Funding Federal-aid Highways

Federal Highway Administration2017PDFTech ReportUnited States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Policy & Governmental AffairsUnited States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Policy & Governmental AffairsUnited StatesFederal aid highwaysGovernment fundingAppropriationsBudgetingFHWA-PL-17-011The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) prepared a report, \u201cFinancing Federal-Aid Highways,\u201d in January 1974 to describe how Federal-aid highways are funded. The FHWA modified and updated this report in July 1976, May 1979, October 1983, November 1987, May 1992, August 1999, March 2007, and January 2017. The FHWA prepared these updates following enactment of new highway or surface transportation acts to reflect changes made by those acts. This latest update of the report incorporates changes in funding procedures brought about by the 2012 enactment of Public Law 112-141, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) and the 2015 enactment of Public Law 114-94, the Fixing America\u2019s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. With this update comes a new title\u2014\u201cFunding Federal-Aid Highways\u201d\u2014that more accurately reflects the report\u2019s content and focus. As with previous versions, this report follows the fiscal process from inception in an authorization act to payment from the Highway Trust Fund and discusses the congressional and Federal agency actions that occur throughout that process. The structure of this report largely parallels the Federal-aid highway funding lifecycle. Chapter 2 lays the foundation: the authorization process for the Federal-aid Highway Program (FAHP) and the contract authority that it creates. Chapter 3 describes how FHWA distributes the authorized funding. Chapter 4 describes how and when FHWA obligates funding at the request of funding recipients (most often States), as well as the Federal budget process and the role of the annual appropriations act. Chapter 5 focuses on the portion of the appropriations act that most impacts the Federal program: an annual obligation limitation. Chapter 6 wraps up the highway funding lifecycle with an examination of the outlay of funding. Finally, Chapter 7 discusses the history and operations of the Highway Trust Fund, which funds the entirety of the FAHP.95