Gloomier new forecasts from the Office of Management and Budget predicting wider 2009 deficits in the Highway Trust Fund’s main component are prompting a search for a remedy.

In its mid-session budget review, released July 11, OMB said the trust fund’s highway account would post a $3.8-billion deficit in fiscal 2009, compared with the $200-million gap it had forecast just six months earlier. The picture could be even darker if, as seems likely, Congress raises 2008 highway spending by $631 million over the $39.1 billion the Bush administration proposed.