Time Running Out for Highway Trust Fund, DOT Warns
The Department of Transportation warned April 15 that the federal Highway Trust Fund will encounter a shortfall by August, putting at risk the ability for states to pay for key highway maintenance projects.
The projection is DOT’s latest to note the looming bankruptcy of the account that helps states pay for their infrastructure projects.
Since 2008, Congress has added $41 billion from general revenue funds to the trust fund to keep it operable. The account is expected to run out of funds by the end of August, according to DOT, which said the fund’s cash balance was $8.4 billion at the end of March.
State transportation officials say a depleted fund would result in a slowdown of DOT reimbursements, which would come at a time when many construction payments are due.
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is stumping through several states this week, making the case for a long-term transportation bill.
While the Obama administration and Congress draft long-term reauthorization bills for road programs, transportation officials and experts suggest Congress needs to shore up the fund at least for a few months before it can complete a reauthorization of a 2012 highway law that expires at the end of September.
Last week, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, announced plans to advance a multiyear highway bill that would approve funding for roads and bridges.
Her committee could begin marking up that bill as early as next month, and while Boxer is leading the Democratic-controlled Senate in reauthorizing MAP-21, House GOP leaders have yet to present a long-term transportation plan.
This week Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrats from Rhode Island, called on their colleagues to back a long-term bill that funds national transportation projects for several years.
“It’s critical to act now because the federal funding mechanism that pays for much of the road work is not generating the revenue that was anticipated and may run dry sooner than forecast,” Reed said.
