Overview: The ARTBA PRIDE in Transportation Construction Campaign

The ARTBA PRIDE in
Transportation Construction Campaign

Highways “increase our dependence on an automobile way of life which is unhealthy, anti-social, and unsustainable,” according to one professional environmental organization. “Facts and reason are much less important than the amount of noise you can make,” says another anti-highway group.

The agenda of these anti-growth groups is obvious: delay transportation improvement projects from moving forward, regardless of their merits, true impact on the environment or local consensus.

The American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) anticipated these types of attacks would be unleashed on the transportation construction industry. It was a predictable response to our industry’s remarkable success in obtaining record increases in federal highway and transit investment in the 2005 SAFETEA-LU law.

The ARTBA Board of Directors initiated the “PRIDE in Transportation Construction” Campaign more than seven years ago to help counter these assaults on the transportation construction market. PRIDE is based on the premise that no one can tell our story as well as we can! The PRIDE Campaign has several main thrusts:

Advocating our industry’s interests in the courts of law and public opinion…
Educating the public and Congress about the positive things our industry does and how our work benefits the nation’s economy and quality of life…
Quantifying the public health and safety benefits of transportation improvements…
Attracting young people to careers in our industry…and
Focusing attention on how our industry uses creativity and care to help protect the environment while, at the same time, providing needed mobility and access.

Through proactive PRIDE campaign products, activities and programs, ARTBA is maintaining and building public and political support for federal and state transportation capital investments. That’s our goal.

ARTBA member contributions to the “PRIDE” campaign are helping support some of the following programs:

The award-winning “Transportation Makes America Work!” grassroots lobbying and advocacy campaigns to achieve the maximum investment levels possible in the next reauthorization
The association’s ongoing and aggressive legal and regulatory advocacy program, including challenging Sierra Club lawsuits aimed at stopping or delaying highway projects.
Publication and wide distribution of ARTBA research that directly rebuts false or misleading information spread by anti-highway activists.
Publication and distribution of ARTBA economic analyses of federal legislative and regulatory proposals to congressional offices, news media, state leaders and policymakers.
Advocacy advertising in the Washington, D.C., market that promotes transportation construction industry views on pending legislation and regulatory issues.
ARTBA management of and participation in Washington, D.C., coalitions that help us advance our market preservation and development agenda, such as the Transportation Construction Coalition and U.S. Chamber of Commerce-led Americans for Transportation Mobility.
Development, implementation and promotion of ARTBA national awards programs to recognize excellence in environmental mitigation and safety.
Continued operation of the toll-free ARTBA Information Highway-Action Hotline that gives activists in our industry direct phone access to Congress and the White House and the ARTBA “Mobilize” multi-media grassroots training program.

The transportation construction industry has a great story to tell. We should not apologize for what we do, but demonstrate great pride in our contributions to the American way of life. The secret to success is a long-term financial commitment from all the major players in the transportation construction industry. If we continue to move boldly and aggressively forward with the PRIDE campaign, it will help with the implementation of building the public and congressional support for another significant increase in federal transportation investment in 2009!

For more information about the “PRIDE in Transportation Construction” campaign, contact ARTBA’s Senior Vice President of Communications and Marketing, at 202-289-4434.