changes in demand. Conventional transportation planning relies heavily on motor vehicle traffic. However, many communities—particularly in urban areas—must now consider pedestrians, cyclists, public transit riders, ridesharing, and other users when evaluating the effectiveness of the transportation ecosystem. (9) The development and adoption of autonomous vehicles, positive train control, NextGen, Smart City planning, and other technologies and transportation models is vastly altering the way we conceptualize, plan, and execute transportation policy. The unique challenges that we face as a nation will only grow increasingly more complex as the population grows and the nature of our infrastructure becomes more interconnected. Any infrastructure package must not only address the immediate needs of our crumbling system, but also anticipate the needs of a generation to come. (10) Infrastructure impacts every American—regardless of background, economic status, or political affiliation. 1004. Sense of Congress on infrastructure workforce development (a) Findings Congress finds the following: (1) America would need to spend approximately $1.44 trillion over the next 10 years to close the infrastructure gap. (2) The infrastructure workforce is aging at a rate where approximately 3,000,000 workers will need to be replaced over the next 10 years, compounding America’s infrastructure crisis. (3) Infrastructure jobs include a wide range of employment opportunities in both the public and private sectors, including design, construction, operation, governance, and maintenance of America’s assets. (4) Infrastructure jobs provide competitive wages with low barriers to entry, many of which require on-the-job training in lieu of formal higher education. (5) In spite of rising income inequality, infrastructure jobs paid approximately 30 percent more to low-income individuals than other occupations between the years of 2005 and 2015. (6) In the fourth quarter of 2016, African-Americans and Hispanics between the ages of 25 and 34 had