Clock Ticking for Highway Trust-Fund ‘Fix’
With a deficit looming within months for the Highway Trust Fund’s highway account, industry officials are gearing up to try to get Congress to fix the problem. If lawmakers don’t add more revenue before the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1, highway advocates warn a major cut in federal road aid will be needed to put the account in the black.
In February, the Bush administration estimated the highway account will show a $3.2-billion deficit for fiscal 2009; the American Road and Transportation Builders Association says the shortfall is $3.7 billion. Unless revenue is added to the highway account, ARTBA and other groups say it would require a 32% cut in highway funding to erase the deficit. “It’s critically important that Congress act to mitigate this trust-fund shortfall,” says Jack Basso, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ director of management and business development.