Report Cites Concerns on Highway, Transportation Funding
WASHINGTON — If Congress reduces transportation spending to the level of revenue flowing into the Highway Trust Fund, as some in Congress are suggesting, states are likely to spend their federal money to maintain existing roads and raise money for new highways from tolls and private investors, a new report said.
“If funding constraints prevent further highway expansion, despite continued growth in demand for goods and services, it is reasonable to assume that national connectivity will suffer,” said the report unveiled last week by two Washington think tanks.
“Freight connectivity will increasingly depend on private investments, including investments by railroads and maritime shippers,” said the report by Eno Center for Transportation and the Bipartisan Policy Center, released last Thursday.
“Where new highways are built, they are likely to be built with an eye towards local, rather than national connectivity,” because tolling projects focus “on urban corridors and projects that generate financial resources rather than [on] projects that advance national connectivity,” the report said.
The report, called “The Consequences of Reduced Federal Transportation Investment,” posits what is most likely to happen if Congress mandates that federal spending on transportation not exceed revenue in the trust fund, which is generated by the federal 24.4-cent per gallon tax on diesel, the 18.4-cent tax on gasoline and the excise tax on truck and tire sales.
For years, transportation spending has outstripped revenue in the trust fund as diesel and gasoline consumption declined in part due to more fuel-efficient cars and trucks.
Congress has filled the widening revenue gap by appropriating billions of dollars from the general fund to meet immediate transportation needs. And transportation experts argue more spending is needed if the nation is to meet its long-term infrastructure needs.
But the report said it is increasingly likely Congress will tie spending to trust fund revenue because the two-year transportation reauthorization bill President Obama signed in July failed to address long-term funding issues.
There is a “distinct possibility” Congress will resolve the funding issue by “shrinking the size of the federal program,” the report said.
