Idaho may see an 18% drop in federal surface transit funding — the largest estimated cut in the US

Surface transportation funding programs in the United States expire in December, leaving lawmakers to debate the details of the BUILD American 250 Act, which would reauthorize these programs. The proposed bill would authorize $16.5 billion less than the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed by Joe Biden in 2021, with every state receiving at least “$10 million less in formula funding over the five years the law would be in effect,” writes Benton Graham for Grist.

Grist reports: 

[Yonah Fremark, a researcher with the Urban Institute] said the effects would extend well beyond major cities. “Public transit is often portrayed as something that is subways in New York City,” he said. “The reality is that millions of people rely on public transit in a lot of smaller communities, including a lot of rural communities and tribal communities around the country. … Those rural transit systems are much more reliant on federal support to provide the service that they offer than are the urban transit agencies.”

Urban Institute expects the cuts to federal transit funding to particularly impact rural communities in Idaho: the institute expects the state to see an 18% drop in federal formula transit funding, the biggest in the nation. The institute also expects Maine to see a 16% drop in funding under the proposed bill: Josh Caldwell, a co-founder of Transportation for Maine, said there is “nowhere in the state” that meets Maine’s goals for transit service.