The West Virginia Trucking Association has joined Trucking Moves America Forward and more than 60 national and regional infrastructure and transportation advocacy groups in participating in national Infrastructure Week, May 11-15, 2015, organization officials announced today.

The group is working to educate lawmakers and the public about America's neglected infrastructure and the profound consequences that disinvestment has on American businesses and livelihoods.

Jan Vineyard, president of the West Virginia Trucking Association, said, “The West Virginia Trucking Association and all our members are thrilled to join such a diverse and broad group of business and transportation interest groups calling attention to America's critical infrastructure needs and the rapidly approaching Highway Trust Fund fiscal cliff. Trucking companies cannot afford any more delays. Congress must fully fund the federal Highway Trust Fund to safeguard our nation's economic and national security."

The professional trucking industry contributes $682 billion in revenue every year to our nation's economy. Seven million trucking professionals nationwide move food, fuel and critical cargo in manufacturing, healthcare, retail and more.

Nearly one third of our nation's roads are in poor or mediocre condition, and one out of every nine bridges are structurally deficient, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers report card. The West Virginia Trucking Association has joined with Trucking Moves America Forward – an industry-wide movement established to ensure that policymakers and the public understand the importance of the trucking industry to the nation's economy – to advocate for infrastructure spending to improve highway networks that are most critical to the movement of freight and interstate travel. Improving our nation's highways also prioritizes the safety of the motoring public.

"This is an important dialogue to have about America's infrastructure challenges. With Congress' continued delays, our nation's infrastructure continues to deteriorate with backlogged transportation projects contributing to thousands of potentially productive hours wasted in congestion and gridlock for our drivers," Vineyard said. "Our nation's economy is powered by the cargo hauled by the hard working men and women of our industry and they deserve to deliver America's goods on roads and bridges that are not structurally deficient."