Highway Trust Fund

Avid highway opponents are less concerned about filling the Trust Fund gap, notwithstanding the effect on transit, and more on stopping road expansion. Widening of Colorado's I-25 and U.S. 26 in Oregon may halt without an agreement for new funds.

April 6, 2014 - The Coloradoan

Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Keith Golden recently told a gathering about the state’s reliance on federal money for transportation, saying, “We’ve got to find a way to break away from our dependence on federal dollars.”

March 18, 2014 - Marietta Daily Journal

How best to "plug the growing hole" in the Highway Trust Fund which provides the federal revenue for roads and transit: increase the gas tax, new vehicle miles traveled fees, more road tolls, or "corporate tax reform"? All but one is a user fee.

March 6, 2014 - Politico Morning Transportation

As we've noted numerous times, the Highway Trust Fund will become insolvent around the end of the fiscal year - Sept. 30, just when MAP-21, the transportation authorization bill, expires. We were wrong. The new HTF "ticker" explains the bad news.

February 20, 2014 - Politico Morning Transportation

At a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee meeting on Feb. 12, leaders from big labor, big business, AASHTO, and AMTRAK testified to the importance of keeping the Highway Trust Fund solvent. The first two specified increasing the gas tax.

February 14, 2014 - The Hill

From Republican congressman from Ill. to President Obama's first Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood now takes on a new role as a co-chair of the bipartisan coalition, Building America's Future, to advocate for increased infrastructure investment.

January 15, 2014 - AASHTO Journal

The Washington Post editorial pulled no punches. The Highway Trust Fund must be fully funded, meaning that gas taxes must increase in the short term. Furthermore, a transition to a road usage fee is needed, and Rep. Earl Blumenauer's 2 bills do both.

December 30, 2013 - The Washington Post - Editorial

As we inexorably approach the day the Highway Trust Fund goes broke, more policy experts offer creative alternatives to the per gallon gasoline tax. Michael Webber of the Energy Institute at UT Austin describes his option in a New York Times op-ed.

December 27, 2013 - The New York Times - Opinion

If it was good enough for Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, the Republican and Democrat authors of President Obama's deficit commission bearing their names, the phased, 15-cent fuel tax increase should be adopted, says Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.).

December 4, 2013 - The Hill's Transportation Blog

Might a recent agreement to fund water projects pave the way for more transportation spending? That's what positive signals out of Washington seem to indicate. Just one small obstacle stands in the way: how to finance road and bridge projects.

October 30, 2013 - The Wall Street Journal

Could Virginia, the state that did away with its gasoline excise tax entirely, be the template for a new federal transportation funding system? By using multiple taxes and fees, they present an alternative to simply raising the federal gas tax.

October 23, 2013 - CQ Roll Call

Taking a cue from states that have introduced new wholesale taxes on fuel that would presumably be passed to the consumer, Sen. Barbara Boxer has proposed replacing the 18.4-cent federal gas tax with an oil sales fee to be paid by oil refineries.

October 1, 2013 - The Hill

A new Reason Study advocates for the "third" revenue option (with gas tax and VMT fee being the first two) for fixing the soon-to-be insolvent Highway Trust Fund - interstate highway tolling, and allowing the states to pursue that option.

September 16, 2013 - Governing

Ryan Holeywell writes a follow-up to the meeting of a House Transportation subcommittee on the impending insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund - looking at it from the states' perspective rather than from Capitol Hill's. They have a lot at stake.

July 31, 2013 - Governing

With the impending bankruptcy of the Highway Trust Fund in October, 2014, a House Transportation & Infrastructure subcommittee invited two transportation experts - one from CBO the other from DOT, to lay out the stark facts - but did it do any good?

July 28, 2013 - Truckinginfo.com

Tax attorney Kelly Phillips Erb pens a colorful narrative upon the 81st birthday of the federal gas tax, showing the interesting history of this now controversial tax. It began on June 6, 1932 to close general budget gaps, not build roads.

June 16, 2013 - Forbes

MAP-21 expires on September 30, 2014. The following year, the Highway Trust Fund will be insolvent according to the CBO. Alternatives involve user fees paid by motorists: the gas tax and VMT fee, and two others that bear no connection to driving.

June 11, 2013 - Politico Pro

According to the CBO, President Obama's transportation budget keeps the Highway Trust Fund, currently expected to run out of funds in 2015, solvent until 2021. The additional funds come from 'intergovernmental transfers' - but are they real?

May 24, 2013 - Streetsblog Capitol Hill

Yonah Freemark writes about the expiration of the nation's five-year rail investment program that funds the FRA, Amtrak, and freight rail - separate from MAP 21, and suggests that without a new funding source, don't expect to see any increases.

May 1, 2013 - the transport politic

A new report from the Congressional Budget Office concludes that drastic reductions in transportation spending and/or increases in the federal gas tax will be needed unless another multi-billion dollar bailout is provided for the Highway Trust Fund.

April 25, 2013 - Governing