Carper Encourages Buttigieg to Prioritize Safety in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Implementation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, is urging U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to make safety a top priority as the Department of Transportation works to implement the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).

In a letter to Buttigieg today, Carper highlighted several of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s policy changes and programs designed to improve safety:

“To address this persistent and growing safety challenge, IIJA significantly increased funding for safety programs. The funding for the Highway Safety Improvement Program was increased by 34 percent and the law creates a new Safe Streets for All program. The new law also places a greater emphasis on the protection of vulnerable road users, for whom traffic fatalities have increased the most steeply in recent years. I urge you to act quickly to implement those programs and to look for opportunities in new and existing law to address today’s safety challenges”

In addition to stressing the need to improve safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and other vulnerable road users, Carper also highlighted the opportunity to improve truck and passenger vehicle standards, including through the use of new safety technologies, and the importance of high-quality data collection. Carper concluded by expressing his eagerness to work with Secretary Buttigieg on improving transportation safety.

Full text of the letter is available here.