As Congress considers national transportation priorities over the coming weeks, what would you like the members to know about your transportation priorities? A national social media campaign now under way gives you the opportunity to have your voice heard.

The Kansas Department of Transportation, in conjunction with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), is participating in the “I Told Congress About Transportation” campaign featuring Facebook, YouTube videos and written comments to raise public awareness over the next few months.

The campaign is designed to help citizens share their ideas, concerns and videos with Congress in order to build awareness and support for greater investment in America’s transportation systems.
“Transportation infrastructure is an investment, and for too long we haven’t been making those investments in our country. We can’t expect to grow and create jobs if we’re not investing in our transportation systems,” said Kansas Transportation Secretary Deb Miller.

“While not every project is a good investment, many are. So, by all means, there should be public push-back. We in transportation and Congress should be challenged to make good solid decisions when spending taxpayer dollars so we know it’s a good investment.”

KDOT and AASHTO will continue the campaign through February and will compile the videos and comments to present to key federal officials in March, prior to expiration of the latest extension of the federal transportation bill SAFETEA-LU. Since the five-year SAFETEA-LU legislation expired in 2009, it has been temporarily extended six times.

Federal funds make up about 30 percent of KDOT’s budget. Those dollars also provide important transportation funding for cities and counties.

People can log into Facebook and share their thoughts on AASHTO’s “I Told Congress About Transportation” forum: https://on.fb.me/IToldCongress. They can also comment and upload videos to AASHTO’s YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/CongressVids.