Congress actually demonstrated last week that it has the ability to govern in enacting a long-term transportation funding measure.
President Barack Obama signed the five-year, $305 billion bill to address the nation’s aging, congested transportation network, ending years of uncertainty for state and business leaders.
The compromise plan won widespread support in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. The bill boosts highway and transit spending and specifically targets highways designated as major freight corridors for increased federal funding to improve capacity. The long-term plan also provides states the assurance of federal aid they need to commit to major projects.
Passage of the bill ends a series of 34 last-minute, short-term extensions of transportation funding that Congress has enacted since 2009. State and local officials, transportation-related industries and other business and labor union leaders have implored Congress for years to pass just such a measure.
The measure also includes more than $10 billion over five years for Amtrak and other rail programs, $12 billion for mass transit and $1 billion for vehicle safety programs, funding for which remains subject to annual spending decisions by Congress.
But the measure’s focus on targeting aid to freight corridors by designating $4.5 billion for a competitive grant program for highway projects and $6.3 billion for a highway freight program provides just what state and business leaders long have sought – certainty that they can count on a long-term effort to upgrade and expand the nation’s neglected transportation system.
