U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao (second from right) talks Thursday with Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Ron Bunch (from left), Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon and Mark Lord, district director for U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie, at the chamber of commerce.

It’s called BUILD, and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao came to Bowling Green on Thursday to let local leaders know how it can help them build better transportation infrastructure in the region.

Chao met with such local officials as Bowling Green Mayor Bruce Wilkerson, Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon and Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Ron Bunch, learning from them but also helping them understand the new federal initiative known as BUILD, which stands for Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development.

A Republican who served as labor secretary in President George W. Bush’s administration and is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Chao explained that BUILD is geared toward improving rural roads.

“Most of the money spent (on transportation) over the last 10 years went to major urban areas,” Chao said. “The president’s plan is to ensure that rural America is not forgotten.”

Toward that end, Chao said the Department of Transportation is accepting applications for $1.5 billion in discretionary grant funding. The deadline to apply is July 19.

The grants will help states and local governments make investments in surface transportation infrastructure and are to be awarded on a competitive basis for projects that will have a significant local or regional impact. BUILD funding can support roads, bridges, transit, rail, ports or intermodal transportation.

Emphasis is being placed on rural roads, Chao said, because “traffic fatalities are disproportionately higher in rural areas. We’re concerned about that.”

The BUILD grants are part of President Donald Trump’s plan to turn $200 billion in federal money into $1.5 trillion for fixing America’s infrastructure by leveraging local and state tax dollars and private investment.

“We will need greater participation from the private sector,” Chao said. “We don’t tap into the private markets as much as other countries do.”

The president’s plan also requires increased participation from states, which is one reason why Chao was making her tour of Kentucky communities Thursday. She started her day in Owensboro, visited Paducah, then finished with the meeting at the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce.

“I’m going around Kentucky to understand more of the infrastructure needs of the state,” she said. “This will help me when I meet with Kentucky Transportation Cabinet leaders and with the governor.”

Those meetings will certainly include a discussion about updating Kentucky’s motor fuels tax that funds road improvements. Tied to the wholesale price of gasoline, that tax fluctuates and doesn’t always generate the revenue needed to meet the state’s needs.

“We have to come together and figure out how to pay for the needed projects,” Chao said. “Everybody wants better infrastructure, but no one wants to pay for it.”