U.S. Senate to Consider Five-Year Highway Bill Reauthorization

"The first version of what could become the country’s next major highway policy bill will be unveiled in the Senate prior to Congress’ recess in August," reported Eugene Molero and Lianna Norman earlier this month.

"The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee intends to consider a five-year highway bill, kicking off reauthorization of the FAST Act, a five-year highway law that expires in October of next year," according to the article.

Details about the reauthorization weren't available at the time, but a little more is known as the U.S. Senate prepares to mark up the draft reauthorization in committee. According to a paywalled article by Jeff Davis, the draft reauthorization would increase highway spending by 17 percent.

Yonah Freemark responded to that figure on Twitter by blasting the reauthorization's lack of attention to climate change, which inspired some back and forth that reveals more details for readers who lack an Eno Transportation Weekly subscription.

The US is about to advance a 5-year transport bill that will massively increase funding—particularly for highways—with essentially no acknowledgement of transport’s climate-change impacts. https://t.co/8BcpMg7NzJ

— Yonah Freemark (@yfreemark) July 28, 2019

Planetizen will continue to update this story as it develops and more publicly available information can be shared.