highway funding News Updates

WASHINGTON — Biden administration guidance related to maintenance priorities for infrastructure projects is proving valuable in the debate about the federal role in transportation, expert Susan Binder said Jan. 10.

A seemingly innocuous point in the Biden administration’s infrastructure bill related to the Highway Trust Fund has rate market investors once again sharpening their focus on exactly when the U.S. government might breach its borrowing limit.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a 30-day reauthorization for highway funding late Oct. 1, and the Senate passed the measure by unanimous consent on Oct. 2, sending it to President Joe Biden for signing.

Road usage charge initiatives at the state level can offer models for a federal program, which should be formulated sooner rather than later, according to experts gathered at a transportation funding event.

Groups representing nearly every aspect of the country’s infrastructure networks recently called on congressional leaders to approve a yearlong extension of a soon-to-expire highway law.

Legislators are keeping an eye on advancing a new highway policy measure as the federal response to the novel coronavirus dominates much of lawmakers’ time and attention.

WASHINGTON — The committee that handles transportation affairs in the U.S. House of Representatives expects to consider a comprehensive highway policy measure in the early part of this year, the panel’s top Republican said Jan. 8.

In “America’s Rolling Warehouses: Opportunities and Challenges with the Nation’s Freight Delivery System,” the Washington, D.C.-based group TRIP concluded that significant sustainable funding at the federal level will be key to enhancing connectivity along freight corridors in the coming years.

A $287 billion highway bill the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee easily advanced last month is notable for several big-picture proposals.

Senate Republicans will look to avoid a partial shutdown of the federal government, the leader of the chamber told reporters on Nov. 14.