The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published a summary report on “Identification of National Work Zone Safety Objectives and Activities.”

The report includes 11 strategic objectives and notes work zone crash trends, providing another resource for ATSSA members.

ATSSA recently published its “Roadway Worker Protection Special Edition,” a supplement to the Fall issue of Roadway Safety magazine, which included articles on building a workplace safety culture, insights on situational awareness and information about the teen driver education program, which addresses navigation through work zones, an ATSS Foundation program.

With speeding through highway work zones posing an increasingly prevalent threat, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and ATSSA members are taking extensive steps to protect workers engaged in a 3 ½-year project.

The Fall issue of Roadway Safety magazine details the steps those partners are taking for this long-term work on Interstate 494. Read about this project and much more in this issue, available online now.

The magazine also delves into several other issues including artificial intelligence, looking at how it’s being applied to optimize business and employed to raise the bar with intelligent traffic management systems.

With Congress yet to pass the 12 appropriations bills needed to fund the federal government beyond the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, a government shutdown is becoming a real possibility.

While a federal shutdown is a rare occurrence, it can create uncertainty and have economic consequences. In the event of a federal government shutdown, essential functions funded with discretionary funds would continue but many of the federal employees providing these essential services would be doing so without pay until a funding resolution is reached.

Programs funded through the use of mandatory spending – such as Social Security, Medicare and certain federal trust funds like the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) – would continue to function at the start of the new fiscal year.

Get ready for enactment of the new Build America, Buy America Act (BABA) guidelines by attending ATSSA’s free virtual Town Hall on Sept. 7.

Speakers will address questions on the recently released guidance for the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA).

The virtual Town Hall panel will include ATSSA Director of Federal Government Relations Cameron Greene and Kathy Ruffalo, president of Ruffalo & Associates, a Washington-based advocacy and consulting firm. Ruffalo has significant transportation and infrastructure experience at both the federal and state levels.

Registration is now open.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Wednesday published the final guideline for the Build America, Buy America Act, starting a 60-day countdown to its enactment.

Included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), this expansion of the Buy America program led to the inclusion of a number of materials and products used and manufactured by ATSSA members.

ATSSA’s Government Relations Team provides a summary of the most important sections of the 162-page guidance and will continue to update ATSSA members as more information becomes available. ATSSA also will be holding a virtual town hall on this topic on Sept. 7.