Senate Transportation Committee Eyes Next Highway Bill
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WASHINGTON — A policy update of the nation’s highway network is guiding the legislative agenda for the Senate’s transportation committee, that panel’s leader affirmed Feb. 26.
At an Environment and Public Works Committee hearing with stakeholders, Chairwoman Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) took the first step toward the eventual reauthorization of many of the policies and vast programs that make up the federal highway system. Safety, supply chain and technology will guide the senators’ policymaking when they formally begin drafting the next comprehensive highway bill later this year.
Programs central to major highway systems are operating under a fall 2026 deadline. The most recent authorization of federal highway programs was tucked into 2021’s $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, referred to as the bipartisan infrastructure law.
Capito
“I think, as we approach the expiration of those provisions at the end of 2026 in September, we want to continue what is working, but discontinue what isn’t working,” Capito told her panel as they held an after-action review of the IIJA. Further explaining the panel’s role, the chairwoman emphasized, “This review of the real-world impacts of the IIJA and the feedback on what is working, and what isn’t working, will inform this committee’s bipartisan work on the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization bill.”
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Capito garnered bipartisan backing for her call to update the nation’s highway policies. EPW committee ranking member Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) voiced support for arriving at a new surface transportation bill as early as next year. “The historic bipartisan infrastructure law is the law,” he said. “We have a lot of good, serious, bipartisan work to do to write the next surface transportation reauthorization. I am ready to roll up my sleeves, get to it and pass the next authorization — together.”
This new highway bill will look to primarily prioritize safety. Stakeholders noted recent data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration pointing to a need for addressing a crisis on the roadways. There were nearly 41,000 motor vehicle traffic fatalities in 2023, per the agency.
McMurry
“We need to continue to implement existing roadway safety strategies that are proven to work while at the same time accelerating the development of new and innovative countermeasures and technologies that hold promise for the future. An evolution of our traffic safety culture is needed, and states are laser-focused within our organizations and with our outside partners to promote safety,” Russell McMurry, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation, told senators. He represented agencies belonging to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
Johnson
Gary Johnson, vice president of California-based Granite Construction, pressed senators to provide long-term assurances with their new highway bill. Critical of short-term authorization scenarios, Johnson asked the panel to craft a five-year legislative document meant to provide guidance and clarity for state and private sector stakeholders. Johnson represented the Transportation Construction Coalition, a group of influential road builders and labor unions with strong ties to the highway construction sector.
“The long-term duration of the surface transportation bill must also be continued,” Johnson said. “Extensions and short-term bills rob states of their ability to plan over the long term, which leads to a reliance on smaller maintenance work rather than transformative transportation investment.”
The Senate panel has yet to announce consideration of a multiyear highway policy measure. On the other side of the Capitol, Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) echoed Capito’s push on the need to reauthorize highway programs and provisions specific to freight mobility and supply chain connectivity. Earlier this year, Graves, chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, told colleagues: “This will be a collaborative process in which the committee will solicit feedback from both members [of Congress] and stakeholders.”
Duffy
The Trump administration has shared input for policymakers to consider. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy recommended an overhaul of environmental permitting rules and regulations as well as the adoption of specific safety and efficiency technologies. Speaking to AASHTO members this month in Washington, Duffy explained: “I want aggressive change. I don’t want incremental change. I want fast change that’s going to transform the way that we do business. I want to use more private capital. I want more technology, and I want more innovation in your space.”
“And from my perspective,” Duffy went on, “I’m going to reward the innovators who create and find ways to better build and more effectively build the projects that you guys care so much about. And for those who innovate and are creative, I’m going to give you more freedom, and I’m going to give you more money to do your projects.”
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