President's Letter

A renewed sense of synergy on multiple levels:

Michael D. D’Ambra

Michael D. D’Ambra
CIRI President

Continuing to build on an inspiring year.

The passage of the RhodeWorks program in early February was a milestone moment. For the first time in Rhode Island’s history, the transportation construction industry was presented with a dedicated and dependable source of funds to tackle the massive infrastructure challenges facing our state. Accordingly, CIRI is deeply committed to working with RIDOT to prove the wisdom and value of this program to RI taxpayers.

Promising developments on the national level.

On the federal front, legislators are starting to realize the importance of stable and dependable funding. With the passage of the five-year FAST Act, we’ve finally gotten out of the quicksand of temporary emergency appropriations that only kick the can down the road. But the FAST Act is hardly the finish line.

Working with our friends at ARTBA, CIRI will continue to advocate for a more permanent funding solution for the Highway Trust Fund — while helping to guard our industry from the regulatory overreaches that are injurious to the operations and profitability of our member companies.

Maintaining a strong and vibrant business environment for transportation construction is not only crucial to our members: it’s crucial to the economic revitalization of Rhode Island and the nation at large.

Introducing our new CIRI brand identity.

When we set out to develop a new brand identity for CIRI, it wasn’t a matter of simply updating our logo.

Our new brand identity needed to reflect who we are as an organization. It needed to reflect our ability to evolve with our ever-changing industry. It also needed to reflect the overall vision and dedication that inspires our member companies — as their people engineer and perform the infrastructure improvements that are critical for our state.

Our new brand icon appropriately is a visual representation of the three elements that need to be reconciled, in order to build roads and bridges that are strong and safe:

  • The sky. The natural element that affects the construction process itself through its weather patterns, while calling for high quality standards to withstand the climate extremes of the Northeast.
  • The road. The high performance solutions we engineer, for both new and existing roadways, to serve the diverse transportation needs of our state. These needs include daily commuting, business travel, recreational travel for residents and visitors — and the crucial flow of billions of dollars in goods that are shipped to and from Rhode Island every year.
  • The earth. Like the sky, the earth beneath a project affects the way we approach the challenge at hand. How we work with that terrain is key to the stability, durability and value of every project we undertake.

All of us at CIRI are truly inspired by the positive momentum that has taken shape in the first half of 2016. We look forward to building on that momentum for the continued betterment of our state, its economy and its people.

Sincerely,

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Michael D. D’Ambra
CIRI President

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