The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Secretary Malcolm Dougherty recently sent a letter to the State’s transportation partners alerting them to a potential shutdown of federally-supported transportation projects if Congress fails to reach an agreement over another extension or reauthorization of the federal surface transportation program, known as the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). Congress recently passed H.R. 2353 to provide a short-term extension to MAP-21 through July 31, 2015 using existing transportation revenues. As we move closer to the anticipated insolvency of the Federal Highway Trust Fund (HTF), which coincides with the extension of MAP-21, Congress will need to reach another agreement over how to fund our nation’s highways. Several transportation funding options continue to be discussed, but Congress has not coalesced around one specific funding proposal. Due to the complexity and ongoing contention over various transportation funding proposals, Congressional insiders do not believe that a long-term reauthorization of MAP-21 is in sight and a series of short-term extensions to keep the HTF afloat until after the November 2016 elections appear to be more likely. The Caltrans letter is available here.
