Surface Transportation Policy
Federal Highway and Transit Programs
The Federal Government’s highway, mass transit, and surface transportation safety programs are periodically authorized in a multi-year surface transportation reauthorization bill. The most recent reauthorization act, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), expired at the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2009. Since then, the surface transportation programs and activities have been funded under a series of extension acts. The main reason for the failure to pass a new multi-year bill has been the disparity between projected spending and the much lower projections of the revenue flows to the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). Taxes on…
