road disrepair.

“Our goal is to educate decision makers and the public about the hidden costs of the status quo,” said ATA President and CEO Chris Spear. “If we’re to secure a better future for our country and this economy, then we can no longer put off necessary improvements to our national network of roads and bridges.”

While Congress may debate how best to fund the $1.5 Trillion Infrastructure Plan recently proposed by President Trump, ATA is actively promoting its own plan, called the Build America Fund. The ATA plan would generate $340 billion in new revenue over 10 years without adding to the budget, according to the trucking lobby.

“Opponents of a fuel user fee fail to mention a simple fact: deteriorating roads and bridges exact a heavy price on the motoring public – and that cost hits low- and middle-income drivers the hardest,” said Spear. “A fuel user fee is completely paid for by users and does not add a penny to the deficit. There’s a reason why Ronald Reagan was such a strong supporter of this policy throughout his presidency”

ATA’s Road to a Better Future initiative is being rolled out with a new website that features an educational video and call to action, urging the public to contact their lawmakers to ask them to support infrastructure investment.

“What seems to get lost in the debate about highway funding is that there is a cost to doing nothing, too,” said David Congdon, CEO of Old Dominion Freight Line and co-chair of ATA’s Infrastructure Task Force. “The irony here is that the cost of doing nothing is actually much higher than what is actually required to fix our roads and bridges.”