The U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee has just introduced the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act. The Bill is a new five-year transportation reauthorization proposal of federal highway, transit and highway safety programs and would replace SAFETEA-LU, the existing six-year highway authorization bill that expired in September 2009. Federal government funding has in essence been maintained at current levels since then.
The proposal aims to authorize approximately $260B in total funding over five years compared. This program level is a large disappointment for most highway groups. When compared with the last highway bill which authorized $286B over a six-year period, most commentators have suggested that the meager $4.3B USD per year to be spent on transportation infrastructure is wholly inadequate to meet existing and projected requirements. To some extent this number reflects the pessimism of those who seek additional funding, with the Republicans who see too many dollars being diverted for “pie in the sky” projects like high-speed rail and increased safety enforcement. They would prefer to see the funding directly flow to brick and mortar programs.
The one thousand pound elephant in the corner of the room remains the fact that the Highway Trust Fund will not be able to keep up with projected costs of infrastructure to maintain, modernize and grow the nation’s transport system.