Obama Road and Transit Funding Receives Minimal Support

Late last month, President Obama’s administration released its first comprehensive road and transit proposal. The GROW AMERICA Act, or Generating Renewal, Opportunity, and Work with Accelerated Mobility, Efficiency, and Rebuilding of Infrastructure and Communities throughout America Tracking Act, is a $302 billion, four-year bill that includes $199 billion for highways and road safety and $72 billion for transit, which comes out to a 22% hike for road funding and a 70% boost on the transit side. Other pots of money include $19 billion dedicated to rail, a $10 billion multi-modal freight program, $5 billion for the TIGER grant program and $4 billion for TIFIA.

GROW AMERICA includes $87 billion to shore up the balances in the Highway Trust Fund from unspecified corporate tax reform, increases the penalty for automakers that don't quickly recall unsafe vehicles, cuts the project approval and permitting timelines and lets states toll existing Interstate lanes - if approved by DOT - to help pay for needed highway repairs. The openness to tolling on existing highways has received mixed reviews from stakeholders and so has the proposed shift from a user-funded, road-focused Highway Trust fund to a multi-modal Transportation Trust Fund. This has sparked concern among stakeholders for making more types of projects eligible that do not contribute to the solvency of the trust fund.

The bill has received little support outside the administration. While many organizations are happy that the administration has finally put out a proposal, almost nobody has endorsed it outright. Politico reported that Senate EPW member Jim Inhofe said, "the administration has had a surface transportation proposal before. It's never funded. It's never realistic. It's just something that sounds good to the general public and I anticipate that's exactly what they'll have this time." And that Rep. Peter DeFazio said, "The Obama administration puts out vague proposals on tax cuts that will create money for the trust fund. No one is talking reality here. ... I'm hopeful that they will come to their senses and kick the thing forward to next year - that's about the best we can do at this point."