Pete Ruane, president and CEO of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, said once the 2012 presidential campaign heats up this fall, it will be difficult -- if not impossible -- to get the bill approved.

"Our real challenge is how we sustain interest in this issue over the next six months because if we don't get it done, they're going to kick it down the road," Ruane said during the Thursday morning panel "Transportation Industry Roundtable Discussion."

He added, "Congress is going to run and hide and they're not going to deal with it unless we get their attention and sustain it for the next six months, and that's going to be very hard to do."

Ruane participated in the discussion along with Steven Sandherr, CEO of the Associated General Contractors of America; William Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association; Alan Clark, metropolitan planning organization director of the Houston/Galveston Area Council; and Peter Pantuso, president and CEO of the American Bus Association.

AASHTO members attending the four-day legislative conference spent some of their time in the nation's capital this week visiting with their congressional delegations. Panel members encouraged attendees to use this opportunity to educate lawmakers about the value of federal surface transportation programs.

"The amount of ignorance about our program and the benefits of our programs to America is unbelievable," Millar said. "We have walked into offices where they barely know that the federal government invests in roads, let alone understanding that the federal government invests in transit; invests in intercity rail; invests in other types of transportation. The level of education we have to do is monumental."

Sandherr said, "We have a lot of new members of Congress who are committed to cutting spending and many of them are supporting cuts in infrastructure spending without having a broad understanding that they may be cutting economic muscle with fat."

Some on the panel praised President Barack Obama for his support and leadership for greater transportation investment. Obama's Fiscal Year 2012 budget calls for $556 billion in investments in highways, transit, and intercity passenger rail over the next six years. The proposal does not offer details on how the administration would fund the legislation, however.

"The fact that they don't know how they are going to pay for it is problematic, but I'm not going to dwell on that," Ruane said. "They put out some ideas to change the structure of the program. I think if the Congress doesn't change the program significantly, you're not going to generate the support politically and among the public to support any greater level of investment."

Millar noted Obama's proposal didn't go into funding details.

"Of course if he had talked about the funding in a very specific way, then there would have been a great number of people lined up to say, 'Oh, not that way Mr. President,'" Millar said. "Instead, as I read his proposal, it was, 'Come on Congress, let's get into the pool together. Let's work together.'"