President Obama Tours McLean Car Research Facility

In case you missed it, President Obama visited McLean last week. The president crossed the Potomac to visit McLean's Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center. 

The facility, located at 6300 Georgetown Pike in McLean, focuses on highway technologies that help make driving safer and smarter. In his remarks, the president talked about a problem that will ring familiar to many Northern Virginians.

The president said Americans spend 5.5 billion hours stuck in traffic each year, "which costs us $120 billion in wasted time and gas — that's 800 bucks per commuter. Then you’ve got outdated roads and bridges that mean businesses pay an extra $27 billion in freight costs, which are then passed on to consumers. So, all told, transportation eats up more of the typical family’s household budget than anything except the rent or a mortgage."

While he was touring the facility, Obama took a Saturn SL1 vehicle for a spin, in a simulator.

Congress is attempting to pass highway funding before the end of the month. Read more about transportation spending in this NPR report from Sunday.