Oberstar Seeks $500 Billion for Transportation Projects
The chairman of the transportation committee of the U.S. House of Representatives wants Congress to increase the funding available for highway and infrastructure projects to about $500 billion, almost twice the current allocation, Bloomberg reported.
But securing the additional funds will be “an interesting challenge,” James Kolb, a top aid to House transportation committee chair James Oberstar (D-Minn.), said during a Transportation Table luncheon in Washington D.C.
Kolb said that raising the federal gasoline tax, or increasing the amount of public-private infrastructure projects were two ways to raise needed transportation dollars, but that both options faced opposition by federal lawmakers and other transportation officials, Bloomberg reported.
Kolb said that Oberstar, who has opposed the use of private sector funds for public highways, would consider more private investment in transportation infrastructure if it came with increased government oversight, Bloomberg said.
The last highway spending bill, approved in 2005, allocated about $286.5 billion for highway, bridge and other infrastructure projects.
