Funding analysis for long-term planning : final report

In existence since 1956, the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) is the source of nearly all Federal highway funding and roughly four-fifths of all Federal transit funding. The Highway Trust Fund is integral to the long-term transportation planning of all 50 States. However, recent Congressional Budget Office forecasts show that at the current baselines (i.e. spending at currently enacted levels with adjustments for inflation within the context of current tax policies), the Highway Account of the HTF would be depleted by 2006 and the Mass Transit Account would fall to $0 three years later.1 These projections have been made in the midst of discussions regarding the reauthorization for surface transportation and the looming national needs in transportation that require an estimated average annual investment from all levels of government of between $90.7 billion and $110.9 billion just to maintain the system and between $127.5 billion and $169.5 billion to improve it.Recognizing that its current weakness has been its historic strength, Section 1 outlines projected transportation needs and provides ahistorical background of the Highway Trust Fund as well as an understanding of the mechanisms by which it collects revenues andprovides funding to the States. It also briefly touches on the importance of the Highway Trust Fund to New York in particular.However, regardless of the specific funding formulas that provide more or less funding in a given year to a specific State, transportation needs will remain unmet in all States if HTF revenue streams shrink. Thus, the focus for the remainder of the reportis on the HTF revenue base specifically