The Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce-led Americans for Transportation Mobility (ATM), two national groups advocating for significant new investments in transportation improvements, are working together to elevate infrastructure issues on the congressional legislative calendar this year.

The current federal highway/transit investment law, SAFETEA-LU, expired nearly a year ago on Sept. 30, 2009. It has been operating under a series of short-term extensions, the latest through Dec. 31, 2010.

The federal government is the source of nearly 45 percent of all public capital investments in surface transportation.

The two organizations have developed campaign advertising to appeal to the general public with signs asking, “Sick of Aging Roads?—Tell Congress to Act!”

Similar messages have been developed for traffic congestion, transit delays and unsafe bridges.

Billboard advertisements have been running in South Dakota and South Carolina, and will also be posted in Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee, Iowa and Maryland beginning during the congressional recess in August and running through September.

As part of the campaign, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) held a news conference with coalition partners in Columbia, S.C., to mark the ad campaign’s launch in that state.

The ads direct viewers to the Website www.fasterbettersafer.org, where an action kit, instructions for contacting members of Congress, educational videos and other materials about the highway/transit bill are available.