Tag: highway funding: Page 28

Business

Corporate tax code reforms have early bi-partisan support as method for funding long-term highway bill this year

After President Barack Obama made a brief mention of infrastructure funding in his State of the Union address last week, urging Congress to focus on that rather than the Keystone XL pipeline, Vice President Joe Biden has now made his own appeal to lawmakers to fund a long-term highway bill this year. According to a […]

January 26, 2015

Business

AGC economist forecasts strong construction growth thanks to ‘shale gale’, Panama Canal expansion

The morning after Republicans won back the U.S. Senate, Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, said that conservative majorities in both houses of Congress are unlikely to spend money to improve the the country’s infrastructure, but that private construction will be robust. The keynote speaker Wednesday at the 2014 Association […]

November 6, 2014

Roadbuilding

California to test feasibility of mileage tax

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation into law that will allow the state to implement a pilot program to test whether charging a road usage fee — or mileage-based tax — could effectively replace fuel taxes as the primary means to fund highways and road projects. The legislation calls for the pilot program to […]

October 15, 2014

Business

With Prop 1, Texas may break the logjam, spur innovation in highway funding

In November, Texans will go to the polls and vote on Proposition 1, which, in a nutshell, proposes to take half the money from the state’s gas and oil revenues and direct it toward highway construction and maintenance. Everything in this bill is sure to please the construction industry. And everything I’ve read over the […]

October 14, 2014

Roadbuilding

Highway Trust Fund 2014: Timeline of Events

Here’s a look at the Highway Trust Fund that is notoriously in danger of going in the red. For now, there’s a short-term fix to keep it afloat.

September 5, 2014

Roadbuilding

DOT only taken half of bridge safety measures required by MAP-21 law

Only 12 of the 24 bridge safety actions required by the current MAP-21 highway funding law have been implemented by the Federal Highway Administration, according to a report released Aug. 26 by the DOT’s Office of the Inspector General. The agency also hasn’t fully addressed the 16 recommendations made by the OIG in recent years, according to […]

September 2, 2014

Business

Recent toll road poll proves nothing; private financing of public roads is still a bad idea

The Reason Foundation and the Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates recently traded jabs over a poll that purports to show Americans prefer toll roads as a solution to our declining transportation infrastructure. Not unexpectedly, the Reason-Rupe Poll  found favor with Reason’s longstanding position advocating toll roads. The Alliance shot back with a press release citing a […]

August 22, 2014

Business

Bursting bubble of big tobacco financing gives glimpse of road building’s future without a gas tax increase

Last week I wrote about how states that engage in public-private partnerships (P3s) and other types of debt and bond financing would create short term gains and long term disaster for the road building industry. This weekend I read an article on ProPublica, an independent journalism site, that shows how the exact same thing—only using […]

August 12, 2014

Business

Toll roads, P3s and creative financing will bring short-term gain, long-term disaster for the road building industry

For the last half-century gas and diesel taxes collected at the pump have been the primary source of funding for almost all our highway infrastructure. But Congress hasn’t  increased the gas tax or adjusted it for inflation since 1992. Anti-tax advocates claim this as a victory, but it’s not. With the highway trust fund running […]

August 1, 2014

Business

Congressional showdown ends with Senate passing House’s $10.8 billion highway funding patch

The Senate on Thursday passed a 10-month funding bill that will prevent the Highway Trust Fund from going broke until the end of May. The bill was first passed by the House earlier this month, and is now just a presidential signature away from becoming law. The bill’s clearance in Congress comes after a showdown […]

August 1, 2014

Business

Senate passes highway bill with reduced funding; sends vote back to House with pressure for long-term solution

On Tuesday the Senate voted to pass a bill that would stave off the looming insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) after making key changes to the legislation that will send it right back to the House for another vote. The HTF is the primary source of federal funding for road construction and repairs. The […]

July 30, 2014

Business

House passes $10.8 billion quick fix as highway construction funding nears insolvency

The House on Tuesday passed a nearly $11 billion quick fix that would stave off the looming insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), the primary source of federal funding for road construction and repairs. The bill passed a week after the White House and transportation officials urged lawmakers to try and find a long-term […]

July 16, 2014