Campaign advances life-cycle budgeting in infrastructure policy

Sources: Portland Cement Association, Skokie, Ill.; CP staff

A two-week print and online PCA ad campaign, themed “What Are the Real Costs” and targeted to political and policy opinion leaders in Washington, D.C., aims to elevate cradle-to-grave project cost factors in transportation and infrastructure funding. The ads appear through July 1 in Rollcall and CQ Daily print editions and in Rollcall, National Journal and Engineering News-Record online, directing readers and site visitors to Whataretherealcosts.org.

The website encourages support of the new Fiscal Accountability and Transparency in Infrastructure Spending Act, and references the life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) key to research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-hosted Concrete Sustainability Hub. The legislation would require the use of a comprehensive LCCA of at least 50 years to account for infrastructure projects’ full costs; sponsored by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), it dovetails federal construction interests’ attempt to advance a six-year highway bill in a highly partisan Congress grappling with budget deficits and the national debt ceiling.