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Days before all federally funded transportation projects could be forced to shut down, House and Senate negotiators were trying late last week to come up with a long-term reauthorization bill or another temporary extension.

WASHINGTON — House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica said he opposes a measure to curb the leasing of highways to private investors that is being discussed by the House-Senate conference committee on transportation reauthorization.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn announced Monday a major reconstruction project to add “much-needed capacity to the Circle Interchange in the heart of Chicago.”

Let’s hope that the current congressional recess gives several members of the House of Representatives an opportunity to rethink their positions on the nation’s infrastructure and leads them to help forge a strategy to fix our ailing roads and bridges.

In his weekly radio address this weekend, President Obama urged Congress to pass a bipartisan transportation bill.

Hidden deep within the massive Senate Transportation Bill, No. 1813, on pages 1283-1284, is a provision that will make owners and directors of corporations personally liable for civil penalties if the bill, which has passed the Senate and is headed for the House, becomes law.

The House could vote as soon as Monday night on a highway bill extension, which would avert a shutdown on transportation funding in advance of Saturday’s deadline on funding, Bloomberg reported.