Short-term highway extension may be way out for Congress

July 28, 2015 9:20 am Leave a comment

Crews work to remove the remains of the 70th Street on ramp traffic lanes along Interstate 94 Wednesday, July 1 in Milwaukee. The work is part of the Zoo Interchange project and will keep the on ramp close through late summer for reconstruction. (Staff photo by Kevin Harnack)

U.S. House Republicans announced plans Tuesday for a quick vote on a three-month highway spending extension, as Congress stared down a deadline to act or see states lose money for road projects during the summer driving season.

Tagged with: Highway Trust Fund

Senate negotiators reach agreement on 6-year highway bill

July 21, 2015 1:16 pm Leave a comment

Republican and Democratic negotiators in the Senate announced an agreement Tuesday on a six-year highway and transit bill, subject to approval by rank-and-file lawmakers.

Tagged with: Highway Trust Fund

House passes bill to keep highway aid flowing to states

July 17, 2015 11:30 am Leave a comment

vehicles travel along Interstate 70 in Wright City, Mo. Built in the 1950s and '60s with an expected life of 20 years, a 200-mile span of the four-lane interstate between suburban St. Louis and Kansas City is crumbling beneath its surface as it carries more than 30,000 vehicles a day on many of its rural stretches. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

The House passed a bill Wednesday to temporarily shore up funding for transportation programs and prevent a shutdown in highway and transit aid to states at the end of this month. But Senate Republicans are trying to cobble together a longer-term bill that could provide money for several years.

Tagged with: gas tax Highway Trust Fund

House passes another temporary fix to keep highway aid going (UPDATE)

May 20, 2015 1:22 pm Leave a comment

Road construction is shown in Detroit Tuesday, May 5, 2015. Michigan voters were deciding Tuesday whether to approve higher taxes to improve the state's deteriorating roads and bridges. Proposal 1, a constitutional amendment subject to a statewide vote, would raise Michigan's 6 percent sales tax to 7 percent to trigger $1.3 billion more a year for highways, roads, bridges and public transit. Lawmakers put the measure on the ballot in December after failing to directly increase taxes themselves or to divert money from elsewhere in the budget. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

A temporary highway fix at the federal level continues to leave the nation's roadways in trouble.

Tagged with: Highway Trust Fund

Fixes not easy as states seek alternatives to pay for highways, bridges

February 23, 2015 6:54 am 1 Comment

As legislatures convene across the country, lawmakers and governors are confronting similar realities in their states: how to address an aging network of roads, highways and bridges during an era in which federal money for such projects has remained stagnant or declined.

Tagged with: gas tax Highway Trust Fund infrastructure Transportation

Congress kills talk of gas-tax increase

January 15, 2015 1:36 pm Leave a comment

A person gets fuel after gas prices dropped below $2 a gallon at the Quick Mart in High Point, N.C., Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015. (AP Photo/Daily Free Press, Laura Greene)

The new Republican-controlled Congress is facing an old problem: where to find money for highway and transit programs.

Tagged with: gas tax Highway Trust Fund

Poll: Americans differ on how to pay for highways

August 5, 2014 2:42 pm Leave a comment

a car driving by a pothole in Detroit, as a fuel station is seen in the background. Congress has kept federal highway and transit programs limping along for the past six years, unable to decide how best to pay for them. Lawmakers’ indecision mirrors what The Associated Press and GfK found in a recent opinion survey. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

A majority of Americans think the economic benefits of good transportation outweigh the cost to taxpayers, but they can't agree on how to pay for new highways or repairs of old ones, according to a new Associated Press-GfKpoll.

Tagged with: Highway Trust Fund

States increasing fees, taxes to pay for roads

August 5, 2014 9:44 am Leave a comment

vehicles move along a section of Interstate 70 in Foristell, Mo. Missouri voters will decide on Aug. 5 whether to allow the state's first general sales tax for transportation projects, such as the proposed widening of I-70 to three lanes from St. Louis to Kansas City. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

For nearly a century, Missouri has taxed drivers to pay for its roads. That always provided enough money, until now.

Tagged with: Highway Trust Fund

Congress passes highway bill

August 1, 2014 11:25 am Leave a comment

Congress gave final approval Thursday to a $10.8 billion bill to keep federal highway money flowing to states through the summer construction season and the fall elections.

Tagged with: Highway Trust Fund

Senate passes highway bill, sends it back to House

July 29, 2014 10:50 pm Leave a comment

one section of the $500 million I-75 Phase II modernization project which is under way in Dayton, Ohio. On the road in a tour bus this week, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is urging Congress to quickly approve legislation to pay for highway and transit programs amid warnings that the U.S. government’s Highway Trust Fund is nearly broke. If allowed to run dry, that could threaten to set back or shut down projects across the country, force widespread layoffs of construction workers and delay needed repairs and improvements. (AP Photo/Skip Peterson)

The Senate voted Tuesday to keep federal highway money flowing to the states into December but only after rejecting the House's reliance on what lawmakers called a funding "gimmick" and moving to force a post-election debate on whether to raise gasoline taxes.

Tagged with: Highway Trust Fund