Yankton, S.D. (PRWEB) June 26, 2012
With only four days until federal funding for highways dries up, The Road Connection is ramping up its campaign to save Americas roads and bridges through crowd funding.
Crowd funding is when people network and pool their money and resources together, usually through the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people and organizations. Crowd funding can help raise money for a number of causes, from humanitarian to political to helping fund a start-up company. A now-famous example of crowd funding is the recent case of bus monitor Karen Klein, who was viciously bullied at work and had more than $ 650,000 raised for her by strangers on the Internet.
The Road Connection is seeking to further its message by using crowd-funding site Indiegogo. The Road Connection is a nonpartisan, grassroots campaign advocating for the nations roads and bridges. For the past nine months, it has traveled across the United States in the official Road Connection truck, bringing the message to trade shows, open houses, road construction sites and equipment dealer locations to educate Americans about the need for positive change in the national transportation system.
Now, in the next 17 days, it seeks to raise enough money to attend the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in August. The goal is to reach half a million consumers of the road to tell them about the importance of the federal transportation bill, which expires June 30, 2012.
Our goal is to raise $ 8,000 to attend the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, said Curt Peterka, driver of The Road Connection truck. We want to take our message to another group of folks that we havent connected with yet motorcyclists. Who better understands the value of good roads than these road warriors? And where better to share our message than the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis?
The federal transportation bill (also called the highway bill) has been extended 10 times since the last fully-funded bill expired in 2009. If Congress passes a multi-year, fully-funded federal highway bill, millions of jobs will be created. For every 1 billion dollars that the government invests in infrastructure, 6.2 billion dollars of economic activity gets put right back into the struggling U.S. economy. If the bill does not get passed, the Highway Trust Fund will be empty by next year, millions of people will be out of jobs and Americas roads and bridges will begin to crumble.
Our roads and bridges are in dire need of repair, Peterka said. The American Society of Civil Engineers have graded our current infrastructure with a D-. If we dont get Congress to buckle down and do something, our children will not enjoy the same American infrastructure we have grown to depend on.
Indiegogo is a prime platform for The Road Connection because it gives this important campaign an audience who might not be familiar with it yet and helps deliver viral awareness, Peterka said.
Supporters of The Road Connection on Indiegogo can receive unique perks for becoming contributors, such as bumper stickers, hats, t-shirts and even a night as a VIP with The Road Connection at the Sturgis Rally.
For too long, our roads and bridges have been put on the back burner, Peterka said. For too long, Americans have been out of work. Investing in infrastructure is a step in the right direction to remedy both of these important issues. It shouldnt take another tragic bridge collapse before our lawmakers stand up and take notice of the serious situation facing our roadways.
To help send The Road Connection to Sturgis, visit http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/114463?c=home. For more information about The Road Connection, visit http://www.theroadconnection.org. To follow The Road Connections progress visit blog.theroadconnection.org or visit http://www.facebook.com/theroadconnection.
