U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-AK, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is scheduled to address attendees at the grand opening of IdleAire’s Advanced Travel Center Electrification system in Dallas Dec. 3.

The state of the nation’s transportation infrastructure, along with highway congestion, safety and the new legislation, are expected to be among Rep. Young’s topics. 

Young is one of four sponsors of “The Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users” (H.R. 3550), the $375 billion highway and transit bill announced Nov. 19. The new bill is predicted to create 1.7 million jobs by 2009 and increase federal funding for highway projects to $298 billion and transit funding to $69.2 billion over the next six years. Funding over the last six years totaled $215 billion.

The event is scheduled at 2 p.m. at the TravelCenters of America’s Dallas South location. TA Chairman and CEO Ed Kuhn is also scheduled to deliver remarks. He is expected to address TA’s initiatives for growth and customer service, and how IdleAire fits into TA’s future as a full-service travel center chain.

The Dallas site is the first IdleAire installation in Texas and the first in a TA facility. A second has already opened in Baytown and a third will open soon in San Antonio. All are in TA facilities.

IdleAire’s standard services include heat and air conditioning, AC electrical power inside and outside, an in-cab Pentium-class computer with color touch screen, high-speed Internet, e-mail, satellite television, telephone service and free local calls, and computer connections for keyboards or other computer accessories. 

Drivers can choose to purchase a range of additional services, including movies on demand, as well as Ethernet and wireless Internet access for personal computers. IdleAire has also introduced in-cab access to an established computer-based interactive video-on-demand driver-training curriculum.