While projects funded from the Highway Trust Fund are safe through May, discretionary programs run by DOT from annual appropriations must wait for Congress to approve a budget, which just got more complicated due to Obama's anti-ISIS funding request.
When President Obama requested on September 11 that Congress "authorize $500 million to train and equip pro-Western Syrian rebels battling Islamic State, often referred to as ISIS or ISIL," according to The Wall Street Journal, he complicated an already cloudy annual appropriation process for funding Department of Transportation (DOT) programs in fiscal year 2015.
In other words, "DOT appropriations run out in 19 days," according to Adam Snyder of Politico's Morning Transportation of September 12.
Stephen Lee Davis blogs on September 10 for Transportation for America that "we’re nearing the beginning of a new fiscal year on October 1, and Congress has failed to pass a budget to fund the government for the upcoming year."
The House and the Senate never resolved their disagreement over the annual appropriations for transportation for the upcoming fiscal year — one of many budget issues that they couldn’t agree on this year.
According to the chart in Davis' blog, there are seven programs that fall under appropriations for the Department of Transportation:
- Federal Aid Highways
- Transit Formula Grants
- Transit New & Small Starts
- TIGER [See Streetsblog's "US DOT Awards 72 TIGER Grants, But the Program Remains in Jeopardy"]
- Amtrak Operating
- Amtrak Capital
- High Speed Rail - which has $0 appropriated by Congress
Davis writes that Congress is likely to approve "a 'continuing resolution' to extend government funding through mid-December." He concludes by noting that "as long as the government is operating via a short-term budget, any programs that are discretionary at USDOT (i.e., not funded from the Highway Trust Fund) will likely face great uncertainty."
That means the next round of TIGER grants, money for new transit expansion (New and Small Starts), and passenger rail funding might see delays in when they’re awarded — creating even more funding uncertainty for states, metro areas and transit agencies.
[Hat tip to [email protected] Climate Plan on T4A blog]
FULL STORY: Budget battles leave a cloud over transportation funding as lame duck session looms

Planning for Congestion Relief
The third and final installment of Planetizen's examination of the role of the planning profession in both perpetuating and solving traffic congestion.

Car Noise Is Killing Us
It’s not just traffic collisions that kill—a new study from researcher at Rutgers finds that the loud noises emanating from cars has direct impact on heart health in Americans.

Acceptable Deaths
What can we learn from our Covid response?

New White House Housing Initiative Includes Zoning Reform Incentives
The Biden administration this morning released a new program of actions intended to spur housing construction around the United States.

Fare-Free Transit Hasn’t Reduced Car Trips, Data Says
Fare-free transit isn’t the climate change benefit that many have hoped, according to recent writing by David Zipper for Bloomberg.

Redevelopment Threatens Iconic, Affordable Chicago Homes
The ‘workers’ cottages’ are being replaced with larger, more expensive homes, threatening one of the city’s original forms of affordable housing.
City of Malibu
EMC Planning Group Inc.
Jefferson Parish
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Harvard GSD Executive Education
City of Rohnert Park
City of Hot Springs
City of Lakeway, Texas
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Hand Drawing Master Plans
This course aims to provide an introduction into Urban Design Sketching focused on how to hand draw master plans using a mix of colored markers.