Today’s Headlines

  • Boxer: Senate considering breaking up its jobs bill into several pieces, with an infrastructure provision that would bail out the highway trust fund for this year (Dow Jones)
  • Conservative Rep. Don Young (R-AK), architect of the 2005 federal transportation bill, admits that Alaska’s plans for a gas tax suspension would endanger its financial support from Congress (AP)
  • Wisconsin governor touts plan for regional transit authority in Milwaukee, with possible taxes to help fund it (J-Sentinel)
  • Michigan lawmakers propose gas tax hike to avoid losing federal transport aid (MLive.com)
  • California Northern railroad shifts to green locomotives (Sac. Bee)
  • Two rural Virginia transit projects get $3.2m in federal aid (AP)

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It’s Time to Stop Pretending That Roads Pay for Themselves

By Angie Schmitt |
If nothing else, the current round of federal transportation legislating should end the myth that highways are a uniquely self-sufficient form of infrastructure paid for by “user fees,” a.k.a. gas taxes and tolls. With all the general tax revenue that goes toward roads in America, car infrastructure has benefited from hefty subsidies for many years. […]

Ranking the Sad Parade of Federal Transpo Funding Ideas From Worst to Best

By Angie Schmitt |
The problem seems simple enough: The federal transportation program is going broke because Washington has allowed the gas tax to be eroded by inflation for more than 20 years. As obvious as raising the gas tax may be, America’s political leaders won’t touch it. Yesterday, The Hill reported that Congressman Bill Shuster, chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is ruling out […]