The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) joined a coalition of more than 40 groups that have urged the Department of Transportation to prioritize supply chain resiliency as the department implements the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) signed into law last November.
In the letter signed by the NLBMDA, the coalition asked Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to confront the supply chain challenges that are adversely impacting the economy and dedicate as much as allowable by law in discretionary grant funding to support infrastructure projects that will facilitate and ease the movement of goods.
“Pandemic-induced record cargo volumes have put pressure on the supply chain leading to abnormally long loading and unloading times at seaports, inland ports, and throughout all modes of transportation when, prior to the pandemic, the system functioned smoothly,” the coalitions wrote in the letter. “With multi-model traffic patterns returning to pre-pandemic levels while the supply-chain problems persist, the U.S. Department of Transportation should focus the $18 billion in INFRA, MEGA, and CRISI grant programs put forward over the next five years on making the physical improvements necessary to address these issues.”
The coalition of organizations said the investments will help alleviate economic burdens and strengthen the goods movement network to better withstand future disruptions. The NLBMDA said it will continue to lobby both the Biden Administration and Congress on the need to address ongoing supply chain disruptions and bottlenecks affecting both the LBM industry and national economy.
