A newly proposed six-year Senate highway bill has won praise as a positive step toward a larger goal: a long-term, fully funded surface- transportation measure. But industry officials acknowledge that the next steps on the legislative path will be uphill, especially finding the tens of billions of dollars needed to pay for the program's envisioned higher funding levels.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee unanimously approved the bill, dubbed the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy, or DRIVE, Act, on June 24. Committee Chairman James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the bill's sponsor, said that the six-year bill ncludes an average annual funding increase of 3% over current levels.